Burrata with Tomatoes
A ball of creamy burrata on ripe tomatoes with basil, olive oil and flaky salt, put together in 10 minutes with no cooking.
Photograph credit: Tomato salad with burrata, Limburg by Gerda Arendt · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
Storing and Planning Ahead
Eat on the day it is made.
Making Burrata with Tomatoes
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Slice the tomatoes thickly and lay them on a large plate. Sprinkle with the salt and leave for 10 minutes.
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Drain the burrata on kitchen paper and set them in the middle of the tomatoes.
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Tear the burrata open, spoon the cream over the tomatoes and drizzle with the oil.
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Scatter with the basil and pepper and serve with the bread.
Tips for Success
- Never chill the tomatoes.
- Let the burrata reach room temperature before serving.
- Add the basil at the last moment so it stays green.
Why the Method Is What It Is
Burrata means buttered in Italian, and that describes the filling: a shell of fresh mozzarella wrapped around soft stracciatella and cream. When you cut it open, the inside spills over the plate, and the tomatoes soak it up.
The whole dish rests on the tomatoes, so buy the best you can find, ripe and fragrant, and never keep them in the fridge, which makes them mealy. Slice them thick, lay them on a plate and salt them well. Leave the salted tomatoes for 10 minutes, so they release their juice, which becomes the dressing. Taste one: it should be sweet and a little savoury.
Take the burrata out of its brine and let it come to room temperature, as it tastes of more. Drain it on kitchen paper, set it in the middle, tear it open at the table and spoon the cream over. Finish with torn basil, good olive oil and black pepper. Eat with crusty bread.
Good Alongside
Crusty bread · Cured ham · Dry white wine
The Numbers per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (most of the energy comes from foods with no recorded source). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
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