This past week, the igourmet.com website had its annual customer appreciation day; order $75 worth of merchandise and shipping is free. Next day FedEx no less for perishable items (there actually was a $6 surcharge to Hawaii but I can live with that). I also received an e-mail notification that Paula Lambert's Mozzarella Co's burrata was back in stock. What's burrata? Burrata is basically a fresh mozzarella that's wrapped around a bit of thickened cream... or fresh ricotta... or fresh butter. In the motherland, it's wrapped in the leaves of the asphodel plant. If the leaves are still green, then it's still fresh and at peak. If the leaves are brown, that's a sign of age (they say burrata should be consumed within 48 hours) and while still edible, will have a bit of sourness (cheese sourness, not milk sourness) and past its prime. We first savored the flavor at the Ferry Market Wine Bar at the Ferry Market Building in San Francisco. The wine bar offered burrata as a special (due to its very short shelf life) which they received from Cow Girl Creamery also at the Ferry Market Building. It was split open with oozing cream and drizzled with new harvest extra virgin olive oil and course cracked black pepper along with a fougasse from the Acme Baking Co. With a trio of Italian whites, this was the breakfast of legends.
Foward to this past Thursday. My package from igourmet arrives and the Mrs already has a baguette from La Brea and a Vietnamese baguette along with vine ripened Hamakua cherry tomatoes. The Palmina Tocai Friulano is chilled and the Olivier basil olive oil, Badia a Coltibuono extra virgin olive oil and white truffle oil are ready. Take our dose of Cholest-Off and we're ready to eat!
Paula Lambert's version is filled with fresh butter instead of cream since burrata literally means "buttery". Not as rich as the butter we get from the market, more like a whipped butter but just as decadent. Great with extra virgin olive oil, great with truffle oil, tomatoes great with basil olive oil, burrata balanced with a hint of balsamico or a hint of saba (one step before balsamico). Sometimes it seems we work simply to pay the mortgage. Sometimes it's for simple but decadent meals like this. A voitre sante!
Comments