Tomato and Burrata Salad

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday

If you're hosting a fourth of July barbecue this weekend, or looking for something to jazz up a lunch or brunch this summer, I have a magical ingredient to suggest: burrata.

Burrata is an incredibly delicious fresh cheese consisting of an outer pouch of mozzarella and an inner filling of a combination of mozzarella curds and cream. The result is rich and decadent, like popping a little cloud of dairy heaven in your mouth. Burrata means butter in Italian. It was created in Puglia in Italy in the 1920s but is now becoming more widely available in the US.

It may take a little hunting for you to locate a fancy supermarket or a specialty food store that carries burrata, but believe me, the effort will well be worth it.

During the summer, when Jersey tomatoes come in season, tomato and mozzarella is one of our favorite dishes, such a favorite that we often have it multiple times a week.

Tomato and Burrata Salad (Caprese Salad)
4 or 5 gorgeous summer tomatoes - preferably heirlooms
1 burrata cheese, wrapped in asphodel leaves that are still green to indicate freshness
1 bunch of fresh basil leaves
white balsamic vinegar (you can use red, but we love white)
olive oil
salt
pepper

1. Slice tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices.
2. Slice burrata into little mounds (this will be messy as it oozes).
3. Place a dollop of burrata on each slice of tomato.
4. Place a basil leaf on each tomato.
5. Drizzle with balsamic, oil, and season to your liking with salt and pepper.

The Perfect Picnic Salad

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday

We had a lot of fun last week dyeing and decorating eggs. We made sparkling eggs, Hello Kitty eggs, bunny eggs, and even tie dye eggs. We went through three dozen white eggs in two days. Many cracked, and now many sit proudly on our side buffet, awaiting their sad fate of a short trip to the garbage.

Easter eggs are an American institution. In France we don't dye eggs. We actually don't even believe in the Easter Bunny. Little kids are told that magic bells fly over in the morning and drop off chocolate eggs and chocolate bells for all the little girls and boys. Which is the bigger whopper to swallow? Magic bells carrying chocolate or a giant benevolent rabbit? Regardless, I never know what to do with all these colorful hardboiled eggs.

This week, Parent Bloggers Network has partnered with the American Egg Board to get bloggers to post their ideas to not let their Easter eggs go to waste. Rather than talk about the obvious, egg salad, I thought I would share my recipe for my favorite picnic salad, a filling lunch filled with tons of proteins and carbs.

Of course in order to make this salad, you can't use the eggs that have been sitting out, only refrigerated hard boiled eggs so be sure to use take some of the less beautiful Easter eggs and stow those in the fridge to make this recipe.

Perfect Picnic Salad
Ingredients:
3 Cups of Rice or Couscous
3 Ripe Tomatoes Coarsely Chopped or 1 1/2 Cups of Cherry Tomatoes Sliced in Half
1 Can of Corn
1 Can of Tuna, preferably in olive oil
3 Harboiled Eggs Coarsely Chopped
2 Stalks of Celery, Chopped finely
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped finely.


1) Except for the lemon and parsley, mix all the ingredients in one big bowl.
2) Squeeze the lemon on top and sprinkle the parsley.
3) Serve chilled.

Optional additional items: avocado, white beans, olives.

For a little extra healthiness, you can serve this in iceberg lettuce "bowls".