Caprese Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette

Red and Brown Tomatoes

This salad came about after I bought some brown tomatoes. I'd never had brown tomatoes before and thought it would be a fun new ingredient to play around with in the kitchen. I was amazed at how sweet they were when I tasted them. Their firm texture was similar to Roma tomatoes but a lot sweeter in flavor. They were perfect just by themselves, so the decision to make a Caprese Salad was an easy one. However, I wasn't going to make the appetizer, instead I made an actual salad with them.

My first run through with this salad sadly was not so pretty presentation-wise. Last Saturday, my husband and I had worked in the yard all day. We're putting in a paver patio and we're at the digging, dirt moving stage. Messy, back-breaking work. My hands are still killing me. We had been at it most of the day and it was almost 5PM and we had dinner plans at one of our friends house for 7PM. I had offered to bring some appetizers and a salad. Running out of time, I showered, got dressed and set out to the kitchen. I made a white bean hummus,(I substituted white beans for the chickpeas) a carrot dip and then I was left to make the Caprese Salad. My goal for the salad was to just get the flavor down with the Pesto Vinaigrette. The brown tomatoes would speak for themselves, it was the dressing that had to be good. 
I have a huge lemon basil plant in my yard so I picked a ton of beautiful leaves and used them in my salad dressing as well as the whole leaves on the salad itself. The dressing was was light, Basil-y and gave the salad the taste I wanted, similar to a Caprese appetizer but definitely a vinaigrette.
  

Unfortunately, I was out of time and since I offered to bring appetizers, I didn't want to be late. So I brought all the salad ingredients with me to assemble there. My presentation wasn't so pretty on Saturday.*sigh* But, I decided to make it again on Sunday where I tweaked the dressing just a bit and it turned out amazing! I feel bad that my dressing and presentation weren't fully developed for the Saturday dinner party but I'm grateful for the dress rehearsal because now it's just right. Give it a whirl and let me know how you like it. 

Other tomato recipes to try: 
Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Maui Onion and Zucchini, 
Nana's Salsa
Garden Fresh Gazpacho Soup

Caprese Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette
Serves 4

6 cups of mixed baby greens
3 brown tomatoes, sliced
3 red tomatoes, sliced
5-6 small balls of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
Pine nuts

Pesto Vinaigrette
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 garlic clove
1 T pine nuts
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 T agave sweetener, or honey
1/3 cup olive oil

Blend basil leaves, garlic, pine nuts salt and pepper in a mini food processor until finely minced. Add both vinegars and agave sweetener and blend until incorporated. Lastly, add olive oil to emulsify. Refrigerate until ready to use. 


Layer lettuce, tomatoes, cheese on a serving platter. Sprinkle with pine nuts and basil leaves. Just before serving, toss with Pesto Vinaigrette.  Enjoy!