Eat This Blog: Tomato-Mozzarella-Mushroom Appetizer

Posted on 10 February 2008 under Canadian Food, Eat This Blog, Photos

I have a confession to make. My favorite food show on television isn’t American. It’s on the Food Network, but it’s Food Network Canada. The Great Canadian Food Show is hosted by actor Carlo Rota and runs on the CBC from 3 - 3:30 weekdays. Rota lends a great humor to the program (currently in its 5th season), making the show a lot of fun to watch.

This past week the CBC ran the Leamington Tomato episode of The Great Canadian Food Show. Toward the end of the episode, at Spago Trattoria & Pizzeria in Leamington, Ontario, Chef Daniele Palanca made this simple but elegant appetizer for dinner. Slices of fresh mozzarella topped with slices of tomato topped with slices of mushroom, drizzled with truffle oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper. It was simple, beautiful, very elegant … I decided to try it.

The only place to get fresh mozzarella around here is from the Four Corners Creamery, part of the Boulevard Market in Tecumseh. I’ve been enjoying John Aylward’s handmade mozzarella since almost the first day he started making it there in the store in June of 2006. He now makes a number of other cheeses and cheese mixtures.

This past Friday I asked John to pack up a half-pound of his handmade mozzarella into my order. Saturday morning, I picked up some decent tomatoes and some baby portobello mushrooms. This afternoon I put together the appetizer from the Leamington Tomato episode, substituting a good extra-virgin olive oil for the more-expensive truffle oil.

This simple snack is simply amazing! The flavors mesh and compliment each other quite well. I can see this at a small party, possible being also stacked on a thinly-sliced toasted rye bread.

Yeah, I might have to try that, too.

Read Comments

  1. 10 February 2008 @ 1:01 pm Posted by Char James-Tanny

    Also try it by adding the barest drizzle of good balsamic vinegar over the top. Yum!

  2. 10 February 2008 @ 1:32 pm Posted by JEP

    Oh, I especially like your idea of placing this on toasted bread…making a meal out of it, too! Can you just imagine how good this will taste late summer when the real home grown tomatoes are available!

  3. 10 February 2008 @ 1:46 pm Posted by Dave

    Char, I can also see it being drizzled with any number of herbed dipping oils, especially if you do a, “Make your own”, with an assortment of tomatoes and mushrooms.

    JEP, maybe include some grilled zucchini? ;-)

  4. 11 February 2008 @ 1:18 pm Posted by Anna

    Sorry for sounding like a dork, but you said the only place to get fresh mozzarella is at that location in Tecumseh… what about at the specialty cheese display at the local grocery stores? Or is the flavor / quality that much better by going to a specialty food store?

  5. 11 February 2008 @ 1:28 pm Posted by Dave

    Hi Anna! As John makes his from scratch (he offers classes on occasion as well) and has full control over ingredients and such, I’ve not tasted a better mozzarella than his. However, now that you mention it I do recall there being freshly-made mozzarella at Sofo Foods retail shop on Monroe St. toward US-23 in north Toledo. I’ll have to try theirs at some point, too.

  6. 11 February 2008 @ 4:50 pm Posted by Cyndi

    This is my daughter’s favorite summer salad. We usually sprinkle on some fresh basil also. Yummm…especially on a hot summer evening with fresh garden tomatoes.

  7. 11 February 2008 @ 8:33 pm Posted by Dave

    Cyndi, I’m thinking city-wide yard sale? ;-)

  8. 13 February 2008 @ 2:30 pm Posted by DurianDurian

    With all due respect, I would never consider wasting fresh mozarella cheese on a supermarket tomato. This is a dish best enjoyed in the summer with impeccably fresh garden tomatoes.

  9. 13 February 2008 @ 3:02 pm Posted by Dave

    Durian, normally I’d have to agree with you … but it looked so good, I couldn’t wait! ;-)

  10. 13 February 2008 @ 5:27 pm Posted by DurianDurian

    I like your idea about party appetizers. Maybe a good garden cherry tomato, sliced, with a small dollop of mozarella and a sliver of mushroom on a slice of baguette crisped in the oven? Or a melba round? Or your rye suggestion?

    Also, I was thinking about truffle oil. I like it, but IMO it would totally overpower the cheese. I buy fresh mozzarella only hours old at a farmers market in the summer and it is exquisite. To mask its taste would be a crime. Even everyday fresh mozzarella doesn’t deserve a bath of truffle oil. Good call on avoiding it.

  11. 13 February 2008 @ 5:36 pm Posted by Dave

    Durian, there are so many possibilities for appetizers with this, it might be a whole cookbook chapter! Hmmm, that’s a thought there … ;-)

    It’s not so much a bathing drizzle of oil as it was a light, dripping drizzle on the show. There may have also been a few mint leaves, but they may have been added to the beauty shots for effect,

  12. 13 February 2008 @ 10:54 pm Posted by FlaNBoyant Eats

    This is one of my favorite snacks. Though I hadn’t thought to put mushrooms atop.
    How great.

  13. 14 February 2008 @ 5:20 am Posted by Dave

    Bren, I hadn’t thought of that one either until I saw the program on CBC. Going in a different direction, I can see this being topped with all kinds of things, butterflied chilled shrimp being the first thing to come to mind.

  14. 14 February 2008 @ 3:16 pm Posted by DurianDurian

    I make a summer app of cherry tomatoes from my garden stuffed with “gazpacho,” which is really just a brunoise of colorful gazpacho veggies that I have marinated in lime juice, tomato juice, hot sauce and tequila. The tequila really makes it.

    I have also marinated cold poached shrimp in the above and it’s also killer. Pairs perfectly with tomato.

  15. 24 February 2008 @ 8:50 pm Posted by Daniele Palanca

    I am commenting on the article you wrote in regards to the episode you saw me in on the Great Canadian Foodshow. I am flattered that you really enjoyed the show and more so that you tried out my recipe. The only correction to the recipe you posted was the mushroom component. I don’t place mushrooms but instead thinly sliced fresh truffles. I also place basil under the buffalo mozzarella. I recently published a cook book that was sponsered by the ministry of agriculture and the good people at OGVG. I would be more than happy to provide you with a few copies so you can use some of the recipes in some future articles.
    With regards,
    Chef Daniele Palanca
    Chef Specialist St.Clair Centre for the Arts

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