Mary Berry’s Burrata with Heritage Tomato Salad and Bloody Mary Dressing
This fresh, Italian-inspired tomato and burrata salad, as seen in Mary Berry's BBC2 series Simple Comforts, makes for a delicious starter or side dish.
From the book
Simple Comforts
Heart-warming comfort dishes from the nation's favourite cook
With easy, family-friendly recipes as well as all-out weekend feasts
Including chapters full of indulgent bakes and sweet treats
Introduction
I find this is one of the most popular sharing plates – just break the burrata open and let everyone help themselves. Burrata, which means ‘buttery’ in Italian, is a fresh cheese made from a mix of mozzarella and cream. It’s shaped like a ball and the outside thin shell is buffalo or cow’s milk mozzarella, while the inside contains a soft, doughy, stringy mixture of curd and fresh cream. It’s best served at room temperature.
Ingredients
| 750g (1¾lb) | heritage tomatoes, mixed sizes and colours |
| 1 x 320g (11oz) | burrata ball |
| 1 small bunch of | basil, leaves torn into pieces |
| 1 | celery stick, with leaves |
| coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
| For the dressing: | |
| 75ml (3fl oz) | tomato juice |
| 4 tbsp | olive oil |
| 1 tsp | Worcestershire sauce |
| 2 tsp | balsamic vinegar |
| Tabasco sauce, to taste | |
| celery salt, to taste |
Method
1. Roughly slice the tomatoes into different shapes and sizes.
2. Place the burrata in the centre of a serving dish. Arrange the various tomatoes around the cheese and sprinkle with basil leaves.
3. For the dressing, mix the tomato juice, oil, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar in a jug and season well with Tabasco, celery salt and pepper.
4. To serve, season the tomatoes with coarse sea salt and pepper and pour over a little of the dressing. Serve the rest of the dressing in a jug. Add the celery stick and use it to stir the dressing just before serving with some crusty bread.
Prepare Ahead: Assemble the salad up to 2 hours ahead and dress just before serving. The dressing can be made up to a day ahead.
