what to do with great ricotta

[Aimee]

I bought a tub of fresh ricotta - it's much better than the supermarket stuff. Tonight I mixed some with lemon zest, olive oil, and a little garlic and ate it with pasta. Any other suggestions?

[dmd_kc]

This thread's obviously coming back up after Aimee's ricotta is long gone, but I have to put in my vote for dolloping it on grilled pizza with tomatoes, garlic and herbs of your choice, then finishing with Parmesan or Romano, pepper and a splash of great olive oil at the table. That's far and away my favorite pizza at home. The outside of the ricotta firms just just a little bit, and the interior starts to liquify slightly.

Wow, I'm going to have to get some ricotta this weekend!

[irishnyc]

I'd be eating it with a spoon, salt and pepper!

[polyhymnia]

ooh yeah! That's how I eat cottage cheese. Sometimes I add a splash of balsamic vinegar, and every now and then some chopped tomatoes (preferably pear or grape). Or, if I don't put in vinegar or tomatoes, a dash of nutmeg along with the s&p is delicious!

[irishnyc]

Ah someone after my own heart! I thought I was the only one that ate cottage cheese with vinegar and tomatoes. I can't stand sweet with cottage cheese!

[polyhymnia]

Hmm, the first time I ever acquired fresh handmade ricotta, this is what I did: First, made a quick and easy tomato sauce with garlic, onion, fire-roasted tomatoes (this was a key flavor) and oregano, etc. Then, sauteed some spinach with garlic, s&p. Toasted some walnuts. Cooked a batch of lovely fresh ww linguine that I bought at Fairway with the ricotta. Here's how I put it together: Heap of pasta, liberal ladleful of sauce, layer of spinach, big old dollop of ricotta, sprinkle of toasted walnuts, in that order. It was delicious- and came completely off of the top of my head and was all the more satisfying because of it. I could imagine that doing a spicy tomato sauce would also be delicious with this dish, in fact, nowadays that's usually how I make tomato sauce.

[dr. pepper]

Make your own - it's easy! Heat a half gallon of whole milk with a teaspoon of salt to a simmer, almost to a boil. Add 3 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice and stir. Curds will start to form in a minute or two. Scoop out curds with a scooper or slotted spoon, drain in a colander lined with cheesecloth for one minute, place in a bowl and refrigerate. Yum yum.

[rememberme]

Huh! I'll try it.

[CarolD]

Hi Gang. I found some fresh half and half at the farmer's market and grabbed two quarts, then went home and made ricotta. I couldn't believe how simple it was! I did pretty much what dr. pepper did. Brought mine to a slow boil, added the fresh lemon juice, brought it back to a simmer and in about a minute the curds magically appeared. I drained the whole thing out through a sieve lined with a cheesecloth and let it sit there for about half an hour. here's a simple to follow video from Gourmet - http://www.gourmet.com/food/testkitch... She says leave it draining for an hour, but I found it was getting on the too dry side after about half an hour.
Enjoy!

[Lenox637]

Ricotta gnocchi..... ricotta, egg, seasoning and a little flour.... form into gnocchi and saute in butter with sage... finish with fresh Parmigiana Reggiana mmmmmmm

[kchurchill5]

Very interesting!

[markabauman]

Here's a recipe for gnudi "naked ravioli" similar to the ricotta gnocchi, but with spinach as well:

http://www.dancingewe.com/Gnudi.html

[kchurchill5]

Thx love spinach too, never made them wanted to. Sounds yummy

[Demented]

Mixed with a little brown sugar, orange zest and vanilla extract for breakfast.

[playfulotter]

I have been making this dish lately that contains whole milk ricotta when I saw it made on the Food Network and it is really yummy.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ev...

[modthyrth]

I recently returned from a trip to Naples and Rome, and am completely obsessed with sfogliatelle right now. sfogliatelle ricce looks intimidating (same filling, different technique and shell), but sfogliatelle lisce looks easily doable. I ate and enjoyed many of both on my trip. ;-)

Here's a recipe that looks promising. Scroll down to the post by Choey, 3/4 of the way down the page:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic....

[kchurchill5]

They covered it. A million things, ravioli, canoillies, calzones, pasta dishes, deserts, pizza, spread on bruscetta with fresh tomatoes, I could go on and on.

[bob96]

Savory: use it as a cool, creamy counterpart to garlicky and oily broccoli rabe (w or w/out pasta); better still made a country bread sandwich of seasoned ricotta and rabe.
Sweet: Jacques Pepin had an extraordinarily simple ricotta based dessert: sweetened (sugar, lemon zest) ricotta used to fill an individual napoleon stack of 3 graham crackers, topped with peach or apricot preserves melted into a sauce with cognac or an orange liqueur. Looked amazing.

[kobetobiko]

ricotta is so good with pears or figs, and both can be served as savory dishes (like a salad) or sweet (with honey and nuts)

You can also make lemon ricotta pancakes!

[alwayscooking]

Fast food - stir ricotta and tons of fresh herbs into hot fettuccine. Add a shave or two of parm and fresh pepper.

[Stuffed Monkey]

I like to mix it with pesto sauce and some rehydrated sliced sun-dried tomatoes (not the kind in oil) for an easy pasta dish, best over fusilli. Make lots as it's an even better pasta salad the next day.

[goodhealthgourmet]

Bon Appétit did a feature on fresh ricotta last month, and they had some recipes & serving suggestions...

http://www.bonappetit.com/tipstools/t...

[jaykayen]

Mmm... make torta.

[kattyeyes]

Mmmmmm. Make a calzone!

[markabauman]

A simple bruschetta rubbed with a little garlic, fresh ricotta, drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and some sea salt. Plain or topped with some marinated white anchovies; some chopped tomato when in season.
A simple tart-maybe with some lemon zest included
A torta rustica- a two-crust pie made with a savory dough (possibly with olive oil rather than butter) filled with sauteed greens (chard, escarole, spinach, etc.) with some sauteed aromatics & ricotta.
The dessert as mentioned above-sometimes lemon or orange zest, perhaps a little vanilla in the mix; topped with some berries drizzled with some aceto balsamico tradizionale.
Some home-made cannoli.
Home made ravioli.

[njchowgal]

i used to like it with lemon zest and sweetener- as a dessert