As someone who eats salads on a regular basis, it can be challenging to constantly come up with new salads. I have the usual ingredients I add such as avocado, egg, and cucumber, but sometimes I want something entirely different. So I decided to bring burrata into the mix and create a tomato and nectarine burrata salad with garlic croutons and pickled shallots. This may not be a conventional salad but boy is it delicious!
Tomato Nectarine Burrata Salad
Ingredients
- 2 shallots thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp boiling water
- ½ tsp granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 4 cups crusty bread lightly toasted (such as sourdough or baguette)
- ¼ cup basil finely chopped
- ¼ cup parsley finely chopped
- 1 tbsp oregano finely chopped
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- pinch of sugar
- 3 tomatoes cut into wedges
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 3 nectarines cut into wedges
- 8 ounces burrata
Instructions
- Pickle the shallots. Stir together the red wine vinegar, boiling water, sugar, and a pinch of salt until the sugar is dissolved. Pour the mixture over the thinly sliced shallots. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat ½ cup olive oil with 4 cloves crushed garlic over low heat. Continue to gently simmer for 10 minutes or until the garlic cloves are browned and softened. Remove from heat and strain the oil, reserving the garlic for another use.
- Pour ¼ cup of the garlic olive over the lightly toasted bread, tossing to coat. Season the bread with salt and pepper and set aside. Cool the remaining oil.
- Whisk together the remaining garlic oil with the basil, parsley, oregano, lemon zest, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of sugar until well combined. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
- Pour the dressing over the tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and nectarines, gently stirring to combine. Let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Portion the marinated tomatoes and nectarines into 2 plates. Top the fruits with the croutons, pickled shallots, and burrata and drizzle any extra dressing on top. Serve immediately.
**Helpful tips and common mistakes
Sometimes you just have to skip the boring caesar salads and go all out. This is where this tomato nectarine burrata salad steps in. It's almost like a Panzanella because of the bread but better because of the burrata.
Start preparing the salad by first pickling the shallots. We're going to do a quick pickle using boiling water for the liquid. By using boiling water, the shallots should be done in 30 minutes. However, you can also pickled the shallots several days in advance.
While the shallots are sitting in the vinegar mixture, infuse olive oil with smashed garlic cloves. Gently simmer the oil over low heat until the garlic is softened and browned. Remove the garlic and pour half of the oil over the toasted bread. The bread will soak in all that garlic flavor and become the best croutons. Seriously, I think I'm going to always make my croutons this way from now on.
Now use the remaining garlic-infused oil to make the dressing. We're keeping it simple by making an herb balsamic dressing. Chop the parsley, basil, and oregano, and whisk it together with the balsamic vinegar, lemon zest and juice, capers, infused oil, a pinch of sugar, salt, and pepper.
Now gently toss the fresh nectarines, tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes with the dressing. Let it sit for 10 minutes, marinating it in the dressing.
Assemble the tomato nectarine burrata salad with the prepared croutons, burrata, and pickled shallots. Drizzle the dressing and juices from the fruit mixture on top and finish with freshly cracked black pepper.
The idea behind this salad is so simple but the flavors are anything but. Each bite is bursting with freshness, tartness, and sweetness. Celebrating summer ingredients in the best way!
For more summer salad inspiration check out this grilled apricot couscous salad!
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