You know that gloriously creamy cheese that you often find in Italian restaurants. Sometimes bathed in peppery green olive oil or perhaps crowned with a handful of basil leaves. Or the creamy milky centre that pools deliciously only your plate as you tease open of a blob of burrata. That is essentially stracciatella.
The word stracciatella derives from the Italian word stracciare which means to shred or tear. In fact in Italy stracciatella can refer to one of three things. There is stracciatella Gelato or ice cream- a vanilla based ice cream with shards of chocolate rippled through (I made my own no-churn pistachio stracciatella version here). There is Stracciatella alla Romana - a comforting brothy soup enriched with beaten egg, parmesan cheese and sometimes nutmeg which is drizzled into the hot broth forming bouncy ribbons as it cooks. Then there is Stracciatella Cheese which is what we are making today. Originating from the region of Puglia, it is made by soaking fresh mozzarella curds in heavy cream until the flavours marry and mellow to create that creamy rich almost milky sweet cheese that we know and love.
You can buy it from specialist Italian delis and suppliers such as Natoora. Or you can make it yourself and believe me, it is easier than you might think.
Note: This post contains a lot of pictures, which means it may appear clipped in an email. If you’re struggling to view it press VIEW IN BROWSER at the top right of the email and you’ll see it in one.
Hi to those of you who are new here too! I am so grateful that you are reading this and hope that you are enjoying the recipes. A reminder that if you are a paid subscriber you have access to the full recipe archive. If you’ve opted for a free subscription you’ll receive one post a month. If you’d like access to my entire recipe archive plus exclusive guides full access is £5.00 per month or £50.00 a year (which works out as just £4.16 a month). You can pause or cancel your subscription at any time. This one is for all subscribers. I hope you enjoy it.
Enjoy your stracciatella however you like. I love it with a slosh of my best olive oil, a pinch of salt and a smattering of lemon zest. Or with fresh chopped chilli fried together with sage in butter or oil until it begins to sizzle. Or scooped up onto toast, perhaps topped with an anchovy or a handful of torn basil. Stracciatella loves tomatoes; raw tomatoes with just a little olive oil, tomatoes flashed in the pan till their skins burst, or tomatoes cooked slowly in a bath of olive oil until they become almost jammy.
But today I am pairing it with peppers. Romano peppers - which the best peppers in my opinion. I make these peppers at almost every summer lunch or dinner where I am cooking. They are always the first things to go.
THE RECIPES
STRACCIATELLA
you may have more than you need. Enjoy the rest however you desire
200g mozzarella
120g double cream
Sea salt
Shred a ball of mozzarella into a bowl.
Pour over the cream and a good pinch of salt and loosely stir.
Cover and keep in the fridge for four hours until everything has come together and you are left with luscious creamy stracciatella.
ROASTED ROMANO PEPPERS WITH STRACCIATELLA, CAPERS AND PARSLEY OIL
Serves 4-6
8 Romano peppers
Olive oil
Sea salt
Handful basil
Olive oil
Handful capers
200-250g stracciatella
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees fan setting.
Halve the Romano peppers lengthways and scoop out the seeds. Rub in olive oil and sea salt and roast on a large tray for 2025 minutes until the peppers are soft and charred in place. Allow the peppers to cool
Finely chop the basil and combine with a pinch of sea salt and good slosh of olive oil.
Arrange the peppers onto a platter, spoon over the stracciatella, scatter over the capers and drizzle over the basil oil.
My new book Cooking Made Simple which is currently 24% off on Amazon. Thank you SO much to those of you who have purchased and cooked from it already. If you’d like the recipe for this rice to serve 4-6 and some other delicious things get your copy here!
BIG LOVE and see you next week
Alexandra
x💋x💋
If you enjoyed reading this and know someone you think might enjoy it also, I would LOVE for you to share it
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.