BackA salad for summer
Creamy burrata cheese mingling with smoky peppers and ripe, juicy tomatoesa recipe full of the flavours of a long hot summer
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Greetings from springtime Scotland, a magical season that can involve anything from deep blue skies and blazing sunshine to howling wind, teeming rain, freak hail and snow—often all in the same day. True, the evenings are getting longer, the trees are budding and temperatures occasionally reach double figures, but the central heating is still on, as are the thermal layers. In the kitchen, we’re longing to start the barbecue, go on a picnic and eat salad, but in reality the spring vegetables are struggling to make an appearance and soothing stodge is still the order of the day.
But I know you’re all wilting in another record-breaking Indian heat wave. And while I don’t miss the debilitating temperatures of a Delhi summer, I badly miss the season’s compensations—the blazing gulmohar trees, endless mangoes and the joy of gazpacho for dinner. Think of us this evening, as we tuck into a thick chicken and vegetable soup.
As I wait patiently for some signs of warmer weather, I’m happy to live yours vicariously through this recipe full of the flavours of a long hot summer—creamy burrata cheese mingling with smoky peppers and ripe, juicy tomatoes.
Burrata is a soft Italian cheese that looks like mozzarella that has reached a whole new level of decadence. Burrata literally means “buttered" and is essentially a pouch of mozzarella filled with soft curd and cream. I have a ready supply in the Italian deli near my house, which also happens to be Scotland’s oldest Italian deli. In Delhi, I buy the Flanders Dairy variety. It’s delicious as a quick snack with crudités, pickled vegetables or on bread.
The basil oil is the work of a few seconds but crowns the salad with Mediterranean magic. You’ll also have enough left over to enhance all sorts of summer fare—cold soups, fish, pasta, risotto, even pizza.
Magically, as we sat down to eat this salad the other evening, beautiful spring sunshine flooded through the window, and for a few moments we felt warm. But by the time I had taken a photo of the sun-dappled platter and was ready to dig in, it had started to snow.
Roast Pepper, Burrata and Basil Oil Salad
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a starter
Ingredients
2 red peppers
2 yellow peppers
50g fresh basil leaves
200ml extra virgin olive oil
A good pinch of sea salt
400g sweet cherry tomatoes
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons (nimbu) or one large lemon
2 tbsp capers
Fresh crusty bread, to serve
1 whole burrata
Method
To roast the peppers, either hold them with tongs over the flame of a gas hob or put them under a hot grill until the skins are blackened and blistered all over. Then put the peppers in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 10 minutes. Then remove the skins, stalks and seeds and cut each pepper into long strips and leave to cool.
To make the basil oil, put the basil leaves, extra virgin olive oil and salt into a blender and whizz to a thin, oily paste. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
Arrange the pepper slices and tomatoes on a large plate, scatter the capers over it and grate the lemon zest over the vegetables. Put the burrata in the middle of the plate, open it with your fingers to let the creamy centre run out. Trickle the basil oil over it—you probably won’t need it all.
Serve cold on a hot day with lots of crusty bread to mop up the cream and juices.
The Way We Eat Now is a fortnightly column on new ways of cooking seasonal fruits, vegetables and grains. Pamela Timms tweets at @eatanddust and posts on Instagram as Eatanddust.
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