Burrata Salad is so easy to make, it doesn’t even really warrant it’s own blog post, but despite it being (quite possibly) the most common menu item in the Dubai restaurant (and cafe!) sphere, you’d be surprised how many chefs still manage to get it wrong. I don’t if it’s because the Middle East love es fresh cheese, or if it’s a combination of that + the fact that the long summers here make us crave cold, refreshing foods, but the fact remains that Dubai loves its burrata!
Read on to learn ensure you don’t make these faux passes, and how you can easily plate and enjoy delicious burrata on the regular, and even wow your guests with it. If you follow these simple steps, I guarantee you’ll start becoming more critical of the burrata you have outside, and more appreciative when you come across a well-executed version!
First things first, what is Burrata?
Burrata is made from an outer shell of mozzarella made from cows milk or water buffalo milk and filled with fresh cream and curds. Translated from Italian, burrata literally means ‘buttery’, a clue to the delicious melt-in-your-mouth heart the pillowy exterior conceals. Burrata originally hails from the city of Andria in Southern Italy, where it was first made around 100 years ago, and is still made by hand with just three simple ingredients: cow’s milk, rennet and cream.
How to Tell If the Burrata You’re Eating Is Fresh:
Ideally, you should eat your burrata within 24 hours of it being produced, and come to think of it, I’ve only ever experienced that level of freshness at LPM Dubai. Suffice to say, the sooner you get it and consume it after its production date, the better. However, another way to assess if the burrata you’re being served is good, is that the skin should be as thin as possible, and the insides should be creamy and ooze out as soon as you cut into it.
The one little trick that not all chefs know: ALWAYS bring your burrata to room temperature before serving! This can make or break your burrata game.
What you need for the perfect Burrata Salad:
Burrata is rich, creamy and decadent. So you. essentially want to pair it with some complementary
- Good quality, fresh Burrata. It’s easy to find burrata at a variety of places now, but this is the one I’ve used today,
- Good quality EVOO (you’ll be able to taste it so distinctly, so this is exactly when you want to whip out your best bottle of EVOO, in fact, this is exactly what you. buy your best bottle of EVOO for)! You can find the best selection of olive oils in Dubai here.
- Your best balsamic vinegar. Fun fact: the best balsamic comes from Modena. I recommend this one. It’s beautifully aged, thick and syrupy, but still quite affordable. OR, if you’re feeling extra fancy, you could go with some balsamic pearls
- Season, season, season. No one wants a bland burrata, so either pair it with some olives or olive tapenade, and/or season with some crunchy, flakey sea salt. My fave is Maldon Salt.
- Peppery greens like rocket, gir gir, mesclun or microgreens add some nice, light crunch as a base.
- Tomatoes. I’m yet to enjoy burrata without tomatoes (I think burrata is the only time I enjoy tomatoes) and this is again where you want to use the best, sweetest tomatoes you can find. Use them raw, sun-dried, macerated in some sugar…the sky’s the limit.
- Textural contrast is optional but preferable. Tuille is a popular choice but sometimes, I even love my burrata with Grissini, but I’ve recently been quite drawn to slathering it with some crispy fried chili garlic oil (don’t come at me)!
To quickly. summarize, I like my Burrata Salad with some salt, fat (EVOO), acid (balsamic, tomatoes, and perhaps even pickled onions), and some heat (chili oil, chili crisp etc). Use your finest tomatoes, EVOO, balsamic and salt- this is not the time to cut corners. It’s controversial to pair burrata with bold or strong flavours, but rules are meant to be broken and ever since I had it with the crispy, garlicky chili oil from 1004gourmet, I find myself obsessively looking forward to an encore!
Since you’re here, you might enjoy this recipe for the best homemade pizza too!
