Monday, October 16, 2006

Cheese Bomb

Impossible to photograph, but trust me.
This is a skull-sized blob of burrata, the incomparable fresh mozzarella balloon shot through with cream and left to percolate into an overindulgent interior of gooshy, macaroni-like, stringy goodness.
I didn't know what to do with it. The cheese lady suggested pasta, but at $12+ for a pint of this madness, I was hardly about to toss it with noodles.
So I pulled it from the refrigerator an hour before lunchtime, and let it gently come to room temperature. Then I coaxed it from the plastic container, where it had expanded to fill all the possible space, and placed it on a plate — where it continued to burgeon.
Uncut, it made for a horrible picture. I hacked a gash into one side and the interior splooshed out, all tubes and wires and — Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!
Well, even so, I wouldn't say that this is a beautiful picture.
But it made for such fun eating.
Can you believe that with all this cow fat, we felt the need to douse it with olive oil? A crack of black pepper, and it was total decadence on a fork.
We do have leftovers. Maybe I'll boil up some penne after all.

19 comments:

Anita (Married... with dinner) said...

Mmmmm... burrata. It's particularly lovely in place of mozz if you have decent tomatoes for insalata caprese. It's also lovely on crostini. I can't imagine using it for pasta! :S

[Bonus points for the Thomas Dolby reference.]

Stacie said...

your photos are to drool for! I love the collage on the previous post too! I have never heard of burrata?? Amazing!!

Greg said...

Oh my that looks good!Olive oil,salt and pepper.Perfectly simple.Bravo my lady.

cookiecrumb said...

Anita: Well, we happened to do a deconstructed caprese-quasi crostini, hold the basil. It was a plate of sliced tomatoes, some killer wheat levain, and that goopy cheese.
So -- what to do with the rest?
[And *thanks*.]

Stacie: Far too kind. I make do. Actually, I make do-do. But I'm so flattered. :D Do click through on my burrata link to read what Carol Ness at the SF Chron says about burrata.

cookiecrumb said...

Greg: Ooh, you sneaked in. Thanks for the props.

Anonymous said...

Well, let me see: if I had that much burrata I would probably just rub it directly on my thighs..... It is such an astonishment, no?

Dagny said...

Cheese. My one weakness in life. Well, besides books and music. And I'm with Anita on the Thomas Dolby reference. (He's one of my fave musicians. I finally had the pleasure of seeing him live in February and April.) Many bonus points for that.

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: Yes. Just rub it in. Meow!

Dagny: Meow!

Anonymous said...

I recently bought some (I assume you got yours from Gioia by way of Cowgirl, too?) and served it in a caprese one night, and with prosciutto another. It's impossible to ruin it, it's just so sickeningly good.

cookiecrumb said...

Oh, Catherine, you are disgustingly correct! Yes, it's Gioia, and I got it at the Cowgirls', and the word "sickeningly" is just too true.
Damn.
We've got it good.
xx

Monkey Gland said...

I didn't like it. There I said it. I didn't like the burrata. I am expecting the food police at my door any seco....

cookiecrumb said...

MG: I can totally understand that. It's such an odd creation, and you have to get all devout and give it your full attention. I bogged down after several mouthfuls. But I liked it. I like white food.

Michelle said...

I would have added olive oil to that baby too - cow fat just gets better when covered in olive fat - yummy! And if you do end up making that penne, I'm going to be even more jealous!

Anonymous said...

ohhhhh myyyyy hearrrrrt beeeeeeee stilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll




I am drooling. It's my fave. WOW.

Anonymous said...

Like many others, I couldn't wait to try burrata after reading about it on The Wednesday Chef, and I waited and waited and waited while my local Whole Foods kept telling me they were getting a shipment in any day. Well, it finally arrived last week and I forked over my $10 for a small, gift-wrapped twist, eagerly opened it, and was distinctly disappointed! And I am a Pennsylvania Dutch girl, no dairy food could be too rich for me, and I also like bland white things. I don't know, it just kind of sat there...

cookiecrumb said...

This is so great: The discussion of whether we've been bamboozled by burrata.

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah? Whose doing forn porn now? ;-)

Anonymous said...

I love the look of it. I'm sure I'd like it.

cookiecrumb said...

S, K and B:
We knew it would be fragile, but we were surprised to get two "meals" out of it. (The second was a panzanella.)
Today, 10 days after we bought it (and I believe 12 days after it was made), it was el stinko.