Burrata

If you are concerned about losing too much weight over the Christmas season, try a burrata.

 Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella whilst the inside has both mozzarella and cream. This gives it quite a different texture from other mozzarellas. It should be served as fresh as possible and at room temperature. The name “burrata” means buttered in Italian.

I have already talked about the history of mozzarella and of course this is the same for burrata. It was first made around 1920 in a little farm in the town of Andria in the Puglia region.

The general consensus of opinion is that the factories found a way to utilise the scraps of mozzarella.

Burrata starts out like mozzarella. When making Burrata the still-hot cheese is formed into a sort of pouch which is then filled with the scraps of leftover mozzarella and topped off with fresh cream before tying up. The finished Burrata is traditionally wrapped in asphodel leaves and tied to form a little topknot, and then moistened with a little whey. The leaves should still be green when the cheese is served to show the freshness of the cheese.

When you slice or tear open the Burrata the cream flows out. The cheese has a rich flavour and is best eaten within 24 hours and is considered by the experts to be past its prime after 48 hours.

The flavours and different textures between inside and outside make it a perfect partner with prosciutto, crusty bread, fresh tomatoes and served with olive oil and cracked black pepper.

I  served the burrata with cos lettuce, wild rocket, tomatoes, flat leaf parsley, basil, a little olive oil and some of Maggie Beer’s absolutely delicious vino cotto.  She does a fig vino cotto and a seville vino cotto as well. Yum!

If you can’t get to Puglia or Naples for your burrata, your local deli is sure to have it.