This simple dish is great as a starter or part of an antipasto table. Stracciatella is a southern Italian cheese made from shredded mozzarella mixed with cream – it’s what’s inside burrata and is absolutely delicious (you can use chopped burrata as an alternative).
The name ‘stracciatella’ comes from the Italian ‘straccio’ meaning to tear or rip; stracci (rag) pasta has the same origin.
In fact ‘stracciatella’ can refer to three different foods: vanilla ice cream with shreds of chocolate through it, chicken broth with threads of egg through it, and the cheese we’re talking about here made from shredded mozzarella, which hails from Puglia.
The best Australian stracciatella is made by Vannella Cheese in Marrickville, Sydney, and is available around the country.
Since we’re in southern Italy, I enjoy a glass of fiano with this dish, an Italian grape variety from Campania that’s growing well in Australia’s warmer regions. Try d’Arenberg’s the Sun Surfer from McLaren Vale, with lots of tropical fruit notes and a juicy finish.
Serves: 10 as part of an antipasto spread
Ingredients
- 3 green zucchini
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- salt flakes, to taste
- 350g stracciatella
- 10 mint leaves, finely sliced
- crusty bread, for serving
Method
Wash and dry zucchini and cut them lengthways into 5mm-thick slices.
Toss with a generous drizzle of oil to coat well.
Heat a char-grill pan or barbecue over medium-high heat.
Place zucchini on the grill, sprinkle with salt and cook for about 3 minutes until well coloured.
Turn, sprinkle with salt and grill for another 3 minutes or so, until well coloured.
Remove from grill and set aside to cool (ideally refrigerate).
Spread stracciatella on the base of a serving platter.
Top with zucchini, sprinkle with mint and drizzle generously with oil.
Serve grilled zucchini with stracciatella cold or at room temperature with plenty of crusty bread on the side.
If you’d like to try this and more deliciously easy dishes, perfect for stress-free summer meals, join me in my garden this Sunday for an Easy Inspired Entertaining hands-on cooking class followed by lunch. I’d love to meet you then. Details here.
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Also read: Bucatini all’Amatriciana
