Burrata Alla Panna from Di Stefano Cheese

I have never met anyone who didn't like cheese.  I guess I've met people who couldn't eat cheese for some reason, but not because they didn't like it.  Thankfully I'm not one of those people, and I make it a habit to incorporate cheese into every dinner that I have time to put some forethought into.  Well, let me think about that--is it a habit if every good thing you can think to cook contains cheese?  Or would that be a compulsion?

Along with the organic butter from Five Star Farms Anson brought home from the L.A. Specialty Food Show three little balls of beautiful white cheese wrapped in green plastic leaves and tied with a ribbon. (Boy does he know what kind of presents I like.)  Burrata alla Panna--that ephemeral cousin of fresh mozzarella.  It's come to the attention of cheese lovers over the past couple years and I've been seeing it on nicer restaurant menus.  You can even get a version of it at Trader Joe's, though I think theirs is more like fresh mozzarella than burrata.

So what makes it different?  Burrata is made by filling a thin skin of fresh mozzarella with rags, or straciatella, of fresh mozzarella curds that have been mixed with cream, or panna.  The top is twisted together to keep the creamy insides in.  It's normally a very perishable cheese that needs to be consumed within a couple days. The cheese that Di Stefano Cheese is making in the Los Angeles area has a shelf life of 30-days unopened.  According to their website, the cheese would traditionally be wrapped in blades of a leek-type plant to indicate it's freshness. When the leaves are dried out, the cheese is past it's prime too.  Their very clever packaging mimics that tradition and also gives you the thrill of opening a present. And who doesn't like cheese presents?

The flavor of the burrata is really quite mild, far from the salty, processed mozzarella that most of us grew up eating (not that I don't still put that on pizza).  The mozzarella skin is easily broken and reveals a thick custard-like filling. It's delicate in both it's texture and flavor--imagine fresh sweet milk that has been thickened.  I found when eating it plain that it needed a touch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper, but pairing it with fresh pesto really set it off. It would be natural to serve burrata with some fresh summer tomatoes and basil, or add it to a crispy pizza with tomatoes and squash blossoms as they do at Pizzeria Mozza (incidentally the eatery credited for popularizing burrata in L.A.).

So if you can't eat cheese, I apologize for these photos, but I'll make it up to you by eating any other cheese you can't.  Yep, I would do that for you.

Show Them You Cara Cara

Oh yes I did.  Seriously, who could resist that pun?

So these "new" oranges showed up at our local Farm Boy a couple weeks ago and I've been hooked ever since.  Where have these oranges been all my life?  Cara Cara they are called, and they are not regular oranges.  Sure, outside they look just the same, but inside they are a deep red-orange color.  But it's really the flavor that sets them apart; they taste like a cross between a ruby red grapefruit and an orange.  How did they know I've been looking for just such a thing?

A quick search confirmed my impression--Wikipedia states that they are indeed a hybrid of grapefruit and orange, with a resulting lower acidity than a regular grapefruit.  They have been around since the 1980s but I haven't seen them until this year.  Of course, I have to admit I never look for anything new in the orange section and I don't think I'm alone in that.

Is it just me or are there others out there who Cara Cara about them as much as me?  Okay I'll stop.  Enjoy the photos.

Brussels Sprouts Salad

Our winter garden is less, um, bountiful than we expected.  I've been preparing for the opportunity to photograph the results, but it's been less than picturesque.  Lots of seedlings, but the development seems to have been arrested a couple months ago.  I had the highest hopes for the Brussels sprouts we planted.  Alas, we only have a big stalk with lots of leaves. Too bad because I've been dreaming of an endless supply of Brussels sprouts at my finger tips, to delicately sauté in browned butter at my whim.  Little tiny buttons of sprouts are just beginning to surface---after five months.  Well, you live and learn; next year we'll take Labor Day off and relax instead of gardening.

Fortunately, there are plenty available in the store as my friend Elaine took advantage of last weekend to make the great Brussels sprout salad you see above.  Wilted Brussels sprouts tossed with carrots, red cabbage and pancetta--because nothing isn't improved by a little bacon.

                              

For the Love of Butter

I used to have a roommate who was a chef and he once told me what makes restaurant food so much better than the food you make at home: "Salt and butter."  You can't skimp on either if you want people to keep coming back and eating at your restaurant.

At home we can't all eat like that, so it's important to make it count when you do. We were lucky enough to get our hands on some really good butter at the L.A. Specialty Food Show last week.  Anson gave his neighbor some La Brea Bakery bread and in exchange he got an allotment of Organic Butter with French Sea Salt from Five Star Butter.  Yowsers, it's good.  I was skeptical at first, but found myself dipping back into it as I made dinner and remembering how gratifying good butter can be.