I came across this Burrata recipe on the internet and discovered it was written by Chef Frank Bonanno of Luca d'Italia in Denver!
Sharon and I loved the Burrata there and I wanted to make it at home so I started to think, what if I bought fresh mozzarella and microwave it to melt the cheese , flattened it out, filled it with ricotta and folded it over?
Well, it was not as flavorful as the Burrata at Luca but it is worth making assuming you have great ricotta and a high quality fresh mozzarella.
Burrata (print recipe)
Ingredients
4 oz of fresh mozzarella
2 tablespoons whole milk ricotta seasoned with salt and pepper
Olive oil
Ramekins
I used a 4 oz piece of fresh mozzarella cheese and microwave it on 2 -30 second cycles
I then used two plastic bags and pressed the cheese out thin
While the cheese was still hot I placed it into olive oiled ramekins and filled it with the ricotta cheese. I folded over the flaps and sealed the top with a pat of the hand.
Before serving I let it come to room temperature.
I then minced some fresh garlic and sautéed it in extra virgin olive oil and poured it on top!
We ate it immediately in the kitchen standing at the counter with crisp toasted Italian Bread!
Here’s the Burrata recipe from Luca
Thank you Chef for sharing your talents!
Essentially, burrata is a ricotta infused mozzarella. So, by sharing this recipe, I am actually sharing 3 different ricotta recipes, a mozzarella recipe, and a burrata recipe.
Enjoy.
Ricotta, large batch
2 quarts cream
2 quarts organic whole milk
5 lemons (1 cup lemon juice)
1 cup buttermilk
½-1 cup heavy cream
Pinch of salt
Tools needed: citrus reamer
Preparation
Ream the lemons; set juice aside
Bring cream and whole milk to a boil
Add lemon juice, buttermilk, and salt
Reduce heat to low and simmer, stir until thick
Wrap in cheese cloth; knot the top and hang over kitchen sink (I hang it on the faucet.)
Drain 24 hours; use Kitchen Aid to whip additional heavy cream into ricotta until it is the consistency of soft ice cream
Some variations on Ricotta:
To make
Ricotta Salata
Instead of whipping ricotta with cream, form ricotta into thin logs or small bulbs
Sprinkle with sea salt.
Wrap in cheese cloth, hang to dry for two weeks.
To make
Ricotta Al Forno
Oil inside of a ramekin, fill with ricotta
Bake at 400 degrees for 36-45 minutes until golden
Let cool and firm
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Burrata
Mozzarella curd
2 gallons non-homogenized whole milk
2 ½ teaspoons powdered citric acid
¾ teaspoon liquid rennet
Tools needed: double boiler; cooking thermometer; 2 small glass bowls; colander; cheese cloth
To make the curd:
Line a large colander with a generous amount of cheese cloth (enough to fold up and wrap the top of the contents of the colander later), Set aside.
In a small glass bowl, dissolve citric acid in ½ cup of cool water. In another bowl, mix the rennet with ½ cup of water, set bowls aside.
Warm the milk in a double boiler to 88º. Remove from heat. Add citric acid mixture; stir. Add rennet mixture; stir some more until curd forms. Pour curd into cloth-lined colander. Wrap cheese cloth all the way around the top of the curd.
Set a plate on top of the cheese cloth, and something heavy (like a large can of tomatoes or a marble rolling pin) on top of the plate so that the weight will bear down on the curd and press all of the liquid into the sink and down the drain.
Leave in sink overnight.
For the mozzarella Burrata
2 cups ricotta
14 ounces mozzarella curd cut into ½ inch cubes
Tools: Two stock pots; 8 oz ramekin
A note on the ramekins: it would be a rare home cook who happens to have 10 ounce ramekins lying about. An alternative would be to use a cup cake mold—not the metal ones, but those plastic, bendy ones.
Put about a teaspoon of the mozzarella water in the bottom of each holder (so the cheese will come out easily when you are ready to use it), then line each mold with the mozzarella and fill with the ricotta as you would if using ramekins.
Put curd into large pot. In another pot, bring about 2 quarts heavily salted water to a boil ("salty like the sea"). Pour the boiling water over the cubed curd and let steep for ten minutes. While the curd is steeping, set out 10 ramekins.
With a wooden spoon, knead the curd, gently pressing it into itself. As the curd starts to come together, set the spoon aside and use your hands to knead the form into 3 ounce balls (about the size of a regular meatball).
Flatten out the balls to about ¼ inch thick and 4 inches in diameter (like a pie crust—this flattened mozzarella will be the crust on the outside of the burrata). Set flattened cheese over the rim of the ramekin.
Scoop 2 large tablespoons of ricotta into the middle of each mozzarella "pizza", using the spoon as you go to gently press the mozzarella down and into the mozzarella-lined ramekin.
Cover the top of each filled mold with a little mozzarella water (enough to form a wet seal).
Serve at room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate if using at later date; then set out until the cheese comes down to room temp. Good for 3 days.
