Tastemaker: Pour’s Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Salad

By Kristi Kates | Aug. 26, 2017

Pour’s executive chef Jarod Kirby has a way with watercress.
        
And he’s using it as the base for the wine bar and restaurant’s newest salad, an end-of-summer menu addition that makes the very best of local flavors and features a bombshell presentation.
        
Inspired by the abundance of local heirloom tomatoes, Kirby crafted this dish in which tomatoes, resting on a bed of watercress, are drenched in a dressing of preserved lemon and walnut pesto, 19-year-old balsamic vinegar, and oil pressed from hojiblanca olives.
        
But the little pouches of burrata — a fresh Italian cheese with an outer shell of mozzarella and an inner section of stracciatella (buffalo-milk cheese shreds) and cream — is the real highlight of this show. It sits atop the plate so the cheese and cream can flow through the salad itself, making for a rich mix of savory flavors.
        
Enjoy this unusual garden treat for $12 at Pour, 422 E. Mitchell in downtown Petoskey. pourpetoskey.com or (231) 881-9800.