Perfect Marinated Tomatoes cherry with Mozzarella balls

400 min

4 servings

You can easily serve this as a side dish when grilling chicken or steak, and it also makes a delicious appetizer that you can serve with some slices of toasted bread. The marinade on the cheese and tomatoes is a delicious combination of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, fresh basil or cilantro, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Seriously SO good!

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Mini Mozzarella Pearls 350 gr - I find these mini fresh mozzarella balls in the cheese section at my local grocery store.
•2 tbsp oil packed sun dried tomatoes
•Extra-Virgin Olive Oil 150 ml- make sure it’s good quality!
•Fresh Garlic - minced 2 small
•Parsley dried or fresh 1 tbsp
•Fresh basil 8 leaves
•Oregano - dried 1/2 tsp
•Thyme - dried o 1/2 tsp
•Red Pepper Flakes
•Salt (according to your taste)
•Black Pepper 1/3 tsp

Cooking Instructions

Make the marinade. In a small bowl or jar, mix together olive
oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, seasonings and fresh basil or cilantro. Pour the marinade all over the tomatoes and mozzarella and mix well until everything is nice and coated.

Chef's Note

You can let the tomatoes and mozzarella marinate for a minimum of 3 hours or even overnight (24 hours). I don't recommend marinating for longer than 24 hours as the balsamic vinegar will start to break down the cheese and potentially change the texture. I find that the sweet spot for this recipe is marinating for about 7 to 8 hours for the best taste! Basically I'll make this in the morning and serve it later in the day Just make sure to take it out about 20 minutes to an hour before serving so that the salad can come to room temp first. As I said before, olive oil solidifies while in the fridge, so allowing it to come to room temp will return the olive oil to liquid form.