Delicious Summer Living

three printable recipes, slow summer living and date-night-in

Hello my friends,

There are printable recipes for this caprese salad, fresh mozzarella, and ciabatta rolls below. Keep scrolling!

For us, it’s tomato season. Today we’re going to make a lovely caprese salad with fresh mozzarella and wood-fired ciabatta. You can find printable versions of these recipes below, if you’re so inclined to make them. If not, sit back, pour a glass of the best wine, and just enjoy some slow summer living at the cottage.

Tomatoes and I have a funny history. Growing up, they were one of the only foods that I absolutely could not stand - at least, in their raw form. My grandpa would grow tomatoes in his small garden and my mom and sister would anxiously anticipate the first harvest from the garden. He would slice up the tomatoes indulge in something he thought was absolutely delicious. While I jokingly gagged. Luckily, my palette has changed and tomatoes are now the one vegetable I live for in the garden (besides eggplant, of course). Tomatoes are king and get all the space and all the attention. Each day, we harvest and tend to our little plants, happily gathering up our bounty. Today, when we brought in the daily harvest of tomatoes I knew it was time for the first caprese salad of the season.

I was the same with mozzarella growing up. Unless it was melted on a pizza, I was very uninterested in this soft and mild cheese. Years later, when I tasted fresh mozzerella, I feel in love. Today was a day that I also needed to work through an excess of milk from the dairy cow - in the summer time when I don’t want to stand over a cheese pot for hours, it’s quick mozzarella to the rescue. But don’t worry - you can make this salad with a fresh mozzarella from the store or market. No dairy cow required.

Print the recipes right here:

Ciabbata Recipe, Mozzerella Recipe, Caprese Recipe

485KB ∙ PDF file

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Stuart and I are so busy on the farm these days that it seems more and more difficult to sneak away into town for a quiet night together. The result is that we end up cooking for ourselves and enjoying “date nights in”. This usually always includes cooking something over flame - because it’s a piece of our kitchen that Stuart absolutely adores - and whatever we happen to bring in from the garden or farmyard that day.

You may notice that they’re Paisano and Sun Gold tomatoes and not the typical large heirloom varieties one uses in a caprese salad. We primarily grow Paisano tomatoes, which is like a San Marzano and a great tomato for homemade passata. This is our tomato priority. We grow just a few heirloom plants for prime fresh eating which are just now beginning to blush, so we’ll eat these in the meanwhile.

On the surface, a caprese salad is little more than tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and “the trimmings” - in this case, Bona Furtuna olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. But add on what you’d like. My Mom often adds peppers and onions onto hers.

I cannot recommend Bona Furtuna’s olive oil and balsamic vinegar enough - as I recently posted on Instagram, I could happily swim in a pool of them both. If you think you’ve tried good olive oil and aged balsamic before, I beg you to try Bona Furtuna’s (my favorite olive oil is the Forte blend) and email me to let me know what you think. I think you’ll note quite the difference. And life’s too short for bad olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

This salad is the perfect example of what Italian fare does so well - the ingredients are simple, but fresh. They’re eaten at the peak of flavor in their perfect season. They’re adorned with little more than fat and acid to bring out their beautiful flavors. And they’re served fresh to people you love.

So while we’re a far cry from fancy restaurants, this is what I would choose over and over again. A garden to put my hands to, seasons that change our plates, appreciation for simple pleasures, good wine, and wonderful people to share the table with. (Oh, and don’t worry about the kids… they had a lovely and special time in the kitchen at their own fancy date-night table.) These moments, beautiful food, they don’t just happen. They’re cultivated. And delicious.

Cheers,

Shaye