There is no better time for tomatoes than summer. A personal favorite is the Cherokee Purple variety, but no matter your favorite, this recipe is super fast to pull together and will wow everyone. And, it can be an appetizer, served with some pieces of slices baguette, or a side dish. It can even be a salad served on its own if you like tomatoes as much as I do.
There’s no need to fancy-up this dish any more than the recipe states – let summer’s bounty be the star of the show.
All you need to do to make this recipe is slice at least one tomato per four people served, for an appetizer. So, for 16 people, you’ll want to have at least four medium-sized tomatoes on hand. But, if it’s the only appetizer being served, bump that to half a tomato per person, or eight tomatoes for 16 people.
I’ve tried many brands of burrata cheese and for the most accessible, easily found cheese with good flavor and consistency (you want it a bit runny in the middle, almost like ricotta cheese), I recommend the Belgioioso burrata. I used the 8 oz. container for this recipe, and it comes with four 2 oz. burrata balls.
I had Simple Truth salted pistachios on hand from this Zucchini + Squash Summer Salad, so I used them for delicious results. I did not have time to make homemade pesto, but I’ve included a link to homemade pesto at the end of this article. For store-bought, I prefer brands found in the refrigerated section, and for this, I used Kroger’s HemisFaresâ„¢ brand pesto. Kroger sponsors our Nashville recipes, so I try a LOT of their house brands and I’m a big fan of both their Simple Truth® and HemisFaresâ„¢ brands in particular.
5 Minute Appetizer: Sliced Tomatoes + Burrata Cheese + Pesto
Ingredients
- 4 heirloom tomatoes
- 4 oz burrata cheese (preferably in two 2 oz. balls)
- 1/4 cup Simple Truth® salted pistachio nuts
- 4 tbsp HemisFaresâ„¢ pesto (or another refrigerated pesto brand)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 8 leaves fresh basil
- finishing salt (I prefer Maldon salt flakes)
- 1 French baguette
Instructions
- Slice tomatoes into approximately 1/4 inch slices.
- Arrange the tomatoes on a plate or platter.
- Take both 2 oz. balls of burrata cheese and nest them into the tomatoes.
- Split open the cheese and squeeze each one to allow the creamy insides to start to spill out.
- Add a little olive oil to the pesto to make it a bit more runny.
- Spoon one tablespoon of pesto onto each burrata ball and then spoon the additional two tablespoons of pesto around the dish, on top of the tomatoes.
- Take the pistachios and add them to a sealed bag and pound on them until they are in tiny pieces. Sprinkle the pistachios atop the tomatoes and burrata cheese.
- Top with finishing salt, like Maldon salt flakes.
- Use fresh basil leave as garnish and to add visual appeal.
- Serve with sliced pieces of the French baguette.
Nutrition
If you’d like to make your own homemade pesto, my personal favorite is made with spinach leaves and basil with walnuts instead of pine nuts. The recipe can be found here.
Enjoy this easy summer appetizer. Find more amazing recipes in our library HERE.Â
