Often, packing salads the night before you plan on having them for lunch results in a soggy mush of oily veggies. Packing your salad in a jar can help keep your ingredients fresh. While you can do this with pretty much any salad, this recipe takes the classic caprese salad ingredients and stacks them, so the fresh mozzarella marinates with the dressing at the bottom, and the lettuce at the top stays crisp.
Ingredients:
Pesto Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup – fresh parsley
1 cup – fresh basil leaves
3 tbsp – lemon juice
1 tbsp – lemon rind
2 garlic cloves
3 tbsp – pine nuts
(use walnuts or almonds for
different flavour)
2 tsp. – Dijon mustard
3/4 cup – extra virgin
olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Salad:
5–7 cocktail bocconcini sliced in half (or fresh buffalo mozzarella if available)
6–8 cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup – Arugula, romaine lettuce, or baby spinach
Method:
• Make the vinaigrette by combining all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
• Place vinaigrette in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Choose a mason jar as big as your appetite—I used a mid-sized one.
• Place sliced bocconcini at the bottom.
• Add cherry tomatoes on top.
• Layer the arugula, lettuce, or spinach on the tomatoes.
• Pour dressing, allowing it to flavour the vegetables before reaching the bocconcini and marinating them overnight.
• You can eat the salad from the jar, layer by layer, or you can bring a bowl with you and mix it when you’re ready to eat.