TOMATO MOZZARELLA SALAD from Cheesecake Factory

[meimei]

Hi All, A friend asked me to make this dressing for her. Having never had this salad from there before, I don't even know what it taste like. Does anyone know if this is just a basic vinegrette? Or it looks from the menu they also have blue cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, but is it in the dressing or just in the dish? I know you guys are the most resouceful bunch, and hope you can help. Thanks!

[chrisinroch]

I do a balsamic viniagrette with my caprese salad. not sure if that is what this salad is...(tomatos, chunks of fresh mozz, large bread chunks, whole leaf basil) I just do a basic oil and balsamic to taste and add a little salt and pepper to taste

[hill food]

yeah I was going to say the same as chrisinroch: just make a caprese and call it a day (personally I don't use the bread but would devour it with gratitude) - just find the best tomatoes you can.

fresh mozzarella AND blue cheese and SUN-DRIED tomatoes at this time of year? sounds like they're masking sub-standard ingredients and dodging seasonal menu changes/re-prints.

sorry if I'm veering on snobby, I love blue cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in their appropriate capacities, but in the N. hemisphere we're bouncing into prime tomato season. save the sun dried for fall. has your friend never had a classic caprese, or is there a sentimental craving going on?

[chrisinroch]

this is probably something that you already do but I serve a deconstructed caprese on a piece of bruschetta.....slice mozz, slice tomato, a leaf of basil, drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper right at the end (or the tomato will start to give off water like crazy). I suppose you could drizzle a bit of balsamico if you want to.

I agree about the bleu cheese and the sundried tomatoes. So much of our menu has gotten away from the beauty of seasonality if favor of cardboard tomatoes etc.

[laliz]

I'm not using fresh tomatoes (don't have access to home grown) until the FDA figures out what is making people sick ~~ so I would go with the sun-dried

[chrisinroch]

There are lots of tomatoes that are not suspected at all. Do a little research and you should be fine. Grape, cherry and on the vine.

[hill food]

I'm lucky I can get local/regional (it's the big agribusiness consolidators that are under suspicion), but yeah if the local super is your only source, the ones you should be fine with are the ones chrisinroch mentions.

plus it's not conclusive tomatoes were indeed the culprits.

I'll take my chances. but then I have few health issues besides indigestion and high cholesterol level.

that and being a really annoying pain in the (neck).