Heirloom Tomato Salad w/ Burrata & Opal Basil

You don't really need a recipe for this salad, however, I thought I would make it as Ms. Goin does in her lovely book Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

You know this is one of my very favorite cookbooks.
However, she makes everything into such a production. But the nice thing about her recipes is that you can read thru them and then "take it down a notch" or "dumb it down" (I hate both of those expressions) to suit your ingredients and style. Her photos are beautiful and every recipe in her book comes out beautifully (but be prepared to have time to prepare them).



This time I stuck to the recipe, even though I make this for lunch almost every week in the summer!
I made her dressing with the 1/2 clove of garlic, fresh oregano and salt, then added the vinegars and 6 tbsp of olive oil. Easy.

Then I tore up some nice bread (she likes a good white bread, I like a good Italian, who is to say?) and tossed the slices w/ olive oil and toasted them, then haphazardly threw them over the gorgeous heirloom Jersey tomatoes, which by the way, were ALL from my neighbor's and my garden, including the oregano and opal basil. La di da.



Burrata cheese is a gorgeous milky, runny fresh Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream. It tastes like butter, hence the name burrata, which means butter in Italian.

So slice your pretty colorful heirloom tomatoes, as many varieties as you can find and plate them with the warm croutons and fresh burrata cheese. Drizzle some of that yummy dressing over the whole platter and toss those little opal basil leaves on top and grind with some fresh black pepper.



There you have it, lunch is served, and you really didn't need a recipe.