Burrata cheese is a fresh Italian cheese filled with cream and pieces of mozzarella. When you cut it, the cream oozes out. I accidently poked one of the balls when I removed it from the package and so you can see some of the cream oozing out onto the plate. The balls are closed at the top with plastic twine.
I purchased two balls of burrata in this plastic tub. The cheese balls were covered with water, and had to be drained before serving. According to thenibble.com, Burrata was first made around 1920 in southern Italy. It was a way to use scraps of mozzarella left over from mozzarella-making. Because it is fresh cheese, it has a very short shelf life and was sold only in Italy, until very recently. Now, because of the water pack, I was able to purchase some at a cheese shop in Minneapolis. When I ordered the cheese, I was put the on a waiting list and then called when the cheese arrived at the shop. BelGioioso Cheese Inc. also makes burrata.
Burrata can be sliced and eaten as is, as David Lebovitz showed in his blog post on June 10th. Or, it can be cut and served on a salad or with fresh grilled vegetables for an antipasto. I tried it in a pasta dish with cooked pasta, diced tomatoes, sautéed onions, garlice and sliced fresh basil leaves.
After heating slightly in this pasta dish, the burrata became a little chewy but since I didn’t add any meat to this stove-top meal, I didn’t mind the chewiness of the cheese at all.
Have you tried this cheese? How have you served it?