My introduction to Caprese salad came in the best place possible – on the Isle of Capri where, presumably, it was ‘invented.’  It was a good many years ago (more than fifty) but I remember the day and the excursion to the Blue Grotto and the salad with total clarity.  I’ve had the good fortune to return only once, but the azure water, the vistas from the ruins of Emperor Tiberius’s Villa Jovis all come back to me every time I see Insalata Caprese on a menu.

You’d think that with such an association of pleasant memories, I’d be making Caprese salad here at home fairly often, but for whatever reason that is not the case.  I think it has something to do with the infrequent availability of fresh basil at my usual marketing haunts.  But, it just happened that all the ingredients found their way into my shopping basket Monday and … voilà!  Or, as they would say on Capri… Ecco!  Yesterday for lunch I fixed the Oysterville version of Insalata Caprese.

Instead of slices of large ‘tennis balls’ of mozzarella interspersed with sliced (maybe beefsteak) tomatoes, mine was made with small cotton-ball sized mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, sliced and interspersed with the requisite basil.  The finishing touch was to toss it all with Nyel’s homemade oil and vinegar dressing and serve it cascading over avocado halves.  Voila!  Ecco!  To die for!  The best lunch ever.

I think we’ll have a repeat performance today.