Burrata Cheese Appetizer
I love burrata cheese. It checks so many boxes for me – fresh, creamy, slightly sweet, pairs well with so many other things. Burrata is an Italian cows-milk (or water buffalo-milk) cheese with a fresh mozzarella exterior and a creamy interior of stracciatella curds and cream. It is usually sold in a tub filled with water. A ball of burrata holds its shape until you cut into it, when it oozes out and is so delicious it’s hard to resist. This burrata and berry appetizer takes the best of this delicious cheese and pairs it with gently dressed berries. The goal is to spread both the cheese and the berries onto delicious crostini. It’s an appetizer that is so easy to put together that you can have it all ready to go in under 30 minutes. And… I haven’t even talked about how beautiful it is yet!
Vinaigrette for Berries
Berries are delicate, so you don’t need to toss them in much. The vinaigrette for this burrata and berry appetizer is simply lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper and a little olive oil. You might find it odd to put olive oil on berries, but stay with me. This dish is sitting on the line between sweet and savory and olive oils are fruity (olives are fruit, after all) and delicious. The olive oil helps to spread the dressing around evenly and protects the berries from too much acid from the lemon juice. Toss the berries in this vinaigrette just before you’re getting ready to serve.
Ingredients
With the vinaigrette under your belt, all you need for this recipe are berries, herbs, burrata cheese, an orange and some bread for crostini. You can really customize this recipe by choosing your own variety of berries and in any ratio you like – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, golden berries… you pick. Same with the herbs. I like basil, mint and thyme, but you could add a little very finely chopped rosemary if you like, or oregano. For the crostini… you could choose Italian bread, baguette, ciabatta, even brioche.
Fried Ciabatta
You could brush the bread with olive oil and toast it in your oven, but there’s something very decadent about frying bread in olive oil instead. It’s quicker and leaves the center of the bread soft and tender. Plus, because it inevitably picks up more olive oil, it’s tastier too. But… the choice is yours – toast in the oven at 350˚F for about 10 – 15 minutes or fry in a skillet.
How to Assemble
Let the berries sit in the vinaigrette for about 15 minutes and then transfer them to a platter with a few lettuce leaves underneath. Pop the burrata on top and then scatter the herbs around. Drizzle any remaining vinaigrette on top over everything, including the cheese, and sprinkle a little coarse salt on top.
How to Serve Burrata
The last touch is a little orange zest just before serving. Use an old-fashioned zester (like the one in my 8-piece gadget set) to create pretty long threads of zest. If you can, hold the orange over the platter while you zest it. That way, all the essential oils from the orange will fall down over the berries making them even more delicious.
Burrata Crostini
To enjoy this burrata and berry appetizer, let your guests cut into the burrata and spread a little on the crostini, followed by some berries (which should be smushable) and hopefully some herbs and orange zest. You might have to show them how to make the first crostini (like in the photo below), but they’ll soon get the hang of it and be back for seconds… and thirds!
