Tomato Stack, A Simple Italian Starter
Some would call this a starter, some would call it a salad. I call it delicious! It's simple to make yet visually stunning, making this perfect for any Italian dinner party.
Cook Time
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 8 min
Ready in: 18 min
Yields: 3-4 Stacks
Ingredients
- 2 large beef tomatoes
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese
- Small can sliced black olives
- fresh basil leaves, amount variable to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon basalmic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400'F. Alternately you can use a broiler, but reduce cook time to 5 minutes or less. Grease a cookie sheet.
- Thinly slice the tomatoes and cheese. There should be 3 slices of each per stack. Depending on how many you get from your tomatoes you can make 3 or 4 stacks.
- Place one slice for each stack on the cookie sheet. Add one slice of cheese on top of each tomato. Then sprinkle a few olives.
- Basil is a strong flavor for some. You can add a few pieces to each layer or reserve some just for the top.
- Add another layer of tomato, cheese, olives and possibly basil.
- Top with the final tomato and cheese slices.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 5-8 minutes or until cheese has just melted. You want the tomatoes to just be warm not cooked.
- While the stacks are melting in the oven combine the olive oil and vinegar.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle vinegar mixture over stacks and garnish with basil and more olives before serving.
