Slow Roasted Cherry Tomato + Burrata Pizza with Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil, Parmesan, Fresh Basil, & Balsamic Reduction

Slow Roasted Cherry Tomato + Burrata Pizza with Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil, Parmesan,
Fresh Basil, & Balsamic Reduction

Things I'm obsessed with: slow roasted tomatoes, bacon, brown butter, bourbon, crispy shallots, fried eggs, brussels sprouts, Cheerwine soda, red velvet (anything), sweet potatoes, fruit punch, heirloom tomatoes, fleur de sel, and burrata. 

Okay, so now that you know that, you can see that most of my recipes include one or some of those ingredients, which makes me boringly predictable. I apologize, I truly do, but I really don't at the same time. Ironically, my Mountain Man and I haven't eaten the same meal twice in about three years. Crazy huh? There are the occasionally recipes we certainly do repeat because they are so damn tasty or they are easy to whip up (or I'll just have a massive chocolate chunk cookie craving), but not more than three times. So, maybe that makes us not so boring because we still manage to mix it up a bit. Well, homemade pizza is a weekly thing for us and normally we make it on a Thursday or Friday and enjoy it with some ice cold beer (or a big glass of wine in my case). Normally I try to come up with a crazy combination of flavors, but this week, I wanted to keep it classic and fresh. I slow roasted two pints of sweet cherry tomatoes until they had reduced and were perfectly sweet. While they were cooking, I marinated some olive oil with fresh garlic, red pepper flakes, basil, and a few other knick-knacks to spread over our homemade pizza dough. Dude, I could eat that infused olive oil straight, or it would be wonderful drizzle of cheese + toast (but that's for another day). The star of the pizza, however, is the utterly creamy burrata cheese. Have y'all ever had burrata? If you haven't, you need to try it now. It's fresh mozzarella cheese that is stuffed with shreds of more soft mozzarella and a heavy dousing of heavy cream. CREAM FILLED MOZZARELLA CHEESE, PEOPLE. Well, I got us two balls of burrata and cut it up into pieces and scattered it across the pizza along with the tomatoes, oil, and parmesan cheese. But the glory of this cheese is that it doesn't get hard... it just spreads and oozes all over the dough, almost like you drizzled cream all over the toppings. Nothing was more satisfying than biting into a big glob of that burrata cheese. To finish the pizza, I added some homemade balsamic reduction, a whole mess of fresh bail, and some red pepper flakes. I loved this pizza for its simplicity and classic Italian flavors. Not too many frills, but with a slight gourmet touch! I know we'll make this pizza over and over again, and that's saying a lot!! Enjoy :)

I mean a whole mess of basil, obviously.

See those bright white spots... that's the creamy burrata!

For the Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes:

2 Pints of Cherry Tomatoes, Cut in Half

Olive Oil, For Drizzling

Salt & Pepper, For Sprinkling

4 Sprigs of Rosemary

For the Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil:

½C Olive Oil

4 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, Minced

½t Red Pepper Flakes

2T Fresh Basil, Minced

Fleur de Sel & Fresh Cracked Pepper, To Taste

For the Pizza:

1 Batch of Homemade Extra Crispy Pizza Dough (made into two dough balls)

Prepared Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil

2 Burrata Cheese Rounds, Cut into Slices or Pieces

Prepared Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

Homemade Balsamic Reduction, For Drizzling

Fresh Basil, Chiffonade (a whole bunch of it, trust me)

Salt, Pepper, & Red Pepper Flakes, For Sprinkling (optional)

Directions:

1. For the Slow Roasted Cherry Tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 225 degrees and line a baking sheet with a Silpat. Place the sliced tomatoes onto the prepared tray and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add on the sprigs of rosemary. Roast the tomatoes for 3-4 hours or until the juices have reduced and the tomatoes have shriveled. Set them aside until you are ready to put them on the pizza.

2. For the Herbed-Garlic Olive Oil: In a small bowl, mix together all of the ingredients until they are well incorporated. Let the oil infuse with the garlic and herbs for at least an hour, but preferably longer if possible.

3. Prepping the Dough:During the last hour of the dough’s resting, preheat the oven to its hottest setting, around 500-550 degrees, and arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. Working with the dough, dust it generously with flour and place onto a floured work surface. Gently shape the dough balls into a two 10-inch disks. Press or spread the dough dish on top of a baking sheet or pizza stone. Now it’s time to add on the toppings.

4. Assembling the Pizza:Spread the dough with some of the herbed-garlic olive oil, and then drop and scatter the Burrata pieces over the dough in an even layer, and then top it the slow roasted cherry tomatoes and freshly grated Parmesan Cheese. Place the pizza into the hot oven and bake for roughly 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the crust has begun to brown. Bump the oven heat up to broil. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on a little more Burrata and return the pizza to the hot oven for just another 2-3 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and drizzle the pizza with some of the balsamic reduction, generously top it with some fresh basil, and a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cut into slices and enjoy it while it is still hot.