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A Good Appetite

Consider This Permission to Eat Burrata for Dinner

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Burrata With Romano Beans and Eggplant

Crisp Romano beans, roasted eggplant and luscious garlic confit come together with burrata to create a hearty main course salad.

TK

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Crisp Romano beans, roasted eggplant and luscious garlic confit come together with burrata to create a hearty main course salad.CreditCredit...Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Once, in a restaurant in Puglia, Italy, I ate an entire burrata by myself.

It was not one of those petite, tennis-ball-size burratas that you see surrounded by heirloom tomatoes in restaurants here in the United States. Nearly as big as a cantaloupe, the wobbly burrata, made from mozzarella filled with cream, was bursting on the plate, the oozing cream pooled around it.

I hadn’t meant to devour it all, spoonful by luscious spoonful. But once I got going, there was no turning back. That naked burrata, freshly made that morning, had never seen the inside of a fridge, and it was all I wanted for dinner that night.

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Tomatoes make for a sweet and juicy contrast to the burrata.Credit...Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Here in the United States, the burratas are smaller and at least a couple of days older by the time they get to the market. They’re still luscious, though they can benefit from a bit of embellishment. Even just a sprinkle of flaky sea salt and a drizzle of good olive oil bring out their creaminess.

In this recipe, I go even further, adding a robust salad to turn a lone cheese into a satisfying summer meal. My goal was to take full advantage of the season, and use a variety of vegetables with different colors and textures.

Naturally, it being August, I had to include tomatoes and eggplant. The velvety roasted eggplant accentuates the soft richness of the burrata, while the tomatoes make for a sweet and juicy contrast.

Then, for another contrast — this one crisp and snappy — I also toss in blanched Romano beans. These flat, broad pole beans, which sort of look like steamrolled green beans, are getting easier to find. I’ve also made this salad with yellow Romano beans, and with dragon’s tongue beans (flat yellow beans mottled with purple), and they work well, too. Or substitute regular green beans or wax beans.

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The Romano beans add crispness.Credit...Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

As a final touch, instead of using regular olive oil, I dress the salad with heady homemade garlic oil. That process does require you to confit some garlic cloves, which sounds fancier and more difficult than it is, and you can do it while you prepare the eggplant. The great upside is that you can spread the leftover garlic confit on grilled bread to serve on the side. Or save it to mix into future vinaigrettes.

This elaborate salad may take more time than just plopping a burrata on top of some baby arugula — or eating it straight with a spoon. And it is worth every moment spent.

Recipe: Burrata With Romano Beans and Roasted Eggplant

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section D, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Burrata Makes a Melting Centerpiece. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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