Hi folks!
Today I will share with u the easiest recipe in the world.. the recipe of caprese!!
If u know this recipe u will wondering why sharing this recipe of only 3 ingredients?
I made it last evening and I started thinking who was the first who decided to make caprese? It was simply a dish that everyone in the south of Italy made?
So I decided to find more information and share with u what I discovered.
The caprese salad is born in XX century in the enchanted island of Capri, this also why it’s called “caprese”.
It seems that in the 20s a very patriotic bricklayer of the island, always had lunch with a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich, the colors recalled those of the Italian flag.
Obviously the island was small and the idea spread quickly and many restaurants and hotels began to have the Caprese salad on the menu.
I don't know if it's true, but it makes a lot of sense.
You live in Capri where fresh and delicious mozzarella is easy to find, tomatoes in Italy are delicious and basil with its aroma fills your soul, so why not combine them together in a perfect marriage?
In the 50s, Caprese gained worldwide popularity thanks to King Farouk of Egypt, when he visited the beautiful island he tasted Caprese and fell in love with it.
Thanks to his approval, it began to become famous throughout the world.
The Egyptians have always been one step ahead historically for me, have you ever been to the Louvre or the British Museum to see the Egyptian collection?
Every time I ask myself how they managed to create such beautiful jewels and how did they come up with the idea of creating those traps inside the pyramids?
It is obvious that an Egyptian king was the first to appreciate the caprese so much.
The 98% of the Italian recipes are extremely easy but in this case is really the easiest ever.
The ingredients:
One mozzarella for each person more or less 125gr.
A lot of tomatoes.
Basil like there is no tomorrow.
Olive Oil.
Black Pepper.
Optional dry oregano.
As I was saying, it is really the simplest recipe you can make, you just have to slice the tomato and mozzarella. Rememer to use only ingredients of high quality.
Once cut, arrange them alternately on a plate, tear the basil leaves into large pieces and arrange them on the slices, alternatively you can also not cut it and leave the leaves whole. I love basil, for me it is never enough so I always add a lot and my garden is full of different types of basil.
Season with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of pepper, if you want you can add a sprinkling of oregano.
I also like to add some slices of chili pepper in oil.
This is my version of caprese for aperitivo, the other two are robiola cheese ball with chives covered with sesame seeds SO GOOD!! 😍😍😍🤤🤤
I order caprese also at the restaurant when I want something fresh.
It’s strange for me thinking that tomatoes are coultivated only from few centuries.
(This are all tomatoes from my garden)
The tomato is native to the Andes (Peru, Ecuador, northern Chile) and cultivated by pre-Columbian civilizations, such as the Aztecs and Mayans, known as tomatl.
Arrived in Europe in the 16th century thanks to the Spanish conquistadors, it was initially considered an ornamental plant (and even poisonous) because it was part of the Solanaceae family.
Initially, to see if they were edible, tomatoes were given to animals, then seeing that nothing happened, farmers began to eat them and finally the nobles when they understood what they were missing.
Only at the end of the 17th century (1692) in Naples Antonio Latini created a tomato sauce called “Salsa di Pomadoro alla Spagnuola”,
In the 18th century the fruit began to spread among the farmers of the South on pasta and meat. The popular “maccheroni al pomodoro” was born in the 19th century, for me this is even stranger to think that most Italian recipes contain tomatoes.
I often wonder what Italy would have been like without all the invasions, what would we have eaten? Would pizza have existed? What would pasta sauces have been like? And imagine a salad without tomatoes?
Italy, under Spanish influence (Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, Sardinia), was the first European country to know it. Documents from Pisa (1548) report the arrival of a basket of tomatoes sent by Eleonora di Toledo, personally I find that food is one of the best gifts.
U can grow tomatoes even if you have little space, obviously the harvest will not be conspicuous but it will give you a lot of satisfaction to see them grow and ripen.
The smell of tomato leaves for me is unbeatable, one of the memories I have from when I was little was the scent I felt when I passed among the tomato plants that relatives in Tuscany grew.
The tomato arrived late in Italy but basil has always been there, right?
No, wrong, I also thought it had always been in the Italian tradition and instead...
Basil is native to tropical Asia, particularly India.
India and Southeast Asia: Basil was venerated as a sacred plant. In India, a variety called Tulsi (sacred basil) is still used in Hindu religious rites.
It then spread at different times throughout the world:
Ancient Egypt, basil was used in mummification processes and as a medicinal herb.
Ancient Greece, the Greeks called it "basilikon" (βασιλικόν), which means "royal plant", but they also associated it with negative feelings, such as hatred or bad luck.
In France and England, during the Renaissance, it was considered an ornamental and medicinal garden plant.
In Italy, however, it seems to have arrived through trade with the Arabs in the Middle Ages, and spread between the 12th and 13th centuries, finding fertile ground in Liguria, where today it is the symbol of pesto.
(In this pic there is also a little friend)
Really can u imagine Italy without basil and tomatoes?
Are two of my fav ingredients.
And checking more or less all the ingredients that I consider 100% Italian are from different countries 🤯🤯.
Did u know all this?
Like always hope u enjoyed this recipe, if u liked it feel free to share with everyone.
To all my subscribers THANK U U ARE AWESOME! ❤️❤️😍😍💕
To the other I love u anyway but what are u waiting for? It’s free!
Thanks again and wishing u a wonderful evening!
Laura 💕
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