Labor Day is behind us. Summer, the official version, is over. Just don’t tell the basil. It’s still going strong, at farmers’ markets and in the pots on my terrace. If I could choose just one flavor to extend the longest, brightest days of the year, this would be it. The evocative, familiar fragrance of the soft herb is the embodiment of summer, but shorter days do not spell its end. Now, if there is one constant to my menus, it is an ever-evolving riff on a famous salad that basil defines: the caprese. These last salads of the season may feature the traditional mozzarella, but I often use creamier burrata, and sometimes heretical feta. But there is always basil. Sweet green, purple, tiny, or Thai.
There is time. Eat basil while you can. (And you’ll need a watermelon for the basil and burrata recipe at the end.)
Photography by Marie Viljoen.
What makes an insalata di caprese (mozzarella, tomato, basil) a classic is its sumptuous austerity. It’s a combination of ingredients whose contrasting and complementary qualities are genius in their simplicity. Juicy, sweetly acid tomatoes, the soft cheese, the bitterly fragrant leaves of basil. A slick of olive oil, a shower of salt, and black pepper, for the reckless. The basic version can be exquisite, or awful. It’s as good as your ingredients. And if they are truly of the season, this salad’s supple framework allows you to improvise. Wonderfully.
