A burrata and fresh tomato sandwich with chives is the taste of summer. The ingredients include fresh garden tomatoes, creamy burrata cheese, olive oil, chives, and good crusty bread. And since it’s an open-face sandwich, we are calling it a tartine! It makes the perfect sandwich.

Four open-faced sandwiches with burrata cheese and fresh tomatoes with chives are on a wooden cutting board. Also on the cutting board are small containers of salt and pepper.

I have been sharing a recipe or maybe just a list of ingredients to make tartines for a while now. I do love tartines. Why cover the beautiful ingredients with another slice of bread? Open-faced sandwiches show off all the colorful ingredients!

What exactly is in this tomato tartine?

Red and green tomatoes grow on the vine in a stock tank garden.

Ingredients for a burrata and fresh tomato sandwich include bread slices, tomatoes, burrata cheese in a bowl, salt and pepper in little marble bowls, a box grater, and olive oil.

Toast is on a wooden cutting board and burrata cheese in a bowl with a little olive oil. Chives are chopped on a wooden cutting board and a salt dish is next to a bowl of tomato sauce.

Parsley and chives are growing abundantly in a stock tank garden during mid-summer.

Fresh tomatoes picked from the garden this morning (store-bought, farmer’s market medium, large tomatoes, or heirloom tomatoes would work too)!
Burrata cheese
Extra virgin olive oil
Rustic bread slice
Salt and black pepper

Special equipment you might need to make this:

Freshly grated tomatoes are draining in a sieve and being readied to use in a burrata and tomato sandwich.

Burrata and fresh tomato sandwich with chives are served on small white plates.

A box grater
A knife glove to protect your hands while using the box grater
A kitchen strainer to strain the juices of the tomatoes
Small and medium bowl
Oven or panini grill

Grate the Tomato on a Box Grater

What makes this sandwich unique and very different from the typical caprese sandwich is that the tomatoes are grated on a box grater. The skins are discarded, and the tomatoes are then strained and you only use the best part of the tomatoes with the most flavour.

Because you grate the tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes will not work for this recipe. You will need at least medium sized tomatoes so that you can grate them on a box grater.

Two plates with burrata and fresh tomato sandwiches with chives are sitting on a marbled countertop and next to a French tea towel.

Substitutions or additions for this dish

We used chives, but fresh basil leaves or oregano would work. I suppose even fresh mint would be fine if that’s what you have.

A drizzle of basil pesto or balsamic glaze/balsamic vinegar on top would add a lot of flavor. You could also rub the toasts with garlic before adding cheese and tomato. I always forget to do this step!

If you don’t have burrata on hand and want to make it now, you could also use fresh mozzarella. And a little drizzle of olive oil on top always adds something. If you’d like a little protein, some French ham or prosciutto would go well with it.

We used a loaf of sourdough bread, but you could make it more of a crostini for appetizers by using a baguette. A ciabatta would work too!