To Good Friends & Great Eats

My first recollection of my friend Celia is from a sophomore year bioethics class. Each class she arrived with a new, dramatic hairdo – involving streaks of color, a mess of hair clips, or braids – until the day she arrived with it pretty much cut off, her hair a chic version of a man’s cut.

A little over a year later we officially met in a hostel on the outskirts of Paris at the start of our semester abroad. We shared a room – my side a neat pile of Banana Republic sweaters and jeans; hers, a jumble of jewelry, CDs, scarves and makeup. Celia knew how to turn clothes into fashion, and an outfit into a look. She seemed très sophistiqué!

Aside from her keen fashion sense, she spoke French with a believable accent, had an unconquerably good sense of direction, and a penchant for sniffing out the best food in a given radius. We became fast friends and spent the next several months happily exploring Paris together – and later applied those same pleasure-hunting skills to Providence, New York, San Francisco and, now, L.A.

On the food front, Celia has been a significant influence. She taught me to appreciate hard salamis and all other forms of charcuterie. She took me to eat my first soup dumpling in Chinatown. And she is the first person who I saw put together this unexpectedly wonderful combination of peaches and tomatoes.

It’s an unlikely couple – peaches and tomatoes. Their commingling may seem, well, wrong. But somehow these two fruits complement one another in a surprising way that makes the duo work.

Think of it – a tomato at the peak of summer ripeness actually has a little sweetness to it. The peaches tame any of the tomato’s acidity, while the tomato blurs the peaches’ sugariness. It’s a quirky marriage of unexpected ingredients, the kind of coupling you route for in sappy romantic films, but now in your salad bowl.

Add some fresh basil for pungency and red onion for bite and you got yourself a killer summer salad that’s fresh, juicy and a pretty blur of yellow, red, peach, purple and green.

But recently, I was struck by an extra dose of salad-related inspiration – burrata cheese. “Burrata” means “buttered” in Italian, which gives you a good sense of how it tastes – like creamy heaven. It has an outer shell of solid mozzarella and milky inside, and because it’s hand-formed, it has a charmingly disheveled look.  I bought a big round ball of it earlier this week and cut it into bite-sized chunks to toss in with the peaches and tomatoes.

The result was one damn good salad. The kind you savor with some crusty bread to lap up all the dressing. A salad that makes you a little sad when you start feeling full.

A salad that’s great on its own, but even better when shared with a good friend.

 Peach, Tomato and Burrata Salad

 Serves 2-ish

If you’re like me, you’ll be tempted to overdress this salad. But keep in mind the tomatoes and peaches will release their own juices, so this can get soggy quickly. I love the strong taste of balsamic vinegar so I tend to make vinaigrettes at a 1-to-1 ratio with olive oil. Feel free to adjust the proportion if that doesn’t strike your fancy.

As for burrata, it’s the “in” cheese right now in L.A., cropping up on menus all over town and in high-end supermarkets like Whole Foods or Gelsons.  Look for it on the shelf next to the fresh mozzarella in water.

3 small heirloom tomatoes, cut into bite-size wedges

2 peaches, cut into wedges

1/8 cup super thinly sliced red onion

1 large bunch fresh basil, roughly chopped

4 ounces burrata cheese

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Pinch sea salt

1. Gently combine tomatoes, peaches and onion in a serving bowl. Add basil and toss lightly.

2. Salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with oil and vinegar, add burrata, and toss gently before serving.

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