Spring Veg w Burrata (or Ode to Spring).

This dish is all about celebrating spring produce. It’s a beautiful centrepiece to a meal: hands reaching in from all directions to dip a gorgeous radish in the luscious and creamy stracciatella insides of the burrata. It’s essential that you pick up whatever fresh produce is jumping out at you! Ideally, you’d do this at a farmers’ market, where the veg will be their freshest, most beautiful selves. But if that’s not possible, try your local organic grocer or fresh food market.

This recipe was created for The Design Files and can be found on their site here.

Ingredients:

1 generous handful of green beans
1 small bunch of Dutch carrots, ideally multicoloured, with their tops intact
1 small bunch of your favourite radishes
2 small bunches of asparagus
1 generous handful of sugar snap peas
1 small handful of mint leaves (fresh chives and basil work nicely here too)
1 or 2 burrata, depending on how many you’re feeding
A good pinch of flaky salt

Mustard Vinaigrette:
2 teaspoons good seeded mustard
1 small handful of chives, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar of apple cider vinegar
4-5 tablespoons of olive oil

Method.

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to the boil.

I like to leave all my vegetables attached to their tops/stalks/leaves – these are natures handles. Carefully cut your carrots in half longways, remove the woody ends from your asparagus and top and tail your beans.

Throw the beans and asparagus into the salted boiling water for 30 seconds. No longer! Remove them and place straight into an ice bath to stop the cooking. Using the carrot tops as handles, dunk your carrots into the salted boiling water so that the carrots are submerged but the green tops are not. Dangle them here for about 30-45 seconds. Remove and add to the ice bath. The rest of the vegetables I enjoy raw.

Radishes can go on whole or halved, if you prefer. Sugar snap peas can also be whole or halves. Place all your vegetables around a large platter, leaving a little space in the centre (ish) for your burrata. Sprinkle the whole thing with flaky salt.

Now for your vinaigrette, in a small jar (or bowl) add all vinaigrette ingredients and shake (or whisk) well.

Add the burrata to your plate and drizzle the whole thing with the vinaigrette, plus an extra drizzle with olive oil for good measure. It is quite a sight to see the burrata punctured and oozing with delicious curds at the table, so save this to do there.