Fig, Prosciutto and Burrata Salad With Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

The name of this salad is quite a mouthful, but not as much a mouthful as your first bite of this fresh and crisp, sweet and creamy, savory and buttery all-in-one concoction.

In most recipes there’s usually a star, a standout ingredient that really makes it. But in this one, I can’t really choose among them because all the ingredients bring their own character to the salad. I suppose the figs should get all the attention, since this is such a seasonal dish and you only have a few more weeks left before you won’t see this salad again till next summer.

But let me sway your eyes for a moment to the melt-in-your-mouth goodness that is burrata. Have you met my friend burrata? Meaning “buttered” in Italian, it tastes exactly how it sounds… creamy and buttery, but still light and fresh on the tongue. Burrata is basically mozzarella filled with cream.

I’ll let you take that in for a moment.

It’s believed that burrata first came about when Italian cheese factories were looking for a way to utilize all their mozzarella ritagli (or what’s known as “rags,” the leftover scraps of curds from mozzarella-making). The cheese is made by forming a thin skin of mozzarella into a pouch and filling it with ritagli and panna, or cream. On the outside, burrata looks just like a ball of mozzarella. But slice into the soft round of cheese and ritagali-thickened cream comes spilling out.

Here in the States, you can find burrata soaking in a little tub just like fresh mozzarella. You can even use it like you would mozzarella — say, for an end-of-summer caprese salad — or maybe you’ll want to go for a round two once you try this salad!

I added a few spoonfuls of fig jam as I love the extra sweetness and richness it gives. (My Balsamic Fig Jam With Black Peppercorn is superb with it!) But you can just buy jam at the store, or omit it entirely.

Any salad greens will work for this recipe; I used a mix of mizuna, spinach chard, and amaranth (the reddish-purple veins in amaranth leaves look beautiful with the figs).

Fig, Prosciutto and Burrata Salad With Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

For the Salad
4 slices prosciutto
2 cups mixed salad greens
6 fresh figs, quartered
4 ounces burrata
1/4 cup fig jam (optional, try my Balsamic Fig Jam With Black Peppercorn if you have some on hand)

For the Vinaigrette
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Method

On a large plate, artfully arrange from bottom to top: prosciutto, salad greens, figs, and burrata.

If using, spoon a small heaping of jam onto each dollop of burrata.

Whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette, then dribble over your salad.

Gorgeous, isn’t it? And can I tell you something here? Even though this recipe says “2 servings”… as in, it serves 2 civilized people… I ate the whole. damn. thing. By myself! Civilized I am not.