Today a recipe for a fresh, unique dish: caprese grain salad.
A mix of 5 grains for the carbohydrate part, juicy red cherry tomatoes for the vegetables, and delightful mozzarella pearls for the protein, all seasoned with a very fragrant cherry tomato sauce.
I used a grain mix that I find ready-made at the supermarket, on the rice shelf. It’s precooked and therefore requires less cooking time because, as we know, when it’s hot, we don’t like spending too much time near the stove, and it’s also very good. My grain mix consists of barley, spelt, rice, wheat, and oats and requires only 10 minutes of cooking, just enough time to cut the tomatoes and prepare the seasoning.
The longest part of this preparation is the cherry tomato sauce, which, if you don’t have time, you can replace with basil pesto or arugula pesto. In both cases, you’ll achieve an exceptional and very fragrant result, but at least once, I recommend trying it because it’s truly worth the waiting minutes.
Now let’s see together, step by step, how to make this recipe.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients for caprese grain salad for 4 people
- 300 g grain mix
- 150 g mozzarella pearls (or pearls)
- 150 g cherry tomatoes
- as needed olive oil
- as needed salt
- 2 leaves basil
- 1 pinch dried oregano
- 80 g cherry tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pinch pepper
Tools
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Chopping board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Pot
- 1 Air fryer
- 1 Hand blender
Let’s prepare the caprese grain salad together
In the pot, bring water to a boil to cook the grains. Meanwhile, wash the cherry tomatoes and cut them into 4 parts (if they are too large, into 8) and put them in a bowl. If you have mozzarella pearls, add them to the tomatoes, otherwise, if you have cherry mozzarella or large mozzarella, dice it and add it to the tomatoes. Also, add the basil leaves, torn into pieces by hand, and a pinch of oregano.
In the air fryer basket, place the previously washed cherry tomatoes without detaching them, season them with oil, salt, pepper, a small garlic clove, and oregano, and cook them at 340°F for 35/40 minutes or until they are soft enough to mash. Then, detach them from the stalk and put them, along with all the juices created, in the immersion blender glass and blend. You can find the full detailed preparation on the blog.
Once the grains are cooked, drain them and rinse quickly under running water to stop cooking. Then, add them to the bowl with tomatoes and mozzarella. Add a nice spoonful of freshly prepared cherry tomato sauce and mix. Adjust the salt and add a drizzle of oil.
A Curly Suggests
The caprese grain salad keeps well in the fridge, in an airtight container, for a couple of days.
