Plums and Tomatoes with Burrata and Hot Sauce: A Fall Platter

There are a couple of weeks at the end of September and into October when the garden and the orchard overlap. The tomatoes are slowing down but the late ones are the sweetest of the season, and the plums in the market are dark and soft and smell like jam. This salad uses both at once: sliced plums and tomato wedges laid on a platter, a ball of burrata torn open over the top, and a dressing of olive oil, a mild vinegary hot sauce, rice vinegar and honey. Flaky salt and a few tarragon leaves finish it. It takes ten minutes, it needs no cooking, and it disappears faster than anything else on a party table.

The idea of fruit and tomatoes together sounds odd until you think about how close they already are. A ripe tomato is sweet and acid, and so is a plum. The burrata brings fat and cool cream; the hot sauce brings vinegar and a slow heat that ties the two fruits together.

When to make it

This is a salad for the overlap, and the overlap is short. In southern Vermont the first frost often comes in late September or the first days of October, and once it does the garden tomatoes are over. Watch the forecast. On a night when frost is coming, pick every tomato with color on it, set them on a windowsill, and plan this salad for the weekend. Tomatoes that ripened on the vine and spent their last days on a sill are still far better than anything shipped.

Plums are easier. Late-season varieties, the dark blue-purple Italian prune plums and the larger red and black plums, run through most of October. A ripe plum gives slightly when pressed near the stem and smells sweet at the skin. If yours are hard, leave them in a paper bag on the counter for a day or two.

Choosing tomatoes and plums

Use the best tomatoes you can get, and a mix of colors if you have them. Orange and yellow heirlooms are lower in acid and very sweet, which suits the plums; a red slicer gives more tang. Cherry tomatoes, halved, fill in gaps on the platter.

For plums, one large plum to every medium tomato is a good balance. Small Italian plums are best halved and pitted; larger plums cut into wedges about the size of the tomato wedges so a forkful gets one of each. If you cannot find good plums, ripe peaches or nectarines do the same job a little earlier in the season.

The dressing

The hot sauce should be a thin, vinegary Louisiana-style sauce, not a thick chili paste or anything smoky. It is there for brightness as much as heat, and a mild one keeps the salad friendly to everyone at the table. Whisk it with olive oil, a little rice vinegar and honey until the honey dissolves, then taste and salt. It should be sharp, sweet and only gently hot. If you like more heat, put a small bowl of chili oil beside the platter and let people help themselves.

Burrata, and how to handle it

Burrata is a ball of fresh mozzarella with a soft center of cream and shredded curd. It is at its best within a day or two of being made, so check the date and buy it the day you serve. Take it out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before assembling: cold burrata tastes of almost nothing. Drain it, set it on the fruit and tear it open with two forks just before serving, so the cream spills over the plums. If the guests will be eating over an hour or two, use two smaller balls and open the second one later.

Fresh mozzarella torn into pieces is a fine substitute, and so are spoonfuls of fresh ricotta seasoned with salt and olive oil.

From the recipe box

Plums and tomatoes with burrata and hot sauce

One large platter, serves 6 as a first course

Prep

15 min

Cook

0 min

Rest

30 min

Total

45 min

Show amounts in

US cups & spoons metric

Dressing

• 3 tbsp45 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 2 tbsp30 ml mild vinegary hot sauce
• 2 tsp10 ml unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tsp14 g honey
• 1/4 tsp1.5 g kosher salt

Salad

• 66 ripe plums, pitted and cut into wedges (or 12 small Italian plums, halved)
• 33 large ripe tomatoes, mixed colors, cut into wedges
• 1 cup150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 oz225 g burrata, at room temperature
• 1 small handful1 small handful tarragon leaves (or basil or mint)
• to tasteto taste flaky sea salt and black pepper

Method

1. Take the burrata out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving and let it drain in a sieve.
2. Shake the olive oil, hot sauce, rice vinegar, honey and kosher salt in a small jar until the honey dissolves. Taste and adjust.
3. Cut the plums and tomatoes and arrange them on a wide, low platter, alternating colors and letting the pieces overlap.
4. Sprinkle the fruit lightly with flaky salt and a few grinds of pepper.
5. Set the burrata in the center of the platter and tear it open with two forks so the creamy center spills over the fruit.
6. Spoon the dressing over everything, drizzle with a little more olive oil and scatter the tarragon leaves on top.
7. Serve within 30 minutes, with bread for the juices.

Notes from the kitchen

• The dressing keeps for a week in the refrigerator; shake it before using.
• Do not salt the tomatoes more than 15 minutes ahead or they weep onto the platter.

Assembling a party platter

For a buffet, think of the platter as a painting you build from the edges in. Start with the large tomato wedges around the outside, cut sides up. Fill in with plum wedges, then tuck cherry tomato halves into the gaps. Keep it to one layer, or two at most; piled fruit gets crushed and the dressing pools at the bottom. Add the burrata last, in the center or in two spots for a long platter, and dress the whole thing at the table or just before it goes out.

Here is what to buy for a party where this is one of several salads:

Make two platters rather than one giant one for a big crowd, and keep the second in a cool spot to put out when the first is half gone. Like any dish with fresh cheese, it should not sit out more than two hours.

Variations and partners

When tomatoes are gone, the same platter works with plums alone, or with plums and thin slices of fennel. Later in the fall, figs and pears take the place of plums, and a spoon of the maple vinaigrette is a gentler dressing than hot sauce for a pear and burrata plate. For a casual lunch, serve this salad with something hot and crisp, like the grown-up grilled cheese cut into fingers. More platters and seasonal salads are under Soups & Salads.

The platter is right when every wedge glistens, the cream from the burrata has run into the plum juice at the edges, and the first person to reach for it has to stop and decide where to start.