Recipe from Mozzarella Most Murderous

Insalata Caprese
Nancy Fairbanks

• Slice 4 ripe tomatoes (large tomatoes such as beefsteaks, but if those are not available, improvise with the ripest, sweetest tomatoes you can find) and 9 ounces of fresh, buffalo-milk mozzarella (substitute mozzarella made from cow’s milk if you must, but use immediately the freshest you can find). Overlap the slices alternately on the plate.
  
  
• Decorate with fresh basil leaves or chopped basil or oregano.
  
  
• Grate fresh pepper over the salad, or serve the pepper separately. (Salt if desired, but lightly.)
  
  
• Drizzle liberally with a good, extra virgin olive oil.
  
  
• Serve with chunks of Italian bread and balsamic vinegar on the side for those who like it on Caprese—I do, but residents of Capri and the Campania would be horrified.
  
  
• For lunch, as a snack, as a first course—it’s wonderful..
  
  

Carolyn Blue, "Have Fork, Will Travel," Albuquerque Sun-Times

More about The Perils of Paella
Nancy Fairbanks

The seventh novel in the "delectable" bestselling series. (Mystery Reader) Awaiting a passionate rendezvous with her husband in romantic Italy, Carolyn spends the day with the beautiful Paolina, who has been stood up by her lover. But Carolyn's ciesta turns sour as when she finds her lovely companion drowned in the hotel's pool. Is it suicide? Or Paolina's boss—with benefits?

(A Culinary Mystery)
Berkley (Prime Crime) , July 2005
304 pages ISBN: 0425203999
Paperback
$6.99

Also by Nancy Fairbanks:
Holy Guacamole! , November 2004
The Perils of Paella , January 2004
Chocolate Quake , April 2003
Death À L’Orange , June 2002
Truffled Feathers , December 2001
Crime Brûlée , April 2001

(Notify me via e-mail when Nancy Fairbanks releases a new book.)