Earlier today we told you about our cocktail party strategy of sticking to two or three dishes (rather than eight or nine) that look bountiful and feed a crowd. This is one we just served: tomato skewers piled high on a platter, dressed up with a little basil oil that takes two minutes to make.
We're basically taking a caprese salad and putting it on a stick, and no doubt you've seen a variation of these skewers on a buffet or two in your day. But they really are hard not to like, and they couldn't be easier to throw together.
We bought bocconcini, bite-sized mozzarella balls, to make the process even quicker, but you could also cut a big ball of mozzarella into chunks. On each skewer, we put three grape tomatoes and one piece of cheese.
For the basil oil, we blended a couple of handfuls of fresh basil leaves in a blender with enough olive oil to make it fluid and creamy. We put it through a strainer, thinking we'd get clear green oil on the other end, but most of the basil bits came through the sieve. Next time we won't bother with that step; the bits of basil are a nice pop of color anyway.
Because we were transporting this platter to another location for the party, we put our basil oil in a squeeze bottle and squirted it on once we got there. Done!
Related: Questions for Allie: Appetizers for a Stress-Free Cocktail Party?
(Images: Elizabeth Passarella)
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Had these at a party last night, and they were lovely - with one thing: some of them had been made a bit too long, and so getting the pieces off was a little difficult, and the cheese was a bit big for one bite. Great idea, but make sure when in doubt go smaller!
Sounds yummy! Thanks for posting.
I have never seen this idea before, but it is BRILLIANT. Just the other day i was trying to think of an easier way to serve caprese salad at a party, and this is THE solution!
I love caprese salad and these are lovely. I am certainly going to steal this idea for a party in the near future.
Yummy. Add a baguette and that was my lunch today!
http://embritadesign.blogspot.com
Gorgeous photo.
I make these for cocktail parties or as apps pretty often. I make them a little smaller since like @Tanner Adair mentioned, on a skewer they can be hard to eat. I buy the marinated mozzarella balls from a local Italian deli which has bits of basil leaves and tomatoes already mixed in. I slide one mozzarella ball and just one cherry/grape tomato with a bit of basil sandwiched between the two onto a long toothpick. Delicious and simple. Great post!
Love it. I've done them on toothpicks (just big enough for tomato-cheese-tomato) which might be a bit easier to eat...
I took these to a potluck brunch. I used a short skewer with just one tomato and one piece of cheese. The mozzarella balls were small -- a single bite. I served them with a small bowl of pesto. Everyone was snatched up right away. Tasty and pretty!
Forget party. I just saw the salad for dinner tonight! :-) Party of two!
Seriously brilliant
these are excellent! a local restaurant serves them during a downtown summer food festival here, with the addition of the basil leaves sandwiched between as mentioned above, and it's always a must-stop!
I got this from an Italian caterer, we make this a lot as appetizers and it is always a big hit.
On toothpicks we skewer a small piece of mozzarella (baby is best), a half of a cherry tomato and a single black olive. we put these on a deep tray and drench them with pesto sauce to which we add a lot of olive oil to make it more flowing...
this comes out bite size and delicious! this tray always empties out early...
I love this but with bocconcini cheese : sooo delicious !
Delicious :)
try also with grilled white bread and anchovy sauce:
http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-recipes/search-recipes/mozzarella-skewers.aspx