Japanese Insalata Caprese 日本風カプレーゼサラダ

The title is a bit of stretch. This is a combination of miso marinated fresh mozzarella cheese, thin slices of tomato, perilla leaves and grilled miso.

The mozzarella cheese was marinated for a week (we just forgot we had this) in the mixture of miso and mirin as described before. I scraped off the miso marinade and sliced it.

I used a sharp knife to remove the tomato skin (but I could have blanched it first). To make it more attractive, I made it to a "rose". If you are interested in making a tomato rose or flower, here is the instruction with pictures (in Japanese).

Grilled miso: I simply smeared the miso marinade in a thin layer in a porcelain spoon and held it over the gas fire for few minutes until the surface became brown and the miso was fragrant.

We smeared a bit of the grilled miso on the slice of cheese and layered it with a small piece of perilla and a slice of tomato like insalat caprese. We really liked this combination of flavors. My wife really liked the miso and even ate a portion of miso I did not eat. That night, however, she was very very thirsty.