Burrata cheese Archives - Proud Italian Cook

Fettuccine with Roasted Tomatoes and Burrata

June 4, 2019 by Marie 15 Comments

This is the time of year that I really look forward to eating this special pasta dish, it’s made with fettuccine, roasted cherry tomatoes and burrata cheese, simple with few ingredients. Honestly there’s just nothing like it, the taste is so fresh and light with dreamy burrata melted throughout!

Once I start seeing these gorgeous cherry tomatoes on the vine in the markets I shop at, I’m hooked and I know exactly what I’m making with them.

I’ve been making this dish for years, I’m always switching up the type of pasta that I use, I even made it with zucchini noodles in the past, equally delicious!

This time I wanted to use fettuccine, I’ve also made it with short mostaccioli, rigatoni many times and a springy shaped pasta as well, it really doesn’t matter what shape you use just pick your favorite.

What does remain the same is how the tomatoes get roasted. Always on a rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil. The foil will insure that none of the juices get dried up or evaporated on the pan.

Sometimes I leave the tomatoes whole and sometimes I cut them in half, there’s always garlic added, usually shaved, lot’s of olive oil drizzled all over, salt, pepper and torn basil.

The tomatoes are roasted in a 400 degree oven until they start to blister and burst open. If the tomatoes are whole I just prick them in the middle of the roasting process so the juices can burst out and mingle with the olive oil, all those flavors together become your sauce for the pasta.

Like I said most of the time I add shaved garlic, but if I prepare in advance I also like using roasted garlic as well.

Just squeeze out a bunch of the roasted cloves and add it into the tomato mix while roasting, then before you toss in all those wonderful juices onto your cooked pasta, smash the cloves first so that the garlic flavor can release into the sauce even more, it’s extremely delicious!

When your pasta is cooked, place it into your serving vessel, scrape down every bit of the juice that accumulated in the pan, garlic and all and toss it all together.

To finish it off and bring this dish to the ultimate of flavor, break open one or two balls of burrata cheese and place it on top of the pasta.

Just a quick drizzle of olive oil all over and a nice grating of Pecorino or Parmigiana and of course extra torn basil all around, and you’ll have one heck of a meal!

Simple and delicious!

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15 Comments Filed Under: Pasta, Sauces, Summer Tagged: blistered tomatoes, Burrata cheese, fettuccine, fresh tomato sauce, roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes

Eggplant and Burrata Lasagna

April 2, 2016 by Marie 9 Comments

Lets just start out by talking about burrata cheese because it’s the key ingredient in this lasagna, no ricotta is required. Burrata is quite popular now but if you’re unfamiliar with it burrata is a basically a fresh cheese made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell consists of fresh mozzarella but when you gently tear into the middle it’s filled with soft cream filled curds, it’s heavenly!

If you can get a hold of the imported burrata straight from Italy, please do so it’s such a treat, smear it on some crusty bread and you’ll be speechless! The good news is it’s also produced here in the U.S. and it’s pretty easy to find and that type is perfect for this recipe.

You’ll also need some roasted tomatoes and roasted eggplant slices, marinara and lasagna sheets, the kind you have to boil. I never got on that no-boil band wagon, I’ve tried them a few times and didn’t like the taste or texture it’s just not the same in my opinion, so for this recipe boil your pasta please!

Serving the lasagna in individual gratin dishes makes for a nice presentation and it’s so much more special that way, don’t you think? Prepped and ready to go into the oven, which by the way you can prepare ahead of time.

If you have a smaller size dish you can always cut your lasagna sheets to fit it, after it’s boiled it’s easy to cut. I used three sheets per serving.

This is so light and luxurious, the creamy burrata is the shining star that takes this over the top and the eggplant and roasted tomatoes add so much depth of flavor.

It’s a winner, make it for someone special.

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4.0 from 1 reviews

Eggplant and Burrata Lasagna

Author: Marie

Ingredients

Ingredients are for two servings, feel free to double or triple.
3 balls of burrata
1 medium eggplant cut into circles, roasted or pan sauteed in olive oil until golden crisp
1 pint of colored cherry tomatoes, left whole, roasted in olive oil with fresh basil
1 quart of marinara sauce, preferably homemade, (you'll have leftover)
6 pasta sheets, three per serving, the kind you have to boil, cooked al'dente
fresh basil for garnish

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush 2 individual gratin dishes with olive oil.
Spoon marinara on the bottom of each.
Place one sheet of lasagna down and spoon marinara on top then add three slices of cooked eggplant.
Gently tear into the burrata and place pieces on top of eggplant.
Scatter the roasted tomatoes on top with some shredded basil.
Then repeat two more times. pasta sheet, marinara, eggplant, burrata, tomatoes and basil.
Place gratin dishes on a rimmed baking sheet for easy in and out of oven.
Bake for about 15 minutes just until warmed and burrata has gently melted.
Let it rest a few minutes before serving when sauce has stopped bubbling.
Garnish with more shredded basil.

9 Comments Filed Under: Pasta Tagged: Burrata cheese, eggplant lasagna, individual lasagna, lasagna

Summer Eats to Beat the Heat

August 4, 2014 by Marie 9 Comments

This right here is heaven on a plate to me! Creamy, dreamy Burrata cheese, grilled artichokes, garden fresh tomatoes loaded with fresh basil, a little prosciutto and some grilled crusty bread. This is good eating!

When it’s hot outside this is what we like to eat. The artichokes are the only thing I cooked here, I make them all summer long, they’re so addicting. If you’re an artichoke fan like we are and you prefer a lighter summer version, then this one is for you.

They’re stuffed with romano cheese, parsley, garlic and lemon zest and then placed on the grill until the cheese melts and gets nice and crusty. My Grilled Artichokes is one of my most pinned recipes and it’s so simple to make! You can find it here.

Since we have a ton of tomatoes coming in daily from our garden almost every meal includes them, so that’s what this post is about, some of the ways I use them.

This was our dinner the other night, roasted peppers, grilled zucchini, asiago cheese, prosciutto, salami, castelvetrano olives and some totally crunchy frezzelle which is the perfect base for our juicy garden tomatoes. I added some apple slices and a glass of wine and we were happy campers!

My husband would take this over a steak any day, we love to eat like this, especially in the hot summer months.

Here’s a salad that’s a meal in itself, garden tomatoes, fresh basil, olives, onions, grilled zucchini and chunks of crispy bread doused with olive oil and grilled, sort of like a panzanella, although a true panzanella requires you to wet the bread, I prefer mine crispier.

The dressing is made with a simple olive oil and red wine vinegar but the magic happens when everything gets tossed together and all the flavors meld into one. The tomatoes can either make or break this dish so be sure to take advantage of all that summer offers.

No recipes today just visuals of some of my favorite summer eating!

9 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Party Foods, Salads, Summer Tagged: Burrata cheese, garden tomatoes, grilled artichokes, panzanella

Little Lasagnas with Tomato, Burrata and Pesto

March 5, 2012 by Marie 26 Comments

This recipe was inspired by a photo I saw in La Cucina Italiana magazine, many years ago and although my version is much more simplified than the original, because I used some store-bought ingredients, I can assure you nothing lacked in the flavor department.

This recipe is such a hit each time I make it, it’s lighter than traditional lasagne and perfect for the summer months, and with creamy burrata adorning it, what’s not to like?

Being able to purchase fresh lasagna sheets and good quality pesto is key to the simplicity and taste, a quick 2 minute boil for the pasta then cooled down in ice water and patted dry.

The ingredients consist of fresh pasta sheets that are scattered with roasted tomatoes along with their lovely juice, dollops of store-bought basil pesto (not pictured here), grated parmesan or Pecorino, another drizzle of olive oil and of course the main character, burrata cheese!

You can do 2 or 3 layers at a time but I prefer three. You can assemble them on parchment paper that has been brushed with olive oil on a baking sheet, if you’re making quite a few, but I have made this several times since 2012 ( the 2 bottom pictures have been updated in 2019) when I first posted this and now I’ve come to love baking them in individual small casserole dishes.

I just oil the bottom and sides of the baking dish then spread a couple of spoonfuls of marinara on the bottom, then the layering starts.

Pasta sheet, roasted tomatoes with some of their juice, pesto, torn burrata and either Pecorino or Parmigiana sprinkled all over.

Because everything is precooked all you have to do is basically heat them through in a 450 oven until the burrata has melted and the edges are golden, somewhere around 15 minutes or so. Garnish with chopped basil and a few whole roasted tomatoes, ( because it gives a pretty presentation ) and serve immediately!

This is fantastic for a dinner party or a pretty quick mid week meal, just add a fresh green salad along with some crusty bread!

Buon Appetito!

26 Comments Filed Under: Fresh Pasta, Pasta Tagged: Burrata cheese, deconstructed lasagna, freeform lasagne, lasagne, little lasagnas, roasted tomatoes

BURRATA!

July 21, 2008 by Marie 64 Comments

If You’re lucky enough to come across some Burrata cheese, please don’t hesitate to pick some up. Yes, it’s a little pricey, but worth every single penny! It’s a food experience you’re not likely to forget. I happen to be at the right place, at the right time, the other day when I saw a special display of Burrata set up over at Whole Foods.

Imported from Italy, this artisanal cheese has a very short shelf life of about 2 weeks because it is fresh and not aged at all. This is not something that Whole Foods has in stock all the time, they try to get it in on all the holidays though. Even they were surprised when they got this shipment in. They tell me when it does come in it sells out so fast, so that’s why I said I was there at the right time. Lucky me there was 3 left!

Don’t you just love the packaging!!

The best way to describe Burrata is think fresh mozzarella kicked up a couple hundred notches, with a luscious creamy-like center that’s filled with a mixture of heavy cream and stracciatella (little rags) or curds of mozzarella. When you burst open the center everything oozes out!

This must be eaten at room temperature for maximum flavor and creaminess.

I roasted some Campari tomatoes with olive oil and purchased some spicy olives to go along with it, and of course some warm crusty bread!

I can’t think of a better way to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon, sipping on some cool crisp white wine to go along with our Burrata treat, al fresco style!

You can also cook with Burrata, you can put it on pizza or any number of things.