A perfect and easy way to enjoy flavorful summer heirloom tomatoes (aka heritage tomatoes). Toasted sourdough, pesto, fresh juicy tomatoes and creamy burrata working together to make the most incredible light meal for the summer. Refreshing, flavorful and filling, this can be made into appetizers for a group or a simple meal for two.
👩🍳 Christine’s Notes: Summer eating starts here!
Let this recipe serve as a reminder that summer tomatoes are here, they are epic, and they don’t need a lot of extras to be enjoyed.
Putting tomatoes on toast sounds a little “meh” but if they’re the right tomatoes, with the right bread, it can be surprisingly satisfying. And when we add in pesto for strong flavor, burrata for luxurious creamy vibes, it’s suddenly the kind of delicious where you can’t stop smiling and commenting on how good it was for, like, an hour after eating it.
(Is that just us who do that?)
This is a really simple and easy way to enjoy some tomatoes. We aren’t trying to make everything look “just so” or arranging our ingredients in clever ways. Kinda just piling it all up on some toast and enjoying the mess.
🛒 What you need to make your heirloom tomato toast just perfect
- The toast: Sourdough is my pick but anything fresh and substantial will work. Ciabatta would be a great choice too.
- The tomatoes: Fresh heirlooms of varying sizes and colors are always fun, but don’t worry if you only have large or only have small. I like to slice the larger ones and quarter the smaller ones so everything doesn’t lay perfectly flat but that just makes it more fun to eat.
- Pesto: This is spread on the base of the toast. I use a pre-prepared one from the fresh section of the supermarket. If you need to skip this, go ahead, just use some butter (maybe garlic butter)? If you’re making pesto from scratch, check out my vegetarian pesto.
- Burrata: While the tomatoes are the star of the show, burrata is kind of making a play for the limelight here. For the uninitiated, burrata is similar to fresh mozzarella, but instead of being firm and sliceable the inside is creamy and starts to fall apart and melt when you cut into it. It is a pretty amazing cheese in all its creamy richness, which complements the juicy freshness of the tomatoes, the vibrance of the pesto and the crispiness of the toast just perfectly. If burrata isn’t an option for you, you could use some feta, whipped ricotta, or a few slices of fresh mozzarella instead.
🍅 More ideas for your heirloom tomato haul
Easy Heirloom Tomato Toast with Burrata & Pesto
Ingredients
- 2 slices sourdough bread
- 2-3 tbsp pesto
- 9 oz (250 g) burrata, sizes for burrata balls may vary, it's OK if you have a bit more or less
- 2-3 large heirloom tomatoes, or 1-2 large and a handful of smaller tomatoes
Instructions
- Prepare the tomatoes. Slice the large ones into thick slices and quarter the smaller ones. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Set aside while you prepare the toast.
- Toast the bread and spread pesto over the top.
- Pile the tomatoes onto the toast and then slice the burrata and arrange over the top. If you like, you can drizzle some extra pesto or olive oil over the top.
