Pizzeria Basta – Burrata Appetizer!

Hi Everyone,

When we were in Boulder, in October, to attend the Fire Within Conference we met a local chef with a big vision. Kelly Whitaker wowed us, not only with his pizzas, but with everything we tasted–and everything he serves at his popular Pizzeria Basta comes from of his wood-fired oven. In this video–and we have more of Kelly in future Instructionals and Webisodes– you will see how he creates a fabulous appetizer using burrata cheese–which has become, perhaps, the hottest ingredient in restaurants across America (and now, it is finally available to home cooks thanks to our friends at Bel Gioioso Cheese).

For those who don’t have an 800 degree wood fired oven (yet!) you can still make this in your home oven by cranking it up as hot it will go–just like you do for pizzas. I’m not providing a recipe because, as you can see from the video, it’s really all about using the best ingredients available and just, well, cooking. Chefs like Kelly, and really most of the great Italian cooks who are teaching us this on a daily basis, don’t use recipes–they just get their hands on great ingredients and cook. After you watch this video you’ll see what I mean. I hope it inspires you as it has us (see Brad English’s comments in the Gallery section–his family has already enjoyed this dish a number of times because, when we all returned home after our Boulder quest, we were fired up!). Enjoy!