Mexicaprese

We eat a LOT of caprese this time of year, given the wonderful tomatoes in the market as well as those given to us by friends who end up with overly bounteous gardens. I love the stuff, but I've been keeping an eye out for alternatives that would be quick and easy to make while still being tomato-centric. I saw something in a magazine a couple of days ago that was being served at a Mexican restaurant locally. It involved slices of fresh tomatoes with an avocado dressing, crumbled queso fresco, and a sprinkling of cilantro. That sounded like a winner, so on the way home from work tonight, I picked up some local heirloom tomatoes, a couple of avocados, some "quesadilla" cheese, and some cilantro. I did the obvious and sliced the tomatoes, topping them with slices of the avocado, slices of cheese, a little sea salt, and chopped cilantro. It was absolutely delicious. While not as pure as caprese, it was still nicely balanced with all elements getting along well together. Only downside was that it was a little hard to cut off a piece that contained tomato, avocado, and cheese. Next time, I might go ahead and mash the avocado with a little lime juice and spread a bit on the tomatoes rather than going with slices. The cheese might also be worth changing. I bought the quesadilla cheese as it was a soft one that seemed closest to mozzarella out of the available Mexican cheese. Flavor-wise, it worked well, but it was difficult to slice thinly enough. Going with crumbled bits of a harder cheese would be worth a try. Overall, though, this was a success and one that I'll be making again (although it certainly will not supplant the glory that is caprese!).

[Jenise]

For the cheese element, consider substituting goat cheese--the tang is more of an opposite, or third leg of the table, than the milder queso fresco is (and which, eyes closed, is probably too similar to the avocado).

Yeah, the Quesadilla cheese was like a somewhat funky version of a part-skim mozzarella. There was enough flavor there to set it apart but I think something crumbled would be better than something sliced. I agree that queso fresco wouldn't have enough flavor to add anything. A goat cheese with some stuffing to it would work nicely.