Noble Pig

Never Miss A Recipe

· 61 Comments

Eyeball Caprese Salad

Seriously, who doesn’t need an Eyeball Caprese Salad for Halloween?  Who?  Just imagine a whole platter of caprese eyes staring back at you.  Creepy, but cute.

Melissa over at Alosha’s Kitchen sent me this recipe to fuel my Halloween madness.  Thanks for thinking of me Melissa! 

The original recipe Melissa sent used these fabulous Italian, Castelvetrano olives.  They have an incredibly bright green skin, making the eyes look really alive.  However, I live in a town that doesn’t even carry decent women’s underwear, so finding Castelvetrano olives was pretty much NOT going to happen.  But I did happen to have some Spanish Queen olives stuffed with pimentos in the cupboard, so they would have to do.

This salad is great because you just pick up the basil leave and wrap it around the other ingredients and take a bite.  It’s like salad finger-food.  Kids will love them but so will adults.  And it just doesn’t get any simpler to make something like this.

All you need are basil leaves, Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil.  Maybe a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper.

I’d show you how to make this but I think it’s pretty self-explanatory!  

Halloween-A-Day-Photo

My awesome friends Lisa, Lori, Wendy and Becky gave this to me as one of my many, many Birthday gifts this year.  It’s nice to have friends who don’t try to control your obsessions but just roll with them.  Thanks guys.  I love these little sinister-skull-headed-cocktail-forks.  They are perfect for Halloween appetizers.  If you must have them, head on over to Pottery Barn, they’ve got you covered.

Comments

  2. The eyeball Cypress Salad made me smile ! I can picture this little appetizer at a fun party, and kids would LOVE it !

    Your skull headed cocktail forks make me think you would really appreciate my ram, Goth ! Or even the skulls of my deceased Jacob rams….they have horns a-plenty !

    Reply

  5. Going to suggest that one to my wife for Thanksgiving. We will have 6 grand nieces and nephews under 12, plus their uncle who is even younger in spirt.

    Day two of the waterless kitchen has dawned.

    Reply

  6. As I rush out to get my arse off to school, I love starting my day with reading your blog. And when class gets boring at one point today, I will be sure to be reminded of your friendly smiling foods today…to help me stay awake…and although I am not an friend of olives per say, I can see me making this at my next party – good show, I say! – and your skull fondue forks are a riot! Fantastically scarish!

    Reply

  8. Hi, I was over at Twisted Fencepost and saw you won, so I thought I’d pop over and say congratulations. So… Congratulations.

    Love the basil leaf salad!

    And the post below about asking a friend to make the tarts – NO WAY! Not even if it was an A plus friend. And then to say she would just pay for the ingredients and to have them to her house by 7:30 am – Wow – she has some nerve.

    Reply

  9. Love love love that salad! My daughter just started eating tomatoes so this would be fun to do some time!

    Pottery Barn has some very cool Halloween stuff this year. I was at one recently drooling all over it.

    Reply

  11. Eyeballs. What a cute idea. I also do decorating with stuffed olives on my potato salad, depending on the occasion. Sometimes spelling out my name on top with olives is simple enough and gets a few comments. Or XMAS for a holiday potato salad. Also I decorate crackers similar to your eyeballs, but I never thought of them as eyeballs until now!!

    Reply

  13. Is your tomato grinning at me? Too cute! My husband would love your cocktail forks. When I met him he was a long-haired, leather-jacketed rocker with a dangling skull ear ring. He’s cut his hair since.

    Reply

  14. So glad your six year old likes superdog!
    As usual, the sight of tomatoes makes me scroll down quickly… only to see the skull cocktail forks which. I. love! Those rock!
    Thanks for sharing your obscession!

    Reply

  17. Okay – if I liked olives, I would try out your recipe. It looks so neat looking back at you!

    Oh – sorry about sending you the Texas heat but we really, really needed a break!

    Reply

  23. Oh Cathy! We LOVE food that stares back at you! (Although here, the facial construction tends to involve less-healthy options…think eyes of marshmallows and chocolate chips)…you’ve provided some great non-cavity inducing ideas! 😉

    (The skulls are fabulous…)

    Happy almost weekend!

    Reply

  24. I am loving how much you love Halloween. Way back when the kids were younger, I used to do all sorts of cool things. Now, it’s all just flying by in a blur.
    Keep up all the fun stuff! And thanks for sharing it with us.

    Reply

  25. No, I am holding myself back. I have not walked into Pottery Barn and buying that adorable steely skull! Really, I’m just going to adore it on your photos!

    I take it these were A+++ Friends for sure! They definitely know you well!

    Cute food photo!

    Reply

  26. Eyeball caprese…brilliant!

    Also, those skull-picks? Oooh…I’m so in love. Like, SO IN LOVE. The problem is that I buy all this stuff, but I don’t limit the usage to Hallowe’en…so when somebody comes over in July and I serve them canapes off of a platter with a severed hand in the middle, they kinda get creeped….or so I hear….

    Reply

  32. OH gosh! I just about spewed my coffee all over the keyboard!!! Those are so dang awesome!!!
    Finding Olives in small towns: Same problem here.. and don’t even ASK about finding underwear! If we can’t get it at the grocery store it ain’t happenin’…

    Reply

  33. Very cute! I just may have to get my act together with Halloween if you keep this up. Does it count that I have an uncut baby pumpkin on my doorstep? Pathetic, huh? But I’m loving the “eye”dea of those olives w/ the tomato & basil…and some minced proscuitto. YUM.

    Reply

  44. Annie – If I were to meet Cathy, I’d travel all the way up there so I could go to Stockton and meet my favorite food blogger. One of these days…

    And Cathy, I had no idea you would actually post these hehehe. Too cute. I know they other olives do look a bit more “alive” but your red “pupils” are freakier. A better bet for Halloween. 😉

    Reply

  52. This is a common appetizer at our house… along with extra virgin olive oil. However, I’m completely taken with the addition of olives for eyes. What a hoot! I can hardly wait to try this on guests, to see if they even notice, lol. They better…

    Reply

  54. That is one of the funniest things I have seen. He is too cute and yes I think he looks like a he. I busted up when you wrote that your town doesn’t even have decent womens underwear. I remember when I was in Kansas visiting family and I was going to make spaghetti, the only french bread they had was by Wonder or Rainbo, what, no Acme baking company bread? I am sure it was the same with womens underwear.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.