Summer Pleasures: Grilled Squash w/ Burrata & Olive Puree

I swear I could eat this everyday of my life.

If I lived in Southern Italy, I probably would. I would buy local burrata (that gorgeous creamy liquid center mozzarella cheese) and grill up my squash freshly picked from my garden, and become a real Italian mama.

This is Italian summer eating at its best. Though the recipe is oddly from a French restaurant in Paris.

The recipe calls for slicing the freshest picked young zucchini and yellow squash and laying it on top of buffalo mozzarella on top of an olive puree, which the chef makes by grating each olive with a microplane zester.

Then he makes it French by sprinkling Piment d'Espelette on top (a hot pepper powder from the Basque region of France).

Ok. I decided I was going to be a chef and grate each olive by hand with the microplane.

Ridiculous.

After olive #3, I pureed them in my mini chopper and got the same results. Come on now.

I also decided to grill my zucchini slices for a sweeter taste, and am glad I did, I am not a big fan of raw squash.

I bought a nice Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP, that believe it or not, Trader Joe's carries for $6.99. It has a short shelf life, because it's flown in from Italy, so use it quickly.

I served this with toasted bread, drizzled with olive oil (what else?) and a great bottle of Verdicchio.

Lunch is served.

Mozzarella w/ Summer Squash & Olive Puree (adapted from Food & Wine)

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped in a food processor
1 pound fresh buffalo mozzarella, cut into wedges
1 small zucchini, very thinly sliced
1 small yellow squash, very thinly sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Flaky sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
piment d'Espelette or hot paprika, for sprinkling

Slice the zucchini and yellow squash into thin long slices. Lay them in a shallow dish and drizzle some olive oil on top. Season with kosher salt.

Grill on medium heat for a few minutes on each side until they have grill marks and look done.

In a mini processor, puree the olives. Strain the puree through a fine sieve; you should have about 1/4 cup.

Spread the olive puree on plates and arrange the mozzarella wedges and grilled zucchini and squash slices on top.

Drizzle olive oil over the cheese and sprinkle with salt, white pepper and piment d'Espelette.

Serve with crusty bread and enjoy summer!

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