Roasted Tomatoes & Burrata Cheese with Crostini

Since all of the food recalls this year, I've been skeptical about serving lettuce and other ingredients.  Which is really frustrating because the weather has been so hot.  We should be right in the heart of cool and refreshing salad season.  Since we can't really trust the produce right now, we've mainly been sticking to stuff from our own garden, which means tons and tons of cherry tomatoes.  Earlier in the summer, the Devilish Nephew and family came to visit. I certainly did not want to make anyone sick so I kept it safe and made a watermelon and feta cheese salad.  The adults enjoyed that and the tiniest devils love a good wedge of watermelon.  Mr. Devilish Dish grilled some delicious spice rubbed chicken thighs.  We enjoyed a batch of Frozen Aperol Spritzes.  All I needed was something featuring my harmless and abundant cherry tomatoes from my garden.  I've seen variations of this recipe allover the internet, featuring all kinds of ingredients, but I decided to keep it simple.  You could definitely add olives, fresh basil or anything else you desire, but the simple combination of tomatoes, roasted garlic and cheese tastes absolutely delicious as is.  This was a huge hit with everyone.  It would make a lovely snack with a crisp glass of wine, but since we are not eating lettuce right now, this has become a side dish in our meal rotation with no complaints!

This is so good.
We could eat this every day.

Easy to make and easy clean up.
Everything goes in one dish.

While the tomatoes and garlic roast,
get your baguette ready to
toast into crostini.

Look how good this looks.
Roasted well and a tiny bit of char
on a few tomatoes.

Use tongs to squeeze the roasted
garlic cloves out of the head 
of garlic.

Grab a fork or potato masher
and mash everything together.

Get some burrata cheese.
Drain away the liquid.

Tear the burrata into pieces and 
nestle it down into the hot
tomatoes and garlic.

Once the cheese melts, stir
everything together.

Serve with toasted crostini.

So delicious and a great use
for a big harvest of cherry tomatoes.

Serve as a side dish, or enjoy as an 
appetizer with a crisp glass of wine.

ROASTED TOMATOES & BURRATA CHEESE WITH CROSTINI

2 cups fresh cherry tomatoes
3 heads fresh garlic
olive oil
salt and pepper
one container burrata cheese
1 baguette

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Add the cherry tomatoes.  Generously drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Leaving the garlic heads intact, cut off the top.  Drizzle the cut part with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Nestle amongst the tomatoes and bake in the oven for an hour.  Remove the dish from the oven.  Using tongs, carefully squeeze the roasted garlic from its paper
squeezing the roasted garlic cloves into the tomatoes.  Discard the garlic papers.  With a potato masher or fork, smash the garlic and roasted tomatoes together.  Remove the burrata cheese from its liquid.  Tear into pieces and place in the hot tomato mixture.  Stir together allowing the cheese to melt completely.  Serve with crostini for dipping.

To make the crostini:  Slice the baguette into thin slices and place on a baking tray.  Lightly drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake in the 400 degree oven approximately 4 minutes per side or until crisp.