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Am I too late for snap pea season? We’re so spoiled with our ability to get almost any food at the store just about any time we want it, I sometimes forget that food has seasons. I hope you can still find garden-fresh snap peas to make this delicious salad/side dish. 
I saw this on Smitten Kitchen, who reinvented a recipe by way of Carla Lalli Music’s cookbook Where Cooking Begins. Carla instructs to char some snap peas and leave some raw, thus creating the perfect interplay of textures and flavors. She also used buffalo mozzarella and grilled bread, but Deb decided to use burrata and toasted bread crumbs. All I needed to hear was burrata to know I needed to make this. Follow Deb’s technique for “butterflying” burrata, or opening it like a book, to really stretch this cheese for a meal for two or a side dish for four.
A little toss with spicy chiles (Calabrian chiles packed in oil are great here) and a sprinkle of chile flakes give this a nice dose of heat. You can decide how much you want to add, but I’m all about that spice. Lemon juice, zest, fresh basil and mint add all the fresh and bright flavors we need to bring this dish home.
Make sure your burrata is at room temperature-only in moments of complete desperation have I eaten fridge-cold burrata…and I’m not proud of it. Let’s just all acknowledge that you’re wasting your expensive, luxurious burrata if you’re eating it cold. Give it time to warm up and it will reward you by being incredibly flavorful and creamy, something you just don’t get when it’s cold.
Charred and Raw Snap Peas with Burrata and Garlicky Bread Crumbs
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Fresh and charred snap peas are flavored with lemon, chiles, mint and basil and placed atop room-temperature burrata that has been opened like a book and spread to form a beautiful, creamy base for the veggies. It’s hard to determine if this is a salad or a side dish, so don’t choose and serve it as either!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces burrata, drained and dried
- Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
- Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed of strings if needed
- 2 thick slices of rustic crusty bread, torn into small pieces (about 1 cup)
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- Minced Calabrian chiles packed in oil, to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Calabrian chile flakes or red chile flakes, to taste, optional
Instructions
- Place your burrata on a serving platter and open by cutting in half, taking care not to cut all the way through. Spread each cut side of the burrata along the bottom of the plate, using your knife to cut parallel to the plate if you need to. The burrata should be “butterflied” at this point to form a base. Sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with olive oil. Allow to sit for at least 30 minutes, or longer if needed, as you prepare the rest of the recipe. The burrata should be at room temperature at serving time.
- Place your sugar snap peas in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Preheat a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop or on your grill over medium-high heat. Once preheated, reduce the heat to medium. Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil and the smashed garlic cloves; allow to infuse for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Allow to crisp and turn golden-brown, stirring as needed. Grate the zest of half the lemon over toasted bread crumbs, tossing to coat. Remove the garlic cloves and transfer the bread crumbs to a plate; set aside.
- Return the skillet to the heat and place half the sugar snap peas in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the peas are charred in spots and tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the remaining raw sugar snap peas and toss to combine. Add the remaining lemon zest, all of the lemon juice and the Calabrian chiles to taste. Taste for seasonings and adjust if necessary. You can cut some of the snap peas in half to expose the beans inside if you want an extra-pretty presentation.
- To assemble: Scatter the sugar snap peas over the burrata. Top with the toasted bread crumbs. Drizzle with more olive oil, flaky sea salt and the mint and basil leaves.
Notes
Inspiration: Burrata with Charred and Raw Sugar Snap Peas on smittenkitchen.com
- Category: Vegetable Sides, Salad
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