Burrata Sandwich

I still think about my first trip to Italy, in Rome, where every sandwich I ate somehow outperformed most restaurant meals back home. That's where the "less is more" idea really clicked for me. I've stuck to that rule ever since — four or five ingredients, max, per sandwich. None of that Americanized pile-up of cold cuts for me.

This one leans on three things that each have to shine on their own : homemade pesto, slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, and a genuinely generous burrata. Skimp on any one of them and it's just fine. Get all three right, and it turns into something a little unreasonable, in the best way.

Burrata itself comes from Puglia, in southern Italy, where cheesemakers in Andria are said to have invented it in the 1920s as a clever way to use up mozzarella scraps : the leftover curd, torn into strands, gets mixed with cream and sealed inside a mozzarella pouch so nothing goes to waste. It's since become one of Italy's most exported cheeses, and for good reason — cut it open and the whole thing collapses into a pool of cream. Damn.

Burrata Sandwich — Recipe

Ingredients — Advice & key points

• Cherry tomatoes : pick ripe, in-season ones — they're what turns into the confit, so their natural sweetness matters more than usual.
• Olive oil : go for a good extra-virgin, since it pulls double duty here — one part goes into the confit, the other is a finishing drizzle right before serving.
• Salt : a couple of generous pinches on the tomatoes before they go in the oven. Don't be shy — they need it to balance the sweetness.
• Pesto : homemade if you possibly can (check out my Mortar-and-pestle Pesto recipe). It's worlds apart from anything jarred.
• Bread : a proper, crusty one. Baguette is lovely, but pick whatever is freshly baked in your location. Make sure to pick a bread thick enough to hold all that generous filling.
• Burrata : buy the freshest, most generous one you can find — this is not the place to cut corners. Look for one that feels heavy and soft, packed with stracciatella.

Cooking process — Advice & key points

• Confit low and slow : it lets the tomatoes soften and concentrate without turning bitter or dry. Check on them around the 25-minute mark.
• Make the pesto while the tomatoes roast : it's the perfect use of that oven time, and everything comes together at once.
• Toast the baguette hot and fast : 200°C for about 4 minutes warms and crisps it without drying it out completely — you still want a bit of chew.
• Assemble right before serving : burrata waits for no one. Once it's cut open, you want it going straight onto warm bread.
• Tear, don't slice, the burrata : tearing it open lets the cream and stracciatella spread naturally across the tomatoes instead of sitting in one place.
• Finish with a last drizzle of olive oil : it ties the pesto, tomatoes, and burrata together and adds a bit of shine.