The Viral Tik Tok Tomato Burrata Salad

If you’re feeling the heat and all you want is an easy, refreshing and delicious burrata salad then try this spin on a tomato and burrata salad. This is one of my favourite TikTok recipes where a whole plump burrata and a frozen tomato is shaved all over it, like a granita. Finish it off with aged balsamic vinegar, olive oil and basil. It is beautifully refreshing and a clever way to serve up a classic salad. This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

I have wanted to make this tomato burrata salad for months. I was waiting for the perfect weather and then I was waiting for the perfect tomatoes. The weather this summer has been irritatingly inconsistent except for the continued persistence of rain but one day everything happened to come together. By that I mean I was hungry, it was warm (ish) and my basil was ready for its close up. And Mr NQN was famished so he was hanging around the kitchen hoping for some food so I put him to work shaving the frozen tomato. Win win.

Tips For Making This Burrata Frozen Tomato Salad

1 – The key to this is just having everything ready before that final shaving of the tomato because once the tomato is shaved it’s time to serve it.

2 – So first I like my burrata really soft and oozy. Drain the burrata and sit it at room temperature for an hour (or two) before serving it.

3 – I also cut off the top of the knot off the burrata so that it is easier to pull it apart. But make sure not to cut into the burrata and spill the insides.

4 – Then toast up that baguette. Slice the baguette up and rub a cut garlic clove over it and brush it with oil and toast it.

5 – Then it’s time to grate the tomato. Use a coarse grater not a zester. It looks absolutely beautiful cascading down on top of the burrata (and tastes even better).

6 – If you don’t have an aged balsamic vinegar, try using balsamic glaze.

7 – If you have a glut of tomatoes, freeze them to use for this dish!

While Mr NQN and I still eat meat, we really gravitate towards simple, vegetarian dishes and we eat mostly vegetables with meat as an accompaniment. Our plates would look like 20% meat and the rest as vegetables. This isn’t necessarily a new year’s thing but something that has happened gradually over a couple of years.

It’s easy to convince Mr NQN to eat vegetarian dishes because he grew up eating them. Back then it was much simpler fare – I’m sure I’ve told of how his mother used to put a cabbage down on the table and each child would peel off a leaf for dinner? This year for Christmas when we had them over I thought of how they used to eat cabbage. As luck would have it, my vege box delivery gave me a hispi cabbage, a conical shaped cabbage (also known as a pointed or sweetheart cabbage) which was perfect for making as a Christmas tree out of. I was inspired by a retro cookbook meme – you know how you see those memes of past atrocities from retro cookbooks using aspic, pineapple and hot dog frankurters? I strung some chives from they garden around the cabbage and some capsicum as baubles. I was so proud of my Elliott friendly creation.

Halfway through the meal I noticed that my cabbage tree sat there uneaten so Mr NQN took the cabbage and peeled a leaf off and ate it. He then passed the cabbage onto everyone else who munched on it as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Even Queen Viv, her son Michael and I got into it although for us, we needed to dip it into the garlic sauce first. However the Elliotts ate the leaf as it was without any adornment. Just like the way it used to be when they were kids, you know the good old (and kinda strange) days…

So tell me Dear Reader, would you try this frozen tomato burrata salad? Would you like cabbage on its own or would you need a sauce?

The Viral Tik Tok Frozen Tomato Burrata Salad

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes (plus an hour at room temperature)

Cooking time: 0 minutes

• 150g/5oz burrata
• 150g/5oz baguette, sliced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 clove garlic, cut in half
• 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large tomato, frozen hard
• Basil leaves

Step 1 – Place the burrata in a bowl an hour before serving it. I cut off the knot at the top so that it is a bit easier to open up but make sure not to cut into the burrata and spill the insides. Slice the baguette, rub all over with the cut garlic clove and brush with oil. Grill until toasted.

Step 2 – Drizzle the burrata with aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grate the tomato over the burrata with a coarse grater (not a zester). Add basil leaves and serve with the toasted baguette.