Burrata is a wonderful creamier, richer sort-of-mozzarella style Italian cheese, originally from Puglia. It can stand on its own – served just plain with some tomatoes on the vine for example, or over plain pasta.
Here it tops a bed of courgette ribbons with a lemony dressing. You can enjoy it as a vegetarian salad, or you can add salami.
If you want to transform this into a heartier meal, you can adopt an idea of Skye McAlpine, and serve the courgettes and burrata ….plus the garlic, oil and mint, as below…. and serve atop a bed of pappardelle. More than satisfying!
Recipe for courgette carpaccio with blousy burrata
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 large courgette or two small ones
- a few stems of mint leaves
- a few stems of basil
- 2 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 90g/ thin sliced Milano salami – NB get ready-sliced, not the type in a sausage block (optional)
- 200g/7 oz burrata
- 5 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- juice and zest of a lemon
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed with one tsp smoked salt
- generous amounts of freshly ground black pepper, or, if you have them, some Urfa pepper flakes… or some Spanish smoked paprika
- 2 tbsps honey
- four large slices sourdough bread
Method
- Slice the courgettes into ribbons using a potato peeler.
- Mix the dressing, (the olive oil, lemon juice and zest, the garlic, 1 tbsp of honey and salt and pepper) ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
- Tear over the majority of the leaves of both the herbs. Cut the salami into bite-sized pieces, and add in and mix.
- Move onto a serving platter.
- Scatter over the sesame seeds and the remainder of the torn herb leaves.
- Place over the burrata. Drizzle over a little more oil and the rest of the honey.
- Toast the ciabatta, or griddle it; drizzle over a bit more oil, and add over a few Urfa pepper flakes or the smoked paprika.
- Just before serving, cut the burrata into four and more gently apart… it is soft inside and it will spill out.
