Marinated Mozzarella Balls

 

Becky and I absolutely love Caprese Salads. We love the simplicity: basil, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Becky grows the basil and tomatoes right on the deck outside the kitchen...so it's an easy grab for two of the ingredients. 

There are a couple of things that we change up. While the traditional recipe calls for a drizzling of olive oil over the assembled salad, we use truffle oil. The flavor of the truffles gives the salad an incredible, umami depth. Once you make it with truffle oil, I guarantee that you will never go back to plain olive oil.

The other thing we change up is that instead of plain mozzarella balls, we use marinated mozzarella balls. In our earlier life, that was easy to do because Costco regularly stocked Formaggio Marinated Mozzarella Balls. They are marinated in oil with herbs and spices...and boy is that great stuff. But having been a Costco customer for 25 years, the only thing you can absolutely count on is that Costco will always quit selling your favorite shit!

They have not carried Formaggio for 3+ years now...and neither of our favorite grocery stores has it. However, they all sell fresh mozzarella balls in water...so I just found a way to marinate them on my own. It's stupid simple and I actually think they taste better than the Formaggio product. The only downside is that olive oil in the marinade thickens in the fridge, so you have to put them on the kitchen counter about an hour before you make the salad (or run some lukewarm water over the container right before).

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped

1 tablespoon fresh oregano,  finely chopped

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or more to taste)

16 ounces fresh mozzarella balls, drained

DIRECTIONS

1. To make it easy, I drain the mozzarella contents into a strainer or colander and then make the marinade right in the original container.
2. Combine the first seven ingredients and stir thoroughly to mix. Add mozzarella to the marinade. Then cover, refrigerate and let marinate for at least 1 hour. This will keep for up to 5 days.