I learnt this little quick and very easy to make recipe from my partner in crime, who never lets me cook… even in my own kitchen it seems. Although I’m not complaining because I get my own chef and the chance to try authentic homemade Spanish and Chilean dishes.
He was kind enough to tell me his recipe so I could try making it on my own while I was away from him. It’s a great classic Italian salad and it goes well with Pastel de Choclo ( basically a Chilean sweetcorn pie, which he made for me too.) And like I’ve already mentioned, it’s very easy to make and personalize and experiment with.
So here we go.
Ingredients:
- One packet of mozzarella (cut into medium sized chunks)
- Pack of Cherry tomatoes (chop each in half)
- Olive Oil (I used Tesco’s Herb de Province infused olive oil, which was fantastic)
- Croutons
- Oregano
- Black Pepper
- Basil
Optional Ingredients added for a twist:
- 2-4 boiled eggs depending on your tastes and the number of people you’re serving.(surprisingly it works well with the dish)
- green pitted olives ( simply because I love olives)
Preparation
- Gently separate the yolk from the boiled egg. I did this by slicing lightly around the circumference of the egg like you do with avocados, then scooping out the boiled yolk of which you can discard. Then only using the leftover white bit of the boiled egg, cut that into even chunks.
- Wash and chop the cherry tomatoes in half
- Chop the mozzarella slab into medium sized chunks
- I used about half a cup of olives, each olive chopped in half .
Method in the madness:
Step One:
Add the chopped cherry tomatoes and boiled eggs into a large bowl or dish and gently mix together.
Then add in the mozzarella and chopped olives and repeat the process until it is all evenly mixed in together.
Step Two
How much olive oil you add in, depends on your tastes, and health choices. Personally I don’t like food that’s too, too oily so I tried not to go overboard with this.
However you have to also make sure the salad is evenly covered. I would start with 2 tablespoons of oil and see how you feel. I eventually added in about 8 tablespoons until I was satisfied with the coverage.
Then mix well until all the ingredients are evenly covered.
Step Three:
To start off with:
- Sprinkle in a teaspoon of Basil
- Sprinkle in a teaspoon of Oregano
- Sprinkle in a teaspoon of Black Pepper
Then mix it all in well until the ingredients are evenly coated. Add more Black Pepper or Basil to taste if you need to. I would hold off adding in too much Oregano as it’s such a strong spice.
Also at this stage add in more Olive Oil if you feel the need to.
Step Four:
Cover the dish and place in the fridge until it’s ready to serve. Preferably for at least 20 minutes so it gets a nice chill
When you dish out the salad don’t forget to sprinkle on some Croutons!
