Caprese, finger food style

Caprese finger food

Traditionally is a dish within the Neapolitan cuisine and the name of this dish comes fresh from the island of Capri.

 

CREAM WITH ZUCCHINI AND BASIL

 zucchini

200 gr 

Gelatin

4 gr

Basil

10 gr

Sale

q.b.

Olive oil q.b.

 

CREAM OF TOMATO

Cherry  tomatoes


300 gr

Gelatin

5 g

Salt

q.b


Olive oil q.b

Fresh basil  10 gr

 

FOR THE CAPRESE

Burrata or Bufala or

Stracciatella 


250 gr

Pine nuts or q.b.

Peel the zucchini , remove the tips and cut them in half, remove the white part with the seeds  and cut the rest into pieces , in total you should have 200 grams of cleaned and chopped zucchini.

Heat up two tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and cook the zucchini for a few minutes until they soften , be careful not to overcook them . Transfer them in the bowl of a blender and add half the basil and a tablespoon of water , blend everything very well in order to obtain a homogeneous mixture , the mixture  should weight about 180 gr.

Prepare the jelly tomatoes: clean and cut the cherry tomatoes in half,  heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan and let cook the tomatoes with the rest of the basil as long as they are not too soft , about 20 minutes; take them out of the pan and pass through a food mill,  you should obtain 180-200 grams ( it depends on the ripeness of the tomatoes , the more fleshy the denser will be the sauce ) .

Soak the gelatin dividing it into two bowls of cold water, put it one 5 g ( for tomatoes ) and  4 g for the zucchin's cream .

If necessary, strain the tomato puree to remove seeds.

In the meantime, allow to cool  the two separate pots: the tomato sauce and the cream of zucchini and then add the two quantities of gelatin making them dissolve well.

Pour the tomato cream directly into 4 glasses and place  them into the fridge to harden, or in the freezer .

Transfer the cream of zucchini in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to harden,too .

Once the tomatoes' gelatin is very firm , divide into the 4 glasses also the Stracciatella , after kneading it slightly with a fork so yo broken fibers ; put now the zucchini mixture and basil in a pastry bag of tiny 1 cm and decorate the glasses  with this stracciatella .

Toast a handful of pine nuts shortly in a pan with no other fat  and then arrange them into glasses as a garnish .

■ SUGGESTION

Always weigh the two compounds before adding the gelatin and measure about 4 grams of gelatin per 200 grams of liquid, to have a very compact tomato jelly , I added 5 g . Not all gelatins on the market have the same thickening power.