This week I am taking one of my favorite vegetarian meals and adding my magical, Bull BBQ touch to the dish, giving the ingredients a boost in flavor, texture, and a vibrant pop in color. This is the perfect, lite meal for summertime entertaining with your Bull Outdoor Kitchen. I guarantee this recipe will leave a lasting impression, making summer 2018 Bull BBQ Season one for the cookbooks!
This week on the menu – grilled, vine-ripened summer tomatoes, paired with mouth watering burrata cheese, and topped with homemade green & purple pesto. Serve with grilled flatbread, and finish with fleur de sel.
Yes, that is correct, I am having fun this week and taking my delicious pesto recipe from Italy, and adding purple basil from Amy’s alley garden. 
The beautiful hues of deep green and purple will make the dish pop and have my dinner guests doing a double take, wondering what they are about to devour!
Chef Notes:
- For this recipe I will be using large, succulent summer tomatoes from the farmers’ market. I will slice the tomatoes 1-inch thick, which allows the sliced tomatoes to withstand the intense heat and flames of Bull’s BTUs. Important: once the tomatoes are placed down on the hot, clean grill grates to cook, do not move until time to turn over. This keeps the tomato in tact and allows beautiful char marks to form. Avoid using over-ripened tomatoes that are very soft to touch. These will break down more quickly and potentially fall through the grill grates.
- For small to medium-sized tomatoes, try using Bull’s Stainless Grids,
the perfect grilling accessory for summertime grilling. These cutting edge grids with side handles allow you to grill a variety of food without losing it through the grill grates. There is nothing worse, in my opinion, when perfectly grilled sliced onions for my burger slip down into the deep, dark bbq dungeon of no return! The grill grates are a must-have grilling accessory this summer!!!! - The abundant varieties of summer tomatoes in combination with Bull’s grilling accessories offers endless amounts of fun when grilling this summer for family and friends. My latest obsession is the cherry 100’s varietal,
which is a delicious and a great variation to use for this recipe. The grilled yellow chardonnay blush and jujube cherry tomatoes burst in your mouth with smoky flavor with each bite. When it’s time to grill the baby sized tomatoes, place them into Bull’s stainless kabob baskets. 
These skewerless baskets allow the tomatoes to stay in tact, hugging the tomatoes for optimum grilling.
Grilled Caprese with Burrata Cheese
Author: Amy Aberle-Rogan
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- Green & Purple Pesto:
- 4 cups green & purple basil, fresh
- ½ lb. parmigiano cheese, cut into small chunks
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 4 tablespoons pine nuts
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- Grilled Tomatoes:
- 2 lbs summer tomatoes, large, vine-ripened, sliced 1-inch thick
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, to brush onto grilled tomatoes
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- Grilled Flatbread:
- 4 slices flatbread, fresh
- ¼ cup olive oil, to brush onto grilled bread
- Extras:
- 1 ball (4 ounces) burrata cheese, drained
- Fleur de sel, to garnish
Instructions
- Pesto: In a food processor, combine the parmesan cheese chunks, garlic, pine nuts and sea salt and process together, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula. Once a textured paste forms, add the basil leaves and place the lid back on. While the processor is blending, slowly drizzle the oil in until a spreadable paste forms, pausing to scrape down the sides with the rubber spatula once or twice. Use immediately. Leftover pesto can be stored in a container, covered directly with plastic wrap to prevent browning (make sure the plastic wrap makes contact with the pesto). If stored properly, pesto will be good in the fridge for 6 days. To freeze, place in an airtight container for up to a couple of months.
- Grilled Tomatoes & Flatbread: Preheat the Angus Bull Grill
on medium-high heat for 15 minutes with the lid covered. Place the Bull veggie grid onto one side over the direct heat of the flames (if using medium to small sized tomatoes). Using the Bull Basting Brush, coat the tomatoes and flatbread with oil. Clean grill using Bull’s Dual Handle Mega Monster Brush and oil the grates to avoid sticking. Place the tomatoes directly onto the hot, preheated grill grates to grill/char. After 3 minutes, gently turn the tomatoes to finish, another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, place onto platter until time to use. Place the flatbread onto the clean grill grates and allow grill marks to form, about 1 minute. Turn over to finish, 2 -3 minutes total grilling time.
- To Serve: On a decorative, oblong platter, place the burrata cheese in the center, grilled flatbread on both ends of the platter, and a Bull steak knife to cut the cheese and tomatoes. Place the grilled tomatoes around the cheese and on top of the grilled bread. Top off the tomatoes and cheese with the pesto and sea salt, eat immediately!
♥ Chef Amy
