Caprese Salad with Cilantro-Pecan Pesto
June 27, 2008 by Marye Audet
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegetarian
Fresh tomatoes are the best. Maybe you have noticed over the last few days that I love ripe summer tomatoes. No, really?
Caprese salad is so easy. Slice tomatoes and a ball of fresh mozzarella and alternate them on the plate. I like to sprinkle with a little fresh basil, a few greek olives, and a drizzle of olive oil.
When I want it to be really awesome I add cilantro pecan pesto. If you haven’t made your own pesto, you should. It is easy, inexpensive, and there is nothing like it.
This makes a great lunch dish with a chunk of french bread on the side.
Cilantro Pecan Pesto
2 cups of cilantro, large stems removed
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 teaspoon dried chipotle
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Put everything in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Allow to stand for 30 minutes for flavors to mellow out.
Males 1 cup
Image:marye audet
One of my favs. Your lucky you grow your own tomatoes.
That salad looks totally amazing Marye! Wow! I am in awe of its deliciousness!
Yep, Courtney, even after half of my plants froze in
the spring I had 5 plants left
Jenn, thanks! That is high praise.
Marye, this looks completely amazing. I’ve been reading the past few days, but haven’t had time to comment. You’ve been outdoing yourself, as usual.
BTW… I have a mint pesto recipe up from Wednesday’s post that you might like…
YUMMY! I grow cilantro and not mint..but htat sounds like it would be worth planting mint for.
For me this is cheap food we have 20+Native Pecan trees on our property (the biffest is probably 150 years old) and I grow cilanto pretty well.
Oh wow, cilantro-pecan…I’ve never come across a recipe like this. It sounds so wonderful, I can’t wait to try it!
Put you fat pants on, though Cathy.
Definitely one to add to my growing collection of favorite pestos. Thanks for sharing.
sure Ruth! I love this one.