Burrata Salad with Strawberries, Basil and Marcona Almonds

Beautiful burrata. A gorgeous little pouch of fresh mozzarella enveloping a soft, tender creamy center. A rich buttery flavor with a touch of milkiness. Wonderful when balanced with sweet strawberries, bright basil and crunchy almonds. We found burrata at the farmers' market and made this amazing salad, perfect for two to share as an appetizer, or one to have for lunch. If you can't find burrata, use fresh mozzarella instead. 

Burrata Salad with Strawberries, Basil and Marcona Almonds

2 balls burrata cheese

4 strawberries, hulled and slices

4 basil leaves, chiffonade

6 Marcona almonds, roughly chopped

extra virgin olive oil and balsamic glaze, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Arrange cheese and strawberries in a dish. Sprinkle with basil and almonds, then drizzle with olive oil and balsamic glaze. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: This burrata came from Meadowstone Farm, Brooklyn, CT. 

Cooking Club: Glazed Chicken with Apple Salad

Amy writes:

The first meeting of my school's cooking club was today, and the student-chefs-in-charge this year are focusing on 30-minute recipes. Today's recipe was one from Pampered Chef, and can be found in various places online, including here. Our market did not have watercress, so teacher-chef-in-charge (Dave) substituted escarole, the bitterness of which balanced nicely with the sweet salad dressing. Speaking of dressing, who would have thought to use jelly in salad dressing? Certainly not I. 

The results: Did we make it in 30 minutes? Yes, in fact, just under. Then we enjoyed it, sharing some future serving suggestions, such as adding walnuts or Craisins. But all of us thought it was an easy, tasty, healthy meal and we'd all make it again. Success!

EZ Orzo Salad

On Saturday, one of our nieces turned 30. Yes, that makes us feel old, and she's not even the oldest of our 15 nieces and nephews (including a great-nephew and a great-niece) who range in age from 37 years to 6 weeks old. The party Saturday, for K, was a casino night theme, and one of the many activities was to answer questions (there were 30) about the birthday girl in order to win extra bucks. And one of the things we found out about K is that her favorite salad is orzo salad.

Now, we know for a fact that K's orzo salad is delicious because she made it for us once. We foolishly did not ask her for the recipe, but orzo salad was on our minds the next day when we needed to come up with a side dish for a little Labor Day BBQ we were hosting. And so, here is our version of easy orzo salad, inspired by our beautiful niece K. It makes plenty (we fed 8 and still had some left over), and is a great way to use those cherry tomatoes that just keep on growing in our garden! And it went perfectly with our lemon-rosemary rotisserie chickens!

To find the recipe for the roasted tomatoes, go HERE.

Orzo Salad

Ingredients:

1 lb. orzo

1/2 lb. crumbled feta cheese

2 tablespoons boxwood basil

1 tablespoon purple basil

1 cup slow-roasted tomatoes with garlic

1 tablespoon basil oil

Prepare the orzo according to package directions. When it is done, drain it and rinse it well with cold water. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Serve chilled or at room temperature.