How Many Ways Can You Dice a Tomato? What’s cooking? Potato and Green Bean Salad with Arugula Pesto

In the cookbook-developing, recipe-writing, food-blogging world, it’s generally accepted that if you change three ingredients in a recipe, you can call it yours. If you’re writing about another person’s recipe – in print or online – you should give attribution, noting that the recipe is “adapted from so-and-so,” but that also means you have to actually adapt (rewrite) the procedures, to reflect your own production of the dish. And even if you change the ingredients and rewrite the procedures, it’s considered gracious and greatly appreciated if you note that the recipe is “inspired by so-and-so.”

So with that etiquette in mind, here’s a little story.

The Kitchen Goddess says, “Make this salad.” What's cooking? Burrata with Shredded Sugar Snap Pea and Crispy Shiitake Salad

A writing workshop leader once told me, “In journalism, one is a sighting, two is a coincidence, three is a trend. Write about it.” So in the last couple of weeks, I’ve come across one particular item appearing on the menu at two nice restaurants I’ve been to. Then Julia Moskin, writing in the Dining section of last Wednesday’s New York Times, published a recipe by vegetarian blogger Michael Natkin, featuring that same ingredient: burrata cheese. That makes three for me, so I’m calling the trend.

It’s not a new cheese, but it’s definitely been in hiding. The first time I saw it on a menu, I didn’t know what it was, though it sounded like an Italian cheese. The second time I saw it, I decided to order it, and I’m pretty sure I heard the angels singing as I took my first bite.