Heya everybody :3

Cooking bearkitty  Ghosty here.
And you know what .. it's summer. Or, something that could be called summer. On the calendar, not exactly IRL.
Buuut still, it's summer. So I'm bringing you a little 'summer' dish. And because I love the Italian cuisine, it's something Italian again. :)

Doesn't need much ingredients and is prepared relatively easy and quick.

Caprese:
You just need ripe tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, Mozzarella di bufala, a good native olive oil (best take olive oil extra vergine), sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Stack up slices of tomato, slices of buffalo Mozzarella and basil leaves. Apply salt and pepper and drizzle everything with a healthy dose of olive oil extra vergine.
And you are done already.

Make sure to use buffalo Mozzarella, not the one made from cows milk. Believe me, Mozzarella di bufala is more than worth it's higher price and has a totally different taste and texture.
Using Balsamic vinegar or (worse) that sugery artificial cream of balsamic is not part of the original recipe and should not be used.
Honestly, that stuff is just used to mask low quality cow's milk Mozzarella, that just has no taste at all and has a rubbery texture.


Bruschetta:
Originally a poor people's food, the basic recipe is super simple.
Roast some white bread (I used Pane filone), then rub it with a peeled garlic clove. Drizzle some olive oil on the bread.
Take a good oil. Olive oil extra vergine is recommended.
Apply some sea salt and pepper.
It's already great when eaten directly this way ^_^

Or you can step things up a little by adding additional ingredients.
I prepared four varieties for you :3 But of course you can add anything you see fit.
Variety 1: The classic. Base recipe + diced tomato (remove the seeds, they'll just add water), fresh basil, finely chopped garlic. Optional: finely cut onions
Variety 2: Base recipe + Parma ham and rucola
Variety 3: Base recipe + finely cut rucola, oregano, (red) basil, chopped walnut and shaved Pecorino cheese
Variety 4: Base recipe + diced tomato (remove the seeds, they'll just add water), fresh basil, finely chopped garlic, black olives (real ones, not blackened ^.^' ) and anchovy filets.

Enjoy ^_^