Tag Archives: ricotta

Ricotta and parsley ravioli – cooking with friends

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 6 Comments

I have known Lily since we went to high school together. She was the tall, glamorous dark haired Italian who I felt a strong connection to, even though we didn’t spend much time together when we were teenagers. We reconnected a few years ago via social media and we have explored our Italian heritage in the many fun things we have done since – from Italian film festival movies to book launches about italians migrating from Italy. Her mother came from Santa Barbara, near Trieste, and her father from Istria, like my father. Incredible that they travelled here on ships at different times, in search of new lives and that their youngest daughters, born only a few weeks apart, connected in distant Australia.

paola e Lily

We had talked about cooking together for ages and last weekend she finally came over to make pasta. Lily had never made pasta from scratch and I looked forward to teaching her. To make food with a friend is such a joy – creating tasty beautiful food with love, sharing stories and laughing. Lily has been to Italy twice, in 1972 and in 1980. Whilst chatting we realised that coincidentally it was exactly at the same time that I was there! The other coincidence was that both our mothers had the same model of Imperia pasta making machine, in a funky 1970s box (mine is the tattered one on the left)!

imperia pasta machine x2

Rather than making fettuccine, we decided on some simple ricotta and parsley ravioli. Lily watched me making the filling, not really measuring anything – which is the way my mother cooks – but the way hers did as well. We tasted the filling as we went along, adding lemon zest and nutmeg to give the filling a delightful lift. Rather than using a ravioli cutter, we cut the pasta sheets in half and then into rectangles to make square ravioli.

making ravioli

By now it was late afternoon – we’d been having such fun in the kitchen – about 3 hours worth. I put on some Italian tunes from the 1970s (Lucio Battisti) and we listened to him whilst we packed up and cooked a few ravioli to taste with a glass of wine. I made a simple burnt butter sauce with crispy sage leaves to go with the ravioli. It was delicate, light and perfect. A lovely way to end a cooking afternoon with my lovely paesana.

ricotta ravioli

Ricotta and parsley ravioli
Serves 6
To make the pasta:
4 large eggs
400g 00 flour
pinch salt
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
For the filling:
350g fresh ricotta
1 large egg
75 – 100g parmigiano, grated
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
grated rind of one lemon
1/2 bunch fresh parsely, leaves picked and finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
For the sauce:
100g unsalted butter
24 fresh sage leaves
grated parmigiano to serve

For instructions on making pasta, click here or here. Make the filling whilst the pasta dough is resting and before rolling it out. To make the filling, simply mix together all the ingredients using a fork until the mixture is homogeneous. Adjust for salt and add pepper if you like. As there is a lot of pasta in this recipe, you should roll out a quarter of the pasta at a time, keeping the remainder wrapped in cling wrap. Make one batch of ravioli as per the instructions and then repeat.

To make the ravioli, place a teaspoon of filling on one half of a rectangle of pasta (our rectangles were about 5cm by 10 cm). Dip a finger in water, wetting the pasta around the filling. Now close the rectangle of pasta like a book so that the filling is enclosed, pressing well around the edges so the raviolo is sealed and there is no air trapped in the filling. Dust the pasta lightly with flour and place on the bench under a tea towel so the pasta does not dry out. Repeat with remaining pasta and filling.

To cook, heat a large pot of salted water until boiling and cook the ravioli for 5 to 7 minutes, until cooked. Whilst they are cooking, make the burnt butter by heating up the butter in a medium sized frypan, until the butter melts and add the sage leaves. Cook for a few minutes until it starts to turn brown. Drain the ravioli and spoon on the burnt butter sauce, decorating with a few crispy sage leaves. Some grated parmigiano is lovely on top of this as well.

making ravioli wearing pink gloves

Here is a link to a fantastic Lucio Battisti song…what a legend he was.

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Posted in Cheese, Pasta, rice and gnocchi, Vegetarian

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Lemon ricotta and orange marmalade tart

Posted on March 3, 2013 | 9 Comments

Italians love tarts with jam. It must be something about preserving the freshest and sweetest fruit and turning it into something that can be eaten through the year. They also love ricotta, which is wonderfully versatile and can be made into gnocchi, a Christmas zuccotto or baked into a savoury cake. The possibilities are endless. The cake I made on the weekend married ricotta and citrus fruit. It was a very successful marriage.

ricotta lemon and orange tart

I based the recipe on a blog post I found (written in Italian). I used the superb orange marmalade that my sister Barbara made and put it into a sweet pastry case. I then topped it with a layer of creamy lemony ricotta. The sweet soft ricotta is a perfect contrast to the slightly bitter marmalade. Best of all, you don’t need a food processor for this recipe! Everything is made by hand. It is delicious cold from the fridge with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

Lemon ricotta and orange marmalade tart
Pastry:
325g plain flour
125g unsalted butter (cold from the fridge), cut into thin slices
110g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg
1 teaspoon cold milk
grated rind of one lemon (using a microplane)
filling
350g ricotta
2 egg whites
60g caster sugar
grated rind of another lemon
300g orange marmalade

Place the flour in a large bowl and scatter the slices of butter. Work the butter into the flour with your fingers quickly until incorporated into a “sandy” mixture. Scatter on the sugar and lemon zest and work in with your fingers. Add the eggs, egg yolks and milk and work the pastry until a ball forms and all the ingredients are incorporated. Flatten into a large disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, line a 28cm tart tin with a removable base with foil and set aside. Place the ricotta in a medium sized bowl and add the lemon zest, sugar and egg yolks. Incorporate well with a fork. The mixture will be creamy and thick (and tastes very nice!). Place this in a piping bag with a large nozzle and set aside.

base ready to fill

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll with a rolling pin until you have a circle that is larger than your cake tin (remembering that the pastry will have to go up the sides of the tin) – I rolled the pastry between two sheets of plastic wrap so it does not stick to the bench and make it easier to lift into the tin. Lift the pastry into the lined tin, pressing down onto the sides and removing the excess. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

making tart

Place the marmalade onto the pastry making sure it is spread evenly. Pipe the ricotta mixture onto the marmalade and flatten it out with the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge for ten minutes (by which time the oven should have reached temperature). Bake for 30 minutes until the pastry is golden. When the tart has cooled completely grate some extra lemon zest and slice to serve.

This tart keeps in the fridge (covered) for around 5 days.

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Posted in Sweets and cakes

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Eggplants “in tecia” with baked ricotta – with love from Francesco

Posted on December 1, 2012 | 9 Comments

I’ve got a bit of a crush on Francesco da Mosto. Do you know him? He is a chatty Venetian architect and host of several BBC tv shows. He looks like an eternal boy, with his great mop of greying hair and a huge smile. He tells a story with typical Italian drama, in delightfully accented English, emphasizing salient points, talking with his hands and holding a cigarette, as a prop to show his serious pensive side.

Some time back I discovered he had also written a cookbook, Francesco’s kitchen. Francesco can cook as well?! Is there anything the man can’t do? The book is not new (published 2007) but it has lots of interesting historical facts about why Venetians eat the way they do. It also has some terrific photos of the Rialto Market, which is one of my favorite markets in the world.

I don’t think for a minute that Francesco cooks all the meals in the book, however he does provide a vast number of recipes with occasional photos of himself as a cheeky young man in Venice, and photos of his ancestors, who were quite a prominent Venetian family. The book is written in a conversational style that makes it a very easy read. I have made several recipes from the book, including the recipe for zaleti biscotti in a previous blog post and my Christmas favorite, sarde in saor is based on the recipe in Francesco’s book.

I was at the Rialto market in July, it was summer and the reds, yellows and greens of all the beautiful fresh produce from local producers was incredible. Peppers, tomatoes, chillies, zucchini, eggplants, peaches – what an amazing feeling to be seeing and photographing these right next to the Grand Canal.

In memory of my wonderful day in Venezia at the Rialto Market, I would like to share with you Francesco’s recipe for eggplant with a tomato sauce (melanzane in tecia). The eggplant is cut into thin rounds, fried and then topped with a rich tomato and parsley sauce made from fresh tomatoes. This simple summer dish is perfect with some baked ricotta (my recipe below), a slice of crusty bread and a glass of crisp white wine, such as the La Zona Pinot Grigio that I have been enjoying since my visit to the King Valley.

sq diag eggplant ricotta

Melanzane in tecia (Stewed eggplants with tomatoes)
2 large eggplants (about 700g)
Plain flour
plenty of olive oil for frying
Sauce:
50 g butter, unsalted
50ml olive oil
Parsley, small bunch, leaves picked and chopped
1 garlic clove
500 g tomatoes, skins and seeds removed and chopped
Sea salt

Wash the eggplants and cut the eggplant into thin slices. Sprinkle salt over them and place on a wooden board to drain.

In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce. Plunge whole tomatoes in boiling water for a minute and then drain and remove the outer skin. Roughly chop and remove as many seeds as possible. Heat up 50 ml oil and butter in a medium saucepan and add the parsley and the garlic. When the garlic has become golden and flavored the oil, remove it and discard. Add the tomato and cook on low to moderate heat until all the liquid has evaporated. Add salt to taste.

Whilst the tomato sauce is cooking, you can prepare the eggplants. Once they have sweated their excess moisture, toss the slices in flour. Heat the 200ml oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and fry the eggplant slices. When cooked, pat on absorbent paper to remove excess oil. If you are worried about using so much oil, you can also cook them in a 200 degree oven (brush with oil before placing them in there) – just keep checking on them frequently.

Arrange the eggplants on individual plates or a serving platter, and spoon over the dense tomato sauce. I like to scatter on a bit more parsley to serve.

Baked ricotta
600g ricotta
100g italian parmigiano cheese, grated
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Zest of half a medium sized lemon, finely grated
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 160 degrees and line a 20cm round baking tin (mine has a removable base). Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined and place in the tin. Brush the top with a bit of olive oil. bake for 60 minutes until firm (it will puff up a bit then flatten when you remove it from the oven). Allow to cool in the tin. Remove from the tin and serve wedges cold with melanzane in tecia and some crusty bread. It will keep up to a week covered in the fridge.

sq eggplant with baked ricotta

When I am in Venezia and I want to feel like a local, I rent an apartment. It is by far the best way of enjoying the city if you want to stay a couple of nights. Venice Apartments has a great selection of places to stay and that way I have a kitchen in which I can cook all the beautiful produce I have bought at the Rialto market. For me this is far better than a tiny hotel room!

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Posted in Antipasti, Places, Vegetarian

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Breakfast part 1, Melbourne – ricotta hotcakes with prosciutto and orange maple syrup

Posted on July 8, 2012 | 2 Comments

I am heading to Italy in a couple of days and look forward to enjoying breakfast on the move Italian style – cornetto filled with jam and a short macchiato standing at the bar. I will also be exploring what the average Italian eats for breakfast and sharing it with you. They don’t know it yet but several of my relatives will be featuring on this blog from the comforts of their homes in Veneto and Friuli sharing their breakfast routines.

But before leaving I plan to eat my favourite Italian breakfast, which I know I won’t find over there. It is hardly traditional but there have to be advantages to being an Italian living in Melbourne. I can add my local spin on Italian ingredients. Regular readers will know of my love for ricotta by the recipes I have posted – from ricotta gnocchi to my mamma Livia’s ricotta cake. My Italian breakfast uses my favourite ricotta to make hot cakes. They are based on a Nigella Lawson recipe, which I have modified – light and fluffy with a hint of orange zing. I top these with salty crisp prosciutto after drowning the hotcakes in orange maple syrup. Sounds like a strange combination?! Yes – but the sweet, salty and citrus combination works really with the hotcakes. Mark and I share these hotcake stacks for long lazy Sunday breakfasts when we are planning on a day at home. It might not be very traditional, but this is what this Italian eats for a special breakfast.

See you in Italy!!

Ricotta hotcakes with crispy prosciutto and orange maple syrup
Serves 4
Syrup:
1/2 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
1 cup caster sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1 orange, peel separated with vegetable peeler, no pith
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
Hotcakes:
250g ricotta
125ml milk
2 eggs, separated
grated rind 1/2 orange
100g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon caster sugar
pinch salt
butter, unsalted, for cooking the hotcakes
4 slices prosciutto

For the syrup, combine orange juice and sugar with the cinnamon stick and orange peel in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until bubbling then reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes until thick and syrupy. Strain and stir in maple syrup. Set aside while you make the hotcakes.

To make the crispy prosciutto (I use italian Prosciutto San Daniele but you can substitute another good quality Italian prosciutto), place whole slices under a medium grill and cook until the prosciutto starts curling up and drying out (about a minute depending on the heat of your grill). Turn over and grill briefly. Watch it the whole time to make sure it does not burn. Set aside.

For the hotcakes – combine the ricotta, milk and egg yolks in a bowl. Mix in the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Once combined, add the orange zest. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Fold the egg whites gently into the hotcake mixture. Melt a tiny knob of butter in a small non-stick fry pan. Ladle some hotcake mixture into the warmed pan. Cook on medium heat, flipping the hotcake over after a minute – it should be golden. Cook the other side for another minute. Keep cooked hotcakes warm on a warmed plate covered in foil (I place mine in the oven at very low heat) whilst you cook the rest. Use a bit more butter each time you cook a fresh hotcake. I make 8 small hotcakes – two per person.

To serve, place hotcakes on warmed individual plates, spoon the maple orange sauce over them and top with crispy prosciutto. Serve with a glass of blood orange juice or coffee for breakfast.

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Posted in Breakfast, Cheese

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