I am a person who is generally at a loss for anything failing to fit neatly into my interpretation of “common sense.” The irony abounds considering I have only slightly more common sense than Paris Hilton the majority of the time. Caprese salad, while wonderful, has always put me at a loss for two reasons. First, I feel like stacking the ingredients versus laying them out in a row on a beautiful, yet flat, plate complicates the eating process and degrades the integrity and flavor of the ingredients. In order to get all the delicious ingredients on your fork, you are required to push your food around and it is just more work and it destroys the “eye appeal” of the dish. This problem is accentuated by the American style of eating – us English eaters just mush everything onto the back of our forks anyway. Second, the addition of a couple julienned basil strips does not a salad make. Salad, under andiland guidelines, is defined by some combination of vegetables being present on the plate. Tomato is a fruit; mozzarella is cheese; basil is an herb. The combination is not a “salad” (likewise, I do not believe that cut fruit mixed together in a large bowl is fruit “salad” – it is fruit people) and the dish does not belong in the “salad” section of a menu.

To address these offenses, I introduce a “common sense” approach to a classic appetizer – the Stacked Caprese.  I am not saying a stacked version does not exist (I just have never seen it so fail to believe that it does, in fact, exist).

An extra twist on this classic is roasted tomatoes. As much as I love raw summer tomatoes, there is something about roasting them that my renders my palette extra juicy. I also used burrata which is a delectably creamy mozzarella-esque buffalo cheese (the center is in fact cream filled). Here is a bit more on burrata’s qualities (warining: you will most certainly drool, so try to read in solitude or with another cheese lover who can empathize). Between the creamy cheese, which is rendered even more slightly melty (yes that is a word in andiland) and gooey when layered between the hot tomatoes, and the small nuggets of roasted garlic, your mouth will scream “take me to pleasure town.”

Stacked Caprese APPETIZER (aka not salad)

Serves 4

• Two On-the-Vine Summer Tomatoes
• One to two garlic cloves finely mined
• Burrata cheese
• Fresh Basil, julienned
• Moudlen finishing salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• Good quality Olive Oil
• Good Quality Balsamic Vinegar (sub pre-made Balsamic Syrup if you have it on hand)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut the tomatoes into semi-thick rounds (a half to a whole centimeter), seed, and lay flat on a foiled baking dish. Drizzle with minced garlic and olive oil and season well with kosher salt and pepper. Roast until slightly caramelized (and nicely roasted), about 30 minutes and remove. Give the tomatoes a slight sprinkle of the finishing salt (taste first to ensure the salt content will not be too high). Slice the cheese thinly (less than a half centimeter) and reserve. Gently begin stacking the roasted tomato, cheese, tomato, cheese, then tomato. I love fresh basil so I add a ton, but adjust to your preferences and add the julienned basil to the plate (both atop the stack and around the plate). Grind the pepper over the plate. Lastly, add a drop or two of the balsamic vinegar (or syrup) to the plate. You add it directly to the stack (or even each layer), or dot over the plate and stack. Decide according to your preference for vinegar, but the acid is crucial to the dish.