Tag Archives: ricotta

Blackberry Ricotta Scones

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by in Baking, Bloggerific, Breads, Breakfast

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Blackberry Ricotta Scones

I’m starting to realize this blog may as well be the fan page of Smitten Kitchen, where I make all of her food and gush about it on a regular basis. The hardest part? Her recipes are so good I barely ever have to adapt them. They are so perfect I feel like I must post them here and then I’m just regurgitating her amazingness when you should probably just head over to her blog and see for yourself. Continue reading →

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

04 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Breakfast

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Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

It’s not often that I make homemade pancakes. Confession time: normally I use the Snoqualmie Falls pancake and waffle mix, because it is the best store-bought mix out there. But after making these lemon-ricotta pancakes…I don’t know if I can ever go back. They are fluffy yet light and airy, and go perfectly with leftover citrus syrup from my candied citrus peels. Yes – I have found yet another way to use the leftover spoils of those damn delicious citrus pieces of heaven.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

We ended up making the regular size batch of pancakes because we were supposed to have guests come over for brunch, but when they had to cancel last minute, we had lots of leftover pancakes. And – shocker – they are awesome reheated in the microwave.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

These melt in your mouth…They may seem thick but once you bite into them they are so light and airy. These are what pancake dreams are made of.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Recipe
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
Adapted from the Newlywed Cookbook
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cups AP Flour
  • 1/2 cup finely ground cornmeal
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (I used part skim ricotta)
  • 1 large egg, separated
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp grated lemon zest (about the zest from 1 lemon)
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • butter, for the pan (and finished pancakes!)

Toppings:

Lemon or pure maple Syrup, bananas, strawberries

Directions

Whisk together flour, cornmeal. salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, ricotta, egg yolks, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and whisk in the wet ingredients until just incorporated.

Beat the egg whites and sugar with an electric mixer or a whisk in a clean bowl until they just hold stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter with a spatula or whisk until evenly incorporated, make sure not to overmix.

Heat a griddle or heavy frying pan to medium-high heat until butter sizzles when added to the pan. Pour desired amount of pancake batter onto griddle, leaving about 2 inches between pancakes. When little bubbles form on the surface of the batter, flip the pancakes with a flexible spatula. Cook on the other side until the pancakes are golden brown around the edges, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately with syrup, butter, and fresh fruit.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Tomato Basil Tart

30 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Bloggerific, Easy, Main Dish, Weeknight Meals

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The easiest tomato basil tart you’ll ever make. Ok, it’s more like a pizza.

It’s almost October. It’s fall. Summer is over.

YET

Only a small portion of the bounty. As it turns out, I like to store my “summer” tomatoes in a festive winter bucket.

My tomato plants finally decided to ripen and give me TONS of tomatoes! After spending 2 months thinking all of my tomato plants had failed, Mother Nature apparently decided to give me some encouragement.

It is so ridiculously late in the season and I am little unprepared and blown away. So this super easy cheese, tomato, basil tart was the first thing I made. It’s essentially a pizza without tomato sauce, a spinoff of the classic margherita pizza, if you will.

Recipe

Tomato Basil Tart

from Polwig.com

  • 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
  • 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
  •  1 cup ricotta
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tbs chopped basil (more for garnish)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper
Directions
Grate the Parmesan Cheese and chop the basil. Place two eggs in a bowl and whisk.
Add 1 cup of ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, 2 tbs basil to the eggs and mix well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Slice the tomatoes to your liking. Place 1 sheet of puff pastry on a work surface and roll out to get rid of the fold marks. Once puff pastry rolled out to desired size, transfer to a baking sheet. Using your fingers, fold in a crust around the outer edges of the tart, about 1/4-1/2 inch. Use a fork to imprint onto the crust.

Spread the cheese mixture around and top with tomatoes.

Bake in a 400 deg oven for 20 minutes until risen and golden.  Sprinkle with Fresh basil. Then pair with a glass of wine!

Gnocchi Night

11 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Main Dish, Pasta

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The perfect winter apartment picnic - homemade gnocchi, salad, fresh bread w/ olive oil & balsamic...WINE

My friend Erin and I have a shared loved for gnocchi – I am pretty sure we could talk about it for hours. We decided to have a gnocchi night awhile back. First, we were just going to do basic, store bought gnocchi (and tons of wine), but suddenly the plan changed to do homemade gnocchi. I was terrified.

But really, there wasn’t much to be terrified of.  We chose a more simple, ricotta-based gnocchi. The little guys actually turned out really well…here’s the rundown:

To start: mix ricotta, egg, and olive oil.

Add parmesan and flour, mix until you can form dough into a ball.

cut the ball of dough like your are slicing a loaf of bread. roll out each slice into a "rope" like pictured above.

This is why I was nervous. I can cook and everything…but when it comes to being crafty, decorating, or trying to make something look pretty, I almost always screw it up.

Once the ropes are formed, cut the individual gnocchi and use a fork to create imprints that will help hold the sauce.

I have to admit, I had a moment of panic where I thought these might be the ugliest gnocchi ever, but I actually think they all turned out kind of cute…maybe?

place the finished gnocchi on a sheet pan lined with wax paper. put it in the freezer for a few minutes to firm them up.

I also need to point out that Erin is amazing and helped out with our Pasta Primavera, and I am a horrible friend and didn’t give her credit where credit was well deserved! This whole gnocchi night happened Thanks to her as well. Love you, girl.

The gnocchi only take a few minutes to cook in boiling water - once they float to the top they are done.

Since we were going all out and making our gnocchi from scratch, we stuck with a really easy and basic alfredo sauce recipe. And because we love anything with heavy cream, butter, and cheese components.

Ready to dive in - the finished ricotta gnocchi in a basic alfredo sauce.

Next time we will make the gnocchi pieces smaller, as we think they will cook a little better and easier that way. Maybe a vodka sauce instead of alfredo. Really, this gnocchi would taste great with just about any sauce.

In the end, homemade gnocchi wasn’t that hard and tasted great! Erin and I were very proud of ourselves, who knows what we will tackle on our next cooking night!

Recipe

Ricotta Gnocchi

from Food52

Serves 4

  • 1 pound fresh whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 cups flour, sifted, plus extra for rolling dough
  1. Add egg to ricotta cheese and oil and mix thoroughly.
  2. Add grated parmesan cheese to mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Add sifted flour a little at a time and continue to mix thoroughly until dough comes together.
  4. Dump onto generously floured surface and work with hands to bring together into a smooth ball. Add more flour as necessary until dough is smooth and no longer sticks to your hands.
  5. Cut off slices of dough like cutting a loaf of bread and roll into ropes thumb size thick by spreading hands and fingers and rolling from center out to each edge of the rope.
  6. Line one rope parallel to another and cut 2 at a time into 1-inch pieces. Roll each piece off the back of a fork to make imprints that will help hold the sauce.
  7. Transfer gnocchi pieces to a lightly floured or non-stick baking sheet so they don’t stick together and put in the freezer while making the rest of batch. If you plan to save any gnocchi for future use, allow them to freeze entirely on the baking sheet before storing in a ziplock bag to prevent sticking together.
  8. When ready to prepare, bring a large stockpot of generously salted water to a boil.
  9. Add gnocchi to boiling water and gently stir once with a wooden spoon to create movement and prevent gnocchi from sticking to the bottom. As gnocchi rise to the top {a sign they are done cooking} scoop them out with a mesh strainer or a bamboo wire skimmer and immediately place in serving bowl shaking off excess water.
  10. Scoop some sauce on top of each layer of gnocchi as they are placed in the bowl to eliminate the need to stir them with sauce in the end and risk damaging or smashing the pasta. Generously grate parmesan over the top and serve.


    Alfredo Sauce

    from All Recipes

    Serves 4

    Ingredients
    • 1/4 cup butter
    • 1 cup heavy cream
    • 1 clove garlic, crushed
    • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
    • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

    Directions

    1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve.

Cinnamon Almond Fruit Dip

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Easy, Healthy, Uncategorized

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Ok, I hesitate to even post this, because it did not turn out as good as I wanted it to be. This is definitely one of those “healthy” alternatives…and yup, it absolutely tastes healthy. Not sinful healthy…Like the kind of healthy a mom is going to give to their kid and the kid will hate it. I suppose it is something you could brainwash your kid into eating though, maybe if the kid has never had the awesome coolwhip/marshmallow cream dip that is fricken amazing.

So why am I even posting this recipe, you ask?

…Because one day I’m guessing I will be that mom who tries to make her kid eat this.

Maybe.

Update: The dip (I am now thinking of calling it a ‘spread’) tastes better on toast or a bagel. Typical, right? Leave it to me to always find a way to erase any healthiness.

Recipe

Cinnamon Almond Fruit Dip

From The Joy of Clean Eating

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Ricotta Cheese
  • 2 tbsp almond butter
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp raw honey
  • 1 tsp low fat milk
  • Fruit of your choice, cut into bite size pieces

Preparation:

  1. Place all of the ingredients except the fruit in a food processor and process until smooth. If the dip is a little too thick add another teaspoon of milk.
  2. Serve with fruit and dip in!

Makes about 1 cup.