This is a great early summer recipe that combines local asparagus and great-tasting Isle of Wight tomatoes with that luxurious Italian delicacy: Burrata. (you could use good quality mozzarella instead if you want). Grilling the asparagus adds an extra crunch, but you can boil or steam the asparagus if you prefer.
Ingredients:
- 500g mixed Isle of Wight tomatoes
- Large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 280g Rogate asparagus
- 20g pine nuts
- 200g burrata
Method:
- Slice all the tomatoes and place on a sharing plate.
- Roll the asparagus in 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with sea salt. Grill for 3 minutes (or until lightly browned) then turn to grill the other side.
- Place the basil, lemon juice and zest, olive oil and seasoning into a food processor and blitz until well combined and nearly smooth.
- In a small pan toast the pine nuts, making sure you keep an eye on them as they burn easily.
- Assemble the asparagus on top of the tomatoes, place the burrata in the middle of the plate and sprinkle over the toasted pine nuts.
- Finally, drizzle over the basil oil and a final sprinkling of sea salt.