I have a whole post on the delights of tamarillo’s, so I shan’t bore you again, except to say that they must be in your top 100 foods to try before you die… Trust me – they’re stunning… This particular dish makes the most of the tamarillo’s ridiculously high umami levels, and pairs it with silky smooth, creamy burrata.
For those who’ve not tried it, burrata is a combination of mozzarella and cream, and must be eaten as fresh as possible – make sure you buy when you intend to eat it. The chef who created this dish is Ollie Dabbous, of the eponymous Dabbous restaurant, and is from his long-awaited cookbook. If you can’t get a table at the restaurant, at least you can try his food at home…
With a dish this simple, it’s crucial that you buy the best possible ingredients.
Ingredients:
2 large tamarillos
25ml extra virgin olive oil
25g caster sugar
Method:
- Score the base of each tamarillo with a cross
- Blanch for 5 seconds in a pan of rapidly boiling water, then drain and plunge into a bowl of iced water
- Peel, then cut lengthways into quarters
- Pour the olive oil into a baking tray and sprinkle over half the sugar
- Place the tamarillos in the tray cut-side down and scatter over the remaining sugar
- Place in an oven on its lowest setting for about 30 minutes, basting regularly with the pan juices
- Turn the tamarillos on to the other cut side and repeat the process
- Finally, place on the exterior side and repeat the process once more
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool
To assemble:
240ml extra virgin olive oil
32 basil leaves
2 burrata, sliced into 4 pieces each
fennel pollen
- Divide the olive oil between 8 serving bowls
- Place 4 basil leaves on the right-hand side of each bowl and top with a slice of burrata
- Sprinkle a pinch of fennel pollen over each one
- Place a wedge of confit tamarillo alongside
Notes:
- Yes, that cooking temperature is a little vague. I tried it first on 35ºC, and frankly I’d have been there all night. I moved up to 60ºC, then 120ºC, in each instance I had to up the timing. Given that this is something you can make ahead, just give yourself loads of time, keep them as low as you can, until you reach the desired colour. By taking mine up to 120ºC I made them a little more candied than confit, and the second time I just took it really slowly
- Do sprinkle a tiny bit of salt onto the tamarillo, it just sets it off
- Do use the best olive oil you can for the plating process – I used one we bought cases of in Italy – you can read about it here
- I’m not sure I’ll do the whole peeling thing in future, but will just whip of the skin with a knife, as I’ve always done
- Ollie says raw tamarillos are inedible, actually that’s not true – try them – but the skin should be removed before you do
- It’s worth making a batch – like confit tomatoes, or sun-blush tomatoes, you could keep these in the fridge until you wanted to use them (perhaps not in quarters, but maybe eighths?
