Caprese Tarts |Cooking With Amanda

You must have known this was coming. Of course I had to make something that had an Italian flare to it!

I remember the first time I had a caprese. It was when I lived in Vicenza, Italy, and I was out at a restaurant and decided to order an appetizer.

Now just so you know, when ordering a caprese expect a large plate of deliciousness coming your way. If you do get a small plate, leave that restaurant immediately because they are holding out on you!

So the plate came and it was piled with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil and olive oil! It was the best appetizer I had ever had. After that time I would normally order this dish every time I went out to eat. Funny I wouldn't make them at home, which would be more practical but waited till I was eating out.

Let me tell you a few things about ordering a caprese in Italy. You can normally get it with regular mozzarella (normally made from cow's milk) or you can get buffalo mozzarella (made from a domestic Italian water buffalo). So if you see that on the menu you will understand the difference. I personally think the buffalo one is creamier in texture and it looks stringier.

Well lucky for you, you do not have to be like me and wait till you eat out to eat a caprese. You can make it at home! But I added a twist to it. I piled my ingredients high onto puff pastry and served them warm. Oh yeah!

What I decided to do with these tarts I thought roasting the tomatoes would give it a good flare. In this recipe I used a variety of tomatoes and mozzarella pearls. It is a really flexible dish so you could use any tomato and any size mozzarella, you just might have to do some cutting up of your ingredients. I am all about the easy, so I went with bite size ingredients!

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Caprese Tarts Recipe

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Ingredients

12 ounces cherry tomatoes
extra virgin olive oil
salt
8 ounces fresh mozzarella pearls
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed according to package
fresh basil, chopped
balsamic vinegar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place tomatoes on sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and salt.
Bake for 15 minutes or until tomatoes are soft.
When done press lightly down on tomatoes to squash them a little. Set aside. Leave oven on!
For puff pastry:
Roll out pastry on flour countertop and cut into 9 equal squares.
Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicon mat. Cut a line around the edge of each pastry to make a border.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. When done use a flat spatula to press down the center of pastry.
Cool for 1 minute.
Add 3 pearl mozzarella balls to each pastry. Top with tomatoes. Sprinkle with basil.
Drizzle each pastry with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve and ENJOY!