The first of the 4th of July recipes

Why not make you 4th of July special this year with a American flag caprese salad. Its easy to make, and fun to have the kiddies join in. You can get 12 servings from this recipe.

Ingredients

18 small purple potatoes (about 1 pound)

Kosher salt

1 pound herbed cheese spread, at room temperature

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

26 cherry tomatoes, halved (about 2 pounds)

24 1-inch mozzarella balls in brine, drained well and halved

Easy steps:

Cook the potatoes in appropriately salted boiling water until fork tender but not breaking apart , around 20 minutes. Drain well and then let them cool down completely. Cut half crosswise when cooled.

Fill a pastry bag with a tiny star tip and distribute the herbed cheese. Cut a piece of parchment wide enough to match a 12-by-17 1/2-inch wood cutting surface. Put a dab of cheese spread on the bottom part of each corner of the parchment to help it stick to the cutting board.

Pipe and spread a thin coating of cheese in a 6 1/2-inch rectangle in the upper left corner of the parchment. Organize the potatoes in line, sliced apart, on top of the cheese. Pipe the leftover cheese in between the potatoes to make the stars for your flag.

Drizzle the remaining empty part of the parchment with half of the oil, then dust with the basil. Starting from the tip, create a line of tomato halves, cut-up, accompanied by a line of mozzarella halves.   Repeat the leftover tomatoes and mozzarella. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and dust with salt.