When I saw this recipe for cubed, hacked caprese salad on Smitten Kitchen I knew that I would be making it that night. I was planning on making homemade pizza for dinner with friends (as you all know I like to do sometimes), and thought this salad would be a perfect partner in crime.  I printed out the recipe, tucked it into my purse, bought fresh mozzarella and fat, ripe, red Jersey tomatoes on the way home from work and threw it together to nosh on while we were waiting for the pizza to cook.

Caprese salad, and I mean good caprese salad, is one of my favorite Italian-inspired dishes. No, it doesn’t hold a candle to my baked penne with sausage and spinach or my spinach pumpkin linguine (what can I say? I like spinach). But when you have caprese salad made with excellent mozzarella cheese, you only need a little bit and when you have fresh-from-the-vine tomatoes you can let them star as the lead ingredient.

This salad has both perfect mozzarella and exemplary tomatoes. It also uses white beans, which I love for their addition of healthy fiber and protein to an otherwise indulgent dish and fresh (or store-bought) pesto sauce for its light basil flavor, reminiscent of Indian summer.

Cubed, Hacked Caprese Salad
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 pound fresh mozzarella, diced into 1/2-inch cubes

1 pound peak-season tomatoes, diced into 1/2-inch cubes

1 15-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup pesto (or a handful of slivered basil plus 1/4 cup olive oil)

3 to 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and then reseason again to adjust to your taste. Eat at once or keep it in the fridge up to a few days. Shelf life depends on how fresh your mozzarella is.