This Beet and Burrata Salad was the deliciously fresh second course of my Viking Cruise Ship Dinner Menu.
This is (very) loosely based on a Viking beet salad recipe - so let's say inspired.... I wanted to take advantage of the wonderfully delicious Heirloom Tomatoes in season as well as the new crop of beets. I had also recently seen a fresh Burrata salad on a restaurant menu. I didn't order it so it had been 'haunting' me for a week or so. (Note: Farm Boy carries Heirloom Tomatoes in the off season if you are looking for them.)
With the freshest of ingredients this salad really shines. It is fairly sturdy so you can assemble it a bit ahead of time. You don't want to refrigerate those beautiful tomatoes so I would say assemble it 30 minutes or so before you plan to serve it and let it rest at room temperature.
Beets are easy enough to cook but I always find they take longer to cook than the recipe suggests. If you want to make this really easy look for the pre-cooked beets at Costco.
I usually pressure cook beets which does them nicely in under 20 minutes. Since I was using baby beets I thought they would boil up quickly enough. Wrong again. They still took close to one hour of simmering. So it was good that I was cooking the beets a few days before the dinner or I would have been hovering over the pot urging them to cook faster!
Trim the top to get rid of the rough, woody stem area. Boil them with the skins on, let them cool, trim the root end and then you can rub the peels off under cold running water. You can slice them just before you are ready to assemble the salad. Canned beets or slices might work here but they have so much liquid in them you risk your plate swimming in pink juice.
I chose to make Basil Oil since I had an abundance of fresh basil in my herb garden. If you decide to make it yourself you need to start it 24 hours ahead of when you want to use it. If you want to streamline this dish even further you could drizzle Balsamic Vinegar and sprinkle some minced fresh basil.
Burrata cheese is fun to work with. It is fresher than fresh mozzarella and inside the smooth outer rind it is crumbly and moist. I cut thin wedges so I could position the smooth rind side up amidst the beet and tomato wedges. You could certainly use Bocconcini slices here if Burrata is not available.
Viking Cruise Recipe: Beet and Burrata Salad
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Save Print Pin FacebookIngredients
- 2 medium/large Heirloom Tomatoes
- 4 baby beets
- 1 1b Burrata cheese
- 1 cup fresh baby salad greens or baby arugula
- cherry tomatoes for garnish
- 4 oz Basil Oil can substitute Balsamic vinegar
- 4 fresh basil leaves sliced thinly
- coarse sea salt for garnish
Instructions
- Make Basil Oil one day in advance if using.
- Wash and trim stalk end of beets. Cook over medium heat until fork tender. This can take up to 60 minutes depending on the size of your beets. Drain beets and allow to cool. When cool enough to handle, trim the root end and rub the skins off under cold running water. Cut beets in to 16 uniform wedges.
- Cut Heirloom tomatoes in to 16 wedges.
- Cut Burrata cheese in to 16 wedges.
- Rinse and halve cherry tomatoes and slice fresh basil leaves.
- Spread a few salad greens on the bottom of each serving plate, reserving a few greens to garnish the top of each salad.
- Arrange a wedge of beet, then cheese then tomato together on each plate. Repeat 3 more times. Place a few cherry tomato halves around the plate.
- Lightly spread the reserved salad greens and the sliced basil over the top of the salad. Drizzle with Basil oil or Balsamic vinegar.
- Finish with a sprinkle of coarse sea salt.
- Serve. (Do not refrigerate the tomatoes.)
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