Chef Cristina Ferrare Shares Her 'Big Bowl Of Love'

STUDIO CITY (KCAL) — Chef and author Cristina Ferrare visited the KCAL9 studios Monday and whipped up a fresh seasonal dish.

Ferrare, who also has her own show on Oprah's OWN network called "Big Bowl of Love", showed viewers how to make a Tomato Mozzarella Tower.

The accomplished chef has a new cook book coming out, also called "Big Bowl of Love."

For more information about Ferrare's show and for some of her tips, visit her online.

TOMATO-MOZZARELLA TOWER WITH SHALLOT-BACON DRESSING

6 SERVINGS

When I want to impress my family and friends, I make these tomato towers. They taste like a BLT. I make this dish often during the summer months, too, when tomatoes are at their peak flavor.This dish has a lot going on. You have the sweetness of the tomatoes and the creamy goodness of the mozzarella cheese. Then there are the crunchy, salty bits of bacon and the smoky flavor of the shallot dressing, along with the grilled bread. When you top it off with fresh basil and thick balsamic syrup and take your first bite, it's like a circus in your mouth!

It's important to have all your ingredients ready before you start to assemble your tower.

Cut 6 bread rounds using a 4 ½-inch cookie cutter. Set aside.

Slice the baby Roma tomatoes in half lengthwise. Set aside.

Fry the bacon in a skillet until crispy. Remove the bacon from the skillet and place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Lower the heat under the skillet to medium, add the shallots to the bacon drippings, and sauté for 30 seconds, until the shallots start to turn a bit crispy.

Add the apple cider vinegar, and with a wooden spoon, stir well, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour into a small bowl and set aside to use as dressing.

Return the skillet to the stove over medium heat. Add as many bread rounds as will fit in the pan. Lightly toast both sides of the bread. Be careful that the flame isn't too high; you don't want to burn the bread, so stay with it until all 6 pieces have been toasted lightly. Set aside.

Crumble the cooked bacon into small bits and set aside in a small bowl.

Cut the heirloom tomatoes into slices slightly less than ½ inch thick. You should have 18 slices that are consistent in size. You will have some tomato left over.

Cut the buffalo mozzarella into slices slightly less than ½ inch thick.
You should have 12 slices that are consistent in size.

Stack all 10 of the basil leaves on top of one another, roll them into a cigarette shape, and slice thin.

Make an assembly line: toasted bread, heirloom tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, shallot dressing, bacon bits, kosher salt, basil, balsamic syrup.

Place one toasted bread round on a salad plate, add a slice of heirloom tomato, and sprinkle with a small pinch each of salt and pepper.

Drizzle on several drops of shallot dressing and a pinch of crumbled bacon, letting a little fall onto the plate as well.

Top with a slice of mozzarella cheese and then another slice of tomato.

Repeat this process until you have three slices of heirloom tomato and two slices of mozzarella cheese in your tower.

On the last tomato slice, the one that tops the tower, sprinkle more bacon bits, then lightly drizzle more dressing (a little goes a long way), including some on the plate for a professional look. Garnish with a few strips of basil and balsamic syrup.

Add 5 to 6 baby Roma tomato halves to the plate and sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt, if you like.

Repeat the assembly process for the other 5 towers.

6 slices really good white bread,
not the soft stuff

12 baby Roma tomatoes, red and yellow, for garnish (optional)

6 slices bacon

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

6 heirloom tomatoes; make sure the tomatoes are uniform in size (if you can't find heirlooms, use regular tomatoes)

10 fresh basil leaves

2 (6-ounce) packages buffalo mozzarella

Kosher salt

Cracked pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons Reduced Balsamic Syrup