We have been eating these practically nightly!

My pro tipcs:

-salt the tomato slices slightly before stacking them in
-layer basil leaves in too, or sprinkle a really thin chiffonade of basil over the whole thing
-I finish it with a small drizzle of balsamic around the top - it offsets the creamy cheese nicely - but not a lot
-use beefsteak/slicing type tomatoes. You can use Romas, but there are better things to do with Romas. I like to slice them on a cutting board and then pick the slices up by the edges, which lets the seedy goo fall out. A little seedy goo is OK in my book - a lot, not so much.
-and have some bread or garlic toast handy for sopping up the incredibly delicious tomato-oil-vinegar juice that will be in the plate when you have eaten every bite.

FRESH BASIL LEAVES! There is nothing else.

Thank you! Very helpful. Are there certain kinds of tomatoes that are less acidic than others? I am only recently acquiring a taste for raw tomatoes and I'm terribly ignorant about the differences between the varieties.

OMG sounds delicious.

Are there certain kinds of tomatoes that are less acidic than others?

Really mellow, meaty tomatoes will strike you as less acidic. If you can find any heirloom tomatoes that are yellow, those taste great and are lower on the acid scale. Most ripe heirlooms that are the plump, round, squat, beefsteak type will be very sweet and not too acidic. But overall, tomato acidity doesn't really vary that much, and all tomatoes are considered high acid foods. What people mistake for acid is really ripeness, or how developed the sugars are. So you want nicely ripened tomatoes with firmer, meatier flesh.

Just checked a website, which recommended Cherokee Purple and Green Zebras as well as various yellow tomatoes as lower on the acid scale. Green zebra are fun - they are really green even when mature, but still ripe and delicious like a red tomato! I am growing some Cherokee Purples this year, and they are awesome. They look not-quite-ripe with their dark green shading, but they are ymmy.

Thank you again!

I actually know that I could buy this ready-made at my supermarket, but I am inspired by the corn cob thread below to buy my own ingredients and make it myself which will surely save me money.

Ooh, I have seen Cherokee Purple at the market.

Mmmmmmm, you know, you can do this a lot of different ways. Often, at my house, we sort of deconstruct the traditional caprese salad by not going with the slices. Instead, we serve it in a bowl. This lets add a little garlic powder to the olive oil, which is nice. But it also lets us use a mix of plum & grape tomatoes, which hold up pretty well.

If you can get a hold of some sungold tomatoes to add to the mix, that adds a pop of color and a delightful bit of sweetness.

When you do it this way, you obviously cut the mozzarella down to size, and chiffonade the basil leaves. I like to add a little balsamic vinegar, and a couple thin slices of red onion too, but not everyone agrees with me on those two points.

I actually know that I could buy this ready-made at my supermarket, but I am inspired by the corn cob thread below to buy my own ingredients and make it myself which will surely save me money.

You will amaze yourself at the transcendent deliciousness of it. This is one of those luscious foods that is more than the sum of its parts.

If you don't like the texture of basil leaves but do like the flavor, you can also kersmash some basil in olive oil and let it infuse the oil with its heady fragrance and taste, then throw away the (sad, sodden, limp) leaves.

and have some bread or garlic toast handy for sopping up the incredibly delicious tomato-oil-vinegar juice that will be in the plate when you have eaten every bite.

And, should you ever tire of the tidy stacks or swirls of tomato salad, you can always make panzanella: toss stale bread* cubes with diced & dressed tomatoes**. You know how delicious the last little bits of tomato salad are, when you're sopping up juice-oil-yum off the plate with the crust of bread? Panzanella is a whole bowl of that.

* If you don't have stale bread cubes, you can cut up fresh bread and just barely crisp it in the oven. The goal is to dry it out slightly so it soaks up the juice. Yum.

** You can make this as simple or as complicated as you like. Sometimes I make it just with bread, tomato, lemon, salt, and oil. Sometimes I throw in every vegetable I have handy, or white beans, or artichokes, or ... you get the idea.

Only a couple of things to add: 1) Really is worth it to buy organic tomatoes. They actually taste worlds better. 2) Get the cheese fresh, drain on a paper or cloth towel, and slice it very thinly 3) Sea salt or kosher salt, just a bit, works nicely. 4) To chiffonade your basil, roll the leaves tightly and slice the resulting cylinder finely with your knife perpendicular, not parallel, to the cylinder 5) yes, balsamic vinegar, but not too much of it.

I came in to say "yum" and really Roma tomatoes are pretty much only good in making sauces.

I bought local tomatoes and mozzarella, so I feel all green about that. And hydroponic basil. I don't know if that's a good thing or what though. Now to assemble and eat!

By the way, in case you don't know, tomatoes should never be stored in the fridge or in plastic bags. That'll turn their tomato-ey flavor right off. Store them at room temp, out in the open.

I did not know! I will remove them from the plastic bag in the fridge forthwith!

This salad is delish, even though I screwed up the tomato to cheese ratio.

Yay, tomato disaster averted!

Three cheers for mudpuppie, Tomato Flavor Saver!

Glad your salad turned out well, amro. Your ingredients sound fresh and delicious. I love Caprece salad but am always hesitant to make it because I rarely have access to top notch mozzarella.

I never got to comment on the corn thread but I'll add that I do not remove the husks at the grocery store either. I have plans to buy corn and tomatoes tomorrow!

And speaking of Sun Gold tomatoes I found this recipe that sounds divine: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/newsletter/sample.shtml

Ooh, Lori, I've been so into chick peas lately. I will have to try that recipe.

Also, now I know that what I made was called caprese salad. No wonder I had trouble googling a recipe for it.