Burrata, Mozzarella Cousin

Burrata, Mozzarella Cousin

by | Jun 17, 2012 | Cheese, Featured Articles, Food!, Incredible Locations, Italy, Journal, Meals, Milano, Photo of the Day, Photos

Imagine making a cheesy pouch out of fresh mozzarella, then filling it with cream and mozzarella strands. That’s “Burrata“.

“Burro” means “butter”, so it gives you an idea of the fatty, smooth deliciousness of this cheese! Burrata is a fist-sized, creamy cheese ball, and for those that don’t dare indulge themselves with a whole burrata, they can go for a burratina, a smaller, half-fist-sized ball of coat-your-mouth-with-decadence cheese.

I made a plate-sized salad by which to deliver the burrata to my mouth: a bed of arugula, fresh green figs from the street market yesterday morning, sicilian cherry tomatoes, burrata in the middle, a fresh grind of pepper, and everything drizzled with balsamic glaze and olive oil.

(Click on the the photo to see the full, plate-sized view.)

Here’s Wikipedia’s discussion of Burrata:

Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is also defined by some sources as an outer shell of mozzarella filled with butter or a mixture of butter and sugar. It is usually served fresh, at room temperature. The name “burrata” means “buttered” in Italian.

 

 

A Modified Favorite

A Modified Favorite

by | Jul 19, 2009 | Food!, Journal

This is my current favorite meal, either at home or at Viola Ristorante. A very simple but fabulous salad, perfect for hot days: a bed of fresh arugula, slices of bresaola, shaved pecorino in this case (or parmigiano), fresh tomato, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh ground salt and pepper… and this time I modified the salad and added cauliflower and red pepper. (Viola adds paper-thin-sliced red onion, which is fantastic, but I didn’t have any.)

insalatabresaola

Bresaola. Mmm. I’ll shoot some photos and do a whole post on that, but it’s become a favorite. Good, lean, flavorful protein. Lovely on a salad like this. A good way to begin a meal, or simply make a meal.

This from Wikipedia:
Bresaola is air-dried salted beef that has been aged about 2-3 months until it becomes hard and a dark red, almost purple colour. It is made from eye of round and is lean and tender with a sweet, musty smell. It originated in Valtellina, a valley in the Alps of northern Italy‘s Lombardy region.