Tomato toast with burrata

BY BILL ST. JOHN

Move over, avocado toast. This is a turn on what in Barcelona, Spain, they call “pa amb tomàquet,” tomato toast, a food eaten there at all times of day, for breakfast or as a light meal or snack or starter plate. We non-Catalans here add Italian burrata and more flavorings for the sake of pure decadence. If, afterward, you have uneaten toasts and—better—extra purée, add more purée onto the slices, cover with plastic wrap, and enjoy with knife and fork the next day for leftovers altogether terrifically juicy and deeply flavored.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 Marczyk Fine Foods Levain Loaf
1 large garlic clove, peeled
La Cultivada Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil 
2 large very ripe red tomatoes, halved
1/2 teaspoon fine-grained or kosher salt
1 8-ounce container BelGioioso Burrata, drained
Freshly ground black pepper
8 large leaves Altius Farms basil
Zest of 1 small lemon

Directions

Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Slice thickly 1/2 of the levain bread, reserving the other half for the freezer. Place the slices on a baking sheet or (preheated) pizza stone and toast the slices on both sides until golden brown, 6-8 minutes total. Rub the cut side of the garlic clove onto one side of each toast and drizzle with some of the olive oil.

Take the tomatoes and grate them over a large mixing bowl, using the large holes of a box grater, minding your fingers and discarding the skin. Mix the tomato purée with the salt and spread some of it on one side of each slice of toast.

Top the toasts with slices or chunks of burrata, then some ground pepper, then chiffonade of basil (roll the leaves into a “cigar” and cut across the roll into very thin slices), then some zest of lemon, finishing with more drizzles of the olive oil. Serve.