There are dishes that remind you why Italian cooking has always been about simplicity. Tomatoes and burrata is one of them. In Italy, when the tomatoes are beautiful, ripe, and bursting with flavor, you don’t need to do much to them. You certainly don’t need to cover them with a long list of ingredients.
This is how I love to make it: start with ripe tomatoes. These came from a local farmer here in Tewksbury, New Jersey, and were picked fresh, right before I brought them home still warm from the sun. Slice them thick and let their natural sweetness do the talking.
Then comes the burrata. And here’s an important part: don’t just put a whole ball of burrata on top and call it a day. Cut it open and spread that creamy, rich center across the tomatoes so every bite gets some of that beautiful burrata.
Finish with fresh basil, sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, a generous drizzle of really good extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of dry oregano. I’m very lucky to have a friend whose mom, I call her Mama Pannia, sends me dried oregano he prepares from her garden in Calabria the aroma alone sends me to Italy.
Anyway, with or without Mama Pannia’s oregano that’s the Italian way—great ingredients, treated simply, with nothing to hide behind.
No complicated recipe. No shortcuts. Just fresh tomatoes, creamy burrata, and the flavors of summer.
Simple food always wins. Just the way Italy does.
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