Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad

Ripe heirloom tomatoes with creamy burrata cheese and fresh basil

When the weather is warm and the heirloom tomatoes are at their peak there’s nothing I love more than a perfect caprese salad. Caprese can be boring and typical, but with great ingredients and attention to detail it can be mind-blowing. This is one dish where I think presentation is really important, so I look for different shapes, sizes, and colors of tomatoes and layer them carefully with the right amount of fresh basil and pinches of soft burrata cheese. I don’t believe in adding too much dressing, but the tomatoes badly need some sea salt, black pepper, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, and an aged balsamic vinegar. This recipe could easily feed eight people as a starter or side dish, but my fiancé and I polished it off for dinner with some homemade bread.

Heirloom Caprese Salad:

• Slice 4 medium-large heirloom tomatoes into 3/4" thick slices and arrange on a plate.
• Tuck a dozen or so whole, fresh basil leaves in between the tomato slices, then use your hands to pull a part a large ball of fresh burrata cheese.
• Dot the burrata over the tomatoes, then season the whole thing generous with salt and pepper.
• Drizzle with aged balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.
• Serve immediately.

Serves two - three (main course)

Serves six - eight (starter)