Day 299 – Burrata

I could quite easily have filled this year of new things with new foods to try or bake. There’s so much out there that I’d like to try, it makes things a little too easy! My plan at the beginning of the year was to go to new foods as a last resort, but as this year hasn’t quite gone the way anybody planned, and it becomes harder and harder to create new things, I don’t mind turning to new foods a bit more often.

Burrata is something I’ve known about for a long time but stayed away from – stracciatella cream wrapped in mozzarella has always seemed like a red flag to my lactose sensitive stomach. This Italian deliciousness pops into my mind every so often to try, and I finally realised that life is too short not to try cream wrapped in cheese! Today was World Pasta Day, so I decided to have an indulgent Italian dinner to celebrate.

For the burrata starter, I turned to my main man, Yotam Ottolenghi, and used a recipe of his from Simple. He pairs the burrata with fresh basil and chargrilled grapes that have marinated in a fennel seed and garlic vinaigrette. If you’re thinking “cooked grapes?!” then you’re not alone – I was a bit dubious too. I had the oven on so I decided to roast the grapes instead of chargrilling and let me tell you, they were incredible. A jammy, sweet surprise that would go great with meat too. They complimented the creamy cheesy burrata, and the sharp vinaigrette so perfectly, I could have quite easily eaten that all night. The burrata was salty, creamy, cheesy, and is something I will definitely be making more room in my life for. High risk, high reward!

I thought the starter might upstage my main dish, but they complimented each other beautifully. My pasta dish was something simple but delicious that I’ve been dreaming about since I discovered what brown butter is – butternut squash in a brown butter and sage sauce. Oh man, was this utter, utter, heaven. This combination is so crazy good that my mouth is watering thinking about it again.

I based my evening meal around one ingredient and it was the best food I’ve made at home in quite some time. I can’t wait to see what other at-home food experiences this year has to offer!