I saw a picture of this on pinterest, and I just knew I had to come up with a recipe. They were adorable, healthy, appropriate for the season, and frankly just looked so appetizing that I knew all of my guests for Easter dinner would love it.

So last year I developed a recipe and then have fine tuned it to our taste. Basically think of it as a caprese salad in nest form. You can also make it with a poached egg if you want to serve it as a main dish in an Easter (or any occasion) brunch.

Ingredients:

-roma tomatoes halved (medium sized tomatoes)

-basil

-sprouts

-mozarella pearls

-balsamic vinegar

-1 lemon

-olive oil

-salt and pepper

Halve your tomatoes and test for stability. You need them to be able to hold the contents without tipping over. If they are not stable, cut a little piece at the bottom for them to sit on, make sure not to cut all the way through and making a whole in the tomato “cup”. Once you have all of the tomatoes lined up and stable sprinkle the insides with salt and pepper, a light drizzle of olive oil, and a few drops of balsamic. Make sure you only put the seasonings in the inside, not the outside. Julienne your basil and sprinkle it in the inside as well.

Line all the tomatoes with sprouts. You want them to look like a nest so be generous and make sure it overflows all around. Set the mozzarella pearls in the center. If they are small enough then put more than one, if big enough just one. Arrange in a way it looks like eggs. Sprinkle the mozzarella “eggs” with salt, pepper and lemon zest.

Serve immediately. If they sit at room temperature for too long then the sprouts will wilt, so make sure you serve them as soon as they are ready for optimum freshness.

If for some reason you don’t find sprouts, you can use basil leaves instead, if your grocer doesn’t carry basil either (where on Earth do you live O_O) then use any herb available to you, just make sure to line it in a “nest” fashion. If you don’t have mozzarella pearls (because let’s face it, if they don’t sell basil the odds don’t look great for mozzarella pearls) then use any white cheese and just cut it into a round shape.

If you are using poached eggs or even hard boiled quail eggs instead, make sure to adjust the tomato size accordingly in order for the egg to fit. I would also “hide” some cheese or even ham under the poached egg, that would make it even sturdier as a main dish.

Have a Happy Easter everyone, and give this recipe a try!