This is the third time we’ve found burrata. I had never had burrata until I started dumpstering, and it was something my friends spoke of it as though it were a mythical artifact; the ancient golden sword of cheeses. I believe one of them mentioned stuffing a whole one inside a hamburger patty, but maybe that’s something I only imagined.

Burrata is a ball of mozzarella, filled with cream, sometimes with stracciatella or ricotta. It has to be eaten pretty quickly after it’s opened, (generally, we have found them already opened) and fresh arugula doesn’t last long either, so I made a salad.

I made a handful of candied walnuts by boiling a little brown sugar*, cinnamon*, salt and a small amount of water, then adding the nuts and cooking about two minutes. I spread them out on a piece of aluminum foil to dry then cracked them apart.

I used the nuts to top an arugula and blood orange salad with burrata, olive oil and balsamic vinegar*. I cut the orange instead of peeling it manually, removing the frosted membranes that cover the segments to heighten the color of the fruit.

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*Non-dumpstered ingredients