My HUSBAND (that’s so fun to say!!), Zach, and I just returned from our honeymoon in Quebec City!
While we were there we had some amazing restaurant experiences.
The best meal we had was at a restaurant called Patente et Machin, which is a pretty unassuming restaurant with a chalkboard menu.
By American standards, it would have been a cute sandwich shop or cafe, not somewhere where you would be able to order veal sweetbreads and fois gras mousse!
We ate at two restaurants like this, where the daily menu was written on a chalkboard and the server explained all the meals to you when they came to your table.
It was very different from anywhere we had been before, and made the whole dining experience really fun.
Ever since, we’ve been daydreaming about opening our own chalkboard restaurant, but for now, we will leave it to Quebec City for doing this genre of restaurant extremely well.
We split a bison filet, which I had never had before, and potentially the most unique (and delicious) dessert I have ever had. It was a maple pudding (…wait for it…) with a slice of cheddar cheese melted on top (…WAIT FOR IT…) with FOIS GRAS on top of that!!!!
Yes, fois gras.
I had to ask the waiter about 10 times to repeat himself to make sure it wasn’t me just not understanding his accent.
The fois gras acted kind of like bacon does when paired with sweet things- as a salty, fatty, rich delicious addition to an already scrumptious dessert. The presentation was much better than what is in the photo- we were so excited that we dug in before we had taken a picture.
After the first bite I remembered I needed to document this so I could remember it always.
But I digress. This post is about Caprese salad!
Which was another part of our delicious meal at Patente et Machin.
At first I didn’t want to order it, because there were so many other exciting things on the menu. But Zach really wanted it and, being the good WIFE (yay!!) that I am, I agreed!
It was definitely not your typical Caprese salad. First of all, the tomatoes and mozzarella were extremely fresh and tasty, but they also put a dollop of spicy sauce on top of each piece.
Since I don’t think I have the capacity to easily recreate the fois gras dessert, I decided to make a Caprese salad with a spicy sauce when we got home:
Caprese salad is always refreshing and delicious, especially on hot summer days. I bought the most expensive tomato I could find in Whole Foods (which ended up being delicious) and some buffalo mozzarella from Trader Joe’s (only $6.99!).
I sliced the tomato thinly, added a slab of mozzarella on top of each, then a piece of fresh basil from my basil plant on each of those. (fact: basil you grow yourself tastes so much better than basil you buy at the store).
I drizzled them with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, salt and pepper, and a little dollop of spicy sauce.
To make the spicy sauce, I just mixed together some sour cream and Louisiana hot sauce, since I already had them in the fridge! I think you could also use mayonnaise or Greek yogurt, if you don’t have sour cream handy.
Woo hoo! Now you too can eat Spicy Caprese Salad.
I apologize for the lack of measurements for each ingredient- I completely winged it, but it’s pretty hard to go wrong with the amount for each ingredient.
Enjoy!
Spicy Caprese Salad
Ingredients
- 1-2 tomatoes
- 4 oz. buffalo mozzarella
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons sour cream or greek yogurt, or mayonnaise
- a few drops hot sauce
Instructions
- Slice the tomatoes and arrange on a plate.
- Add a slice of buffalo mozzarella and basil on top of each tomato.
- Drizzle the plate with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and add salt and pepper on top of that.
- Mix together a few spoonfuls of sour cream (or greek yogurt, or mayonnaise) with a few drops of hot sauce in a bowl and spoon a dollop on top of each tomato stack.
Notes
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Rebecca Jordan
I clapped my hands when I read about your dessert – I love Quebec! And…congratulations, Mrs.!