Y’all- today’s recipe is as wonderful as one, two, three.
One- stack beautiful summer grape tomatoes on a wooden skewer layered with mozzarella and fresh basil leaves.
Two- stir together balsamic vinegar with brown sugar and a few other ingredients over the stove until a glossy, thick, dipping sauce forms.
Three, pile up your skewers on a tray, pour the balsamic into a bowl and invite guests to dig (or should we say dip?) in.
And friends, there are few summer vegetables as deliciously sweet and fun to eat off of a wooden stick as a grape tomato. Don’t get me wrong- I adore frozen popsicles- but consider this our version of a veggie sweet treat.
This summer has been an exciting one. Styling projects have kept me busy, and the creative people I’ve met along the way have wowed me with their ingenuity, talent, and passion. My amazing boyfriend, friends, and family have continued to love and encourage me to push forward toward my dreams, and I am beyond grateful for their prayers, love, and presence in my life.
But as always, there is something in each of us that draws us in, pulls us back, and anchors us at our core to be who we are. For me, that is, and always will be, food. I sense the same thing in James Farmers’ cookbook A Time To Cook: Dishes from My Southern Sideboard . He is a talented landscape designer, runs his own design business and is the author of another book on the subject, but I feel the same love of food, community, and his family in his writing. That’s why I like the book, and this recipe, so much. It invites us all to revel in the bounty of summer’s produce- but also in the bounty that is food shared with a crowd. And did I mention that football season starts in 16 days? #tailgating-recipe!
So pull out those wooden skewers, relax outside on a porch, and enjoy a kabob- or two, or three.
Caprese Kabobs with Balsamic BBQ Reduction (Recipe from James’ cookbook, A Time to Cook: Dishes from My Southern Sideboard, copyright 2013, Gibbs Smith publishing)
What You Will Need:
For the skewers:
- 1 heaping dry pint grape or cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, cubed or rolled into small balls
- About 24 fresh basil leaves
What You Will Do:
1. On bamboo skewers, alternate a tomato, cube or ball of cheese, and basil leaf until the skewer is full.
For the balsamic reduction:
What You Will Need:
- 1 1/2 cups balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
What You Will Do:
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Stir occasionally, making sure the sugar doesn’t stick on the bottom of the pan, until the liquid reduces by about half. It should be thick, glossy, a good consistency for dipping (not too thin), and taste sweet. A good test for me was if it clung to and coated the back of a spoon.
3. Let the liquid cool and serve as a dipper for, or drizzle on top of, your caprese skewers.
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