OK, I have 2 lbs of ricotta... now what?

[Catskillgirl]

I needed a small amount of whole milk ricotta the other day, and found that the big 2-lb container was on sale for less than the small one. Can't pass up a bargain these days. But now I have almost 2 lbs of the stuff. With no working oven. What can I make with it without baking?

Of course my first reaction was to make stuffed shells. Baked ziti. Lasagne. But wait ... no oven. I'm out of ideas!!!

TIA.

[Catskillgirl]

Wow, thank you so much for the great ideas! I am making cannolli - got the shells from the bakery I work at! I should have thought of it myself, doh. The lemon ricotta pancakes I'm trying next weekend - they sound lovely. And I had ricotta with sliced apples and half a red grapefruit for breakfast - very enjoyable.

Thank you all!

[kristinp]

I made a really fantastic pasta dish this summer with a sauce that was ricotta, mint, maybe basil, lemon, salt, pepper & nutmeg, all whirled in a food processor. Top with toasted pinenuts and parmesan. It's so fresh tasting!

Lemon ricotta pancakes are also good!

[MMRuth]

Here's Kenny Shopsin's recipe for lemon ricotta pancakes from tomorrow's NYT's magazine (which is all about food, by the way):

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/mag...

[leetmom7]

A great scratch lemon ricotta hotcakes recipe can be found by googling those words and 'cookingrvc', on Gardenweb's Recipe websites.

I second ricotta gnocchi.

[sarah galvin]

I'm making a Pear & Ricotta Blintz for Thanksgiving Dinner dessert. The recipe is on www.epicurious.com

[hazelnut_spread]

How about making cannoli? Mix the filling yourself and buy the shells separately.

[cheesepowder]

You could mix ricotta into spaghetti sauce and heat up on the stovetop.

[fallingup]

ricotta is good with fruits. try it stuffed into strawberries!

ricotta is good in meatballs and gnocchi, if you're interested in making either of those from scratch, which i realize is a bit of an endeavor.

it's also good in breakfast foods like pancakes

this is an intriguing use for ricotta that i found: http://iwasbornawoman.blogspot.com/20...

[erica]

I use ricotta often. I eat it for breakfast on toast, with jam or dulce de leche. I put it into scrambled eggs. I make a vegetable frittata and top with dollops of ricotta. (Harder but not impossible without an oven) Or eat for dessert, with honey or topped with walnuts.

[cheesecake17]

I usually eat it for breakfast with grapefruit or canteloupe. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of granola.

[lrbarbie]

Not much i can think of without an oven, other than mixing it into different pasta dishes that u would make on the stove......

[Catskillgirl]

I'm actually having some right now. Cooked spaghettini noodles over a heaping tablespoon of ricotta, topped with some grated mozzarella and parmiagiana. Stuck in the microwave for 90 seconds just to warm the pasta and get the cheeses almost melting. Pretty good, but it's the third time in 4 days I've had this for lunch! I miss my oven.

[lrbarbie]

what happened to your oven?

[Catskillgirl]

Sad story of a stove that died. I have a nice electric stove, complete with oven, but need a new 220 outlet to plug it into. Eventually an electrician will get to my house and I'll have a real kitchen again!