Fresh-picked Tomatoes, Horn Worms and Grilled Caprese Salad

  

    There is nothing in the world like a perfectly ripe, home-grown tomato...smooth, plump and sun-warmed in your hand. close your eyes and the piney, sweet, musky scent is otherworldly.

     This precious gem is the Holy Grail that motivates and inspires through tireless digging, planting, weeding, staking, weeding watering, weeding and facing the most terrifying of all garden pests…the horn worm.   

     You will be in your garden one balmy evening, crickets or cicadas softly singing, dirt warm between your toes, happily picking today’s sun-ripened bounty to share with your loved ones.  You will lean in a little too far to pick an elusive treasure and there the beast will be lurking two inches from your face.  No matter how many tomato plants I have…that first horn worm sighting is always a horror movie scene with much screaming and stumbling.   

     When the initial shock passes, I can be a big girl and go back in… methodically scour leaf by leaf, picking off the creatures.  After seeing them weak and helpless in a bucket I never seem to have the heart to squish them …I work past that by scattering them out in an open spot and letting the bird assassins do my dirty work.

Grilled and Stacked Caprese Salad

2 cups basil, torn in pieces

1/2 cup olive oil

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

salt

pepper

4 large tomatoes with stems attached, sliced horizontally into 1/3’s

6 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced in 1/2” rounds

Whisk the basil, 1/3 cup oil, vinegar, and Parmesan cheese together in a small bowl until smooth.

Coat tomato slices with remaining oil and liberally salt and pepper each side.

Prepare grill to medium heat.

Grill tomato slices for one minute, then flip…Do not flip the tops or the stems will burn!

Arrange mozzarella slices on top of tomato slices and grill until the cheese melts, 2 minutes more.

Stack the slices back together with the lid on top and serve with the basil sauce.