Martha Stewart Adds Whipped Cream to the Most Unexpected Summer Side Dish & It's Actually Genius
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It’s summer, and that means that we’ve got one thing on our mind: tomatoes. Summer is the best time of year for tomatoes, and even the ones you get at the grocery store taste sweeter and more complex when they’re actually in season — go figure. One of the best ways to enjoy the simple beauty of summer tomatoes is in a caprese salad, but what if you’ve had one too many capreses already this summer, or, worse, can’t get your hands on really good fresh mozzarella? Leave it to Martha Stewart, cookbook author, television host, magazine creator, and general #lifegoals inspiration, to come up with an easy but luxurious solution.
First, let’s ponder what fresh mozzarella adds to a caprese salad. It’s meant to lend a creamy backnote to the flavors of the salad, and to add the lushness of dairy to help tame the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes. If you don’t have great mozzarella, the balance of the dish is thrown off. Stewart’s solution? Cream!
Courtesy of Clarkson Potter.
While you might be used to making whipped cream all summer to go with strawberries, fruit desserts, and ice cream sundaes, Stewart’s recipe ingeniously calls for softly whipped unsweetened cream in place of mozzarella in this heirloom tomato salad. The thich, rich, airy cream adds a whole new element of texture to the dish, while still maintaining the balance thank’s to its luscious texture. The key is not over-whipping it — you still want the texture to be a little loose, so the dollops of cream enrobe the tomatoes rather than crown them. It’s unexpected, but it makes this caprese salad even more luxurious than the traditional recipe.
Courtesy of La Tourangelle.
You’ll need basil and extra-virgin olive oil to round out the dish, and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt to finish is never a bad idea. Make sure to break out the good olive oil for this recipe.
Courtesy of Saltverk.
Serve this salad as-is for lunch on the hottest days of the year, as a side dish for your favorite grilled meats, or with some toasted bread as an appetizer at your next dinner party. Your guests will marvel at the elegant simplicity of this salad recipe, and you’ll know that you’ve done Martha proud.
In search of more summer recipes? Giada De Laurentiis has plenty:
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