Seasonal Tart: Spinach, Dill and Ricotta

I love an excess of a single ingredient that allows me to experiment. Watch what you wish for! Opening day of our CSA season brought 4 pounds of spinach and 8 large heads of lettuce into the kitchen, not to mention a pound of baby bok choy and ½ pound of arugula. All those greens were too voluminous for my fridge. So we started with the easy task: eating spinach right away and wilting the rest to reduce the volume.

I had made delicious homemade ricotta for a big party last weekend, and combined it with lemon zest and herbs. I used the leftovers for this dilly spinach tart, which we ate alongside a lettuce and arugula salad with plenty of snipped herbs and a sprinkling of feta cheese. The combination of young herbs and the season’s first lettuces is magical. A suitably spring-like supper.

Spinach and Dill Ricotta Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry

3 eggs

1 c ricotta cheese

¼ – 1/3 c milk or cream if needed

1 c cooked spinach, squeezed dry and chopped

1 tsp lemon zest

2-3 tbsp chopped dill

Optional: ½ tsp salt

Optional: 1 tbsp mixed chopped herbs (lovage, tarragon, chives)

Thaw the puff pastry for about ½ hour. Roll it out slightly and place it in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, Run the rolling pin over the top of the rim to cut the dough neatly and save the scraps for another use.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the ricotta, combining well. Add milk or cream to thin the mixture if it seems too thick. The amount will depend on the consistency of your ricotta.

Add the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine well, and pour the mixture into the prepared tart shell, smoothing the top.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the tart is puffed and golden. (It will fall as it cools.) Let the tart cool for 10 minutes before unmolding and serving.

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Ricotta Frittata: Hakuna Matata

Someone could make a jingle out of that title. Ricotta frittata is a springtime refrain for casual living. It reminds me of that Swahili phrase “hakuna matata” (no worries), made famous by two meerkats in The Lion King. That certainly is the case with frittatas made from locally grown seasonal produce and really fine eggs from a local farm. I could have gone so far as to make the ricotta from local organically produced milk, but I didn’t. I was actually trying to use up the big tub I bought for our Easter pancake breakfast.

A frittata, if you’re not familiar with it, is an open-faced omelet favored in Italian cuisine, cooked very slowly on top of the stove and sometimes finished under a broiler if you have one (I don’t). You basically cook some compatible vegetables and cool them, and combine them with grated cheese and/or herbs if you want, and some lightly beaten eggs. You heat a heavy pan on the stove over pretty high heat, add butter to coat the bottom and sides, and pour in the egg-vegetable mixture. You then turn the heat to a very low setting and let the frittata cook slowly for about 20 minutes. Pass it under a broiler to brown the top if you want, and serve hot, warm, or cold.

No worries. The perfect antidote for that blank stare at the open refrigerator after a blasting day at work when you need to get dinner on the table in half an hour and don’t have a clue what to cook. Hakuna matata.

The inspiration for this frittata started with spring onions, gorgeous violet, white and green bulbs that I found at the farmers’ market. I split the bulbs completely along their length, sprinkled them with olive oil and salt and roasted them in a 400-degree oven, cut side down and then flipped them, roasting for a total of about 5-7 minutes. They were the vegetable foundation of the dish, along with local, freshly picked asparagus.

So where does the ricotta fit in? Dollops of ricotta combined with herbs (I used chives to complement the spring onions) are placed carefully on top of the egg mixture after it’s been poured into the pan and before it’s cooked. The ricotta sets up beautifully along with the rest of the frittata, and it provides another layer of flavor and texture to the dish. This was an experiment on my part and I was pleased that it worked. Especially since we were really hungry.

Ricotta Frittata

1½ – 2 c cooked vegetables, lightly salted (I used sliced grilled spring onion and asparagus)

5 eggs

Optional: 1/4 c grated Parmesan of other hard cheese

1/3 c ricotta cheese

Snipped herbs (I used chives)

1 tbsp butter

Assemble the ingredients. Cook and cool the vegetables. Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl and add the vegetables and grated cheese, if using. Combine the herbs and ricotta.

Heat a heavy pan (I use a 9-inch enameled cast iron pan) over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the butter and tip the pan to coat the bottom and sides. Add the egg and vegetable mixture and turn down the heat to very low. Place four spoonfuls of ricotta on top of the eggs. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the top is no longer runny. Pass under a broiler for a few minutes to brown, if desired. Serves 3-4.

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Paper Chef 50: the Winner Takes the Cake

Every month I read how hard it is to judge the Paper Chefchallenge and I think, okay, that’s being polite. Well, it’s true. This was really hard! So in honor of all of the entrants, I made you a really tasty cake (story and recipe below) using the challenge ingredients honey, ricotta, dill and eggs.

 

I also cooked my way through many of the entries, since I was shut in again in monsoon-like conditions. The whipping wind and pelting rain were what I imagine it would be like inside a dishwasher. Our local mini-hurricane produced water in similar proportions to Spikey Mikey’s disaster in Melbourne, but at the polar opposite geographically. Bravo to that adventure and a delicious result! (Check his photos OMG. The power outages and water bailing explain my lateness with this post.) I liked the suggestion that smoked salmon would be a good complement, and obviously Pauline (see paper Chef) would agree, given the addition of salmon to her beautiful quiche.  We also had a late entry from Kim of Live Love Laugh Eat, who made scones with honey, ricotta and dill.

 

All the recipes were great, so I started thinking about why we (or I at least) enjoy reading people’s blogs. I love to learn what’s behind the recipes, the stories, and I love to learn new things. Bill’s Brew-B-Que taught us about gruit, a hop-less ale, and its history in addition to giving us a new marinade. We made his pork chops for dinner and they were delicious. Kizzy’s Culinary Annotations is a treasure trove of interesting historical information and I enjoyed the Hungarian translations.

 

The prize for presentation would have to go to Cath of ShowFoodChef for the stunning baked eggs in sweet potato petals, which I made for lunch along with  the deviled egg over a honey-dark chocolate sauce by Alessio at Recipe Taster. I’m so glad you found Paper Chef. That sauce is amazing and even though I halved the recipe, I have a lot to use for another dish.

 

But of all of the stories, the one that grabbed me was Adele’s from Will Work for Biltong. (This month has been a good one for building vocabulary.)  While the recipe was almost identical to Spikey Mikey’s (is this a Melbourne thing?), the story was wonderful, especially the realization of the joy of gathering the family for a meal. Our family always ate breakfast together on weekends before the children scattered, and we typically ate pancakes. So Adele’s ricotta, dill and honey crumpets, in addition to being delicious (we had them for breakfast), were a reminder of those happy family days.

 

So, Will Work for Biltong is the winner of Paper Chef 50. I’m delighted to pass the spatula and will definitely keep the recipe.

Here’s a thank you to everyone who participated or just tagged along.

Honey Ricotta Cake with Dill (adapted from Dorie Greenspan)

I was paging through that wonderful volume Baking from my Home to Yours to find a cake that I could adapt for my wheat-free birthday girl, and I came across the perfect candidate: “Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake.” I substituted grated orange for lemon and added dill seed, which imparted a complementary flavor to the cornmeal. I had some figs from a Paper Chef adventure I didn’t submit, so it’s only fair that I share it now.

About 16 moist, plump Mission Figs, stemmed

1 cup medium- or fine-grained polenta or yellow cormneal

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp dill seed

1 cup ricotta

1/3 cup tepid water

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup honey

1 tbsp grated orange zest

1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 10 ½-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom or a similar sized spring form pan, and place it on a baking sheet.

Check that the figs are moist and plump and if not, toss them in a small pan of boiled water and let them steep for a minute and drain. If larger than a bit, snip them into smaller pieces, about ½ inch.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder, salt and dill seed together.

With a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey and orange zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs, Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove to a rack to cool for about 5 minutes before removing the sides of the pan.

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Paper Chef 50: Ricotta Dill Custards on Honeyed Carrot Puree

From my winning entry in the February Paper Chef challenge, I was the announcer and judge for the March edition. While I don’t get to compete, I thought I’d play along and make something from the four ingredients: honey, ricotta, dill and eggs. I burst out laughing when dill was chosen, since I had a huge bunch in the fridge, a veritable bush, and it was destined for a dill pesto if I couldn’t figure out what to do with it.

Since the theme is rejuvenation (think spring), I decided to make a ricotta custard with dill and leeks, which I carmelized with honey, and serve it on top of a carrot puree, which also was cooked with a dab of honey. The ingredients had a fresh, clean taste and texture, subtle but tasty. Leaving the heavy roots and robust flavors of winter behind, the leeks and carrots seemed like transition food at this time of year. Of course, it helped that the day was sunny!  This is something I can imagine on the table at Easter time, so I used my little oval timbale molds instead of one big gratin dish.

This is adapted from a summer recipe in Deborah Madison’s excellent cookbook, The Savory Way, a beautifully produced volume from an inspirational chef and cookbook author. My copy is well annotated as I’ve almost cooked my way through it!  Her version includes summer squash, spinach and mushrooms, but it’s the ricotta custard base that counts, since you can adapt it to just about any compatible combination of vegetables.

I halved the original recipe to fill five half-cup molds, which I cooked in a bain-marie (pan half filled with water) but I could have stretched it to six. I could also have cooked it in a gratin dish and served it from that instead of unmolding it. I just like to play with my food.

Ricotta Dill Custards with Leeks (5 half-cup servings)

2 large leeks, cleaned and diced

1 tbsp butter or oil

1 tsp honey (or sugar)

1egg

½ cup ricotta cheese

½ cup milk

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp chopped dill (more or less to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the leeks slowly in butter or oil and when they’re well cooked, add a little honey or sugar and turn up the heat to get them to brown a little. Remove and set aside to cool.

Lightly beat the egg and combine it with the milk and cheese. Add the dill and reserved leeks, and season well with salt and pepper.

Turn into well-oiled timbale molds. Place them in a shallow pan half-filled with boiling water and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Remove and let cool for about 10 minutes before unmolding.

Alternatively, double the recipe, mix the dill and leeks together, place them at the bottom of an oiled gratin dish and pour the custard on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until the custard is set. Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Carrot Puree with Honey and Dill

3 large carrots, peeled and sliced

2 tsp butter

Salt

1-2 tsp honey

Cook the carrots in a little water, with the butter and salt, until the carrots are soft and the water has evaporated. Raise the heat, add the honey and cook to coat and slightly carmelize. Puree, adjust the seasonings and serve.

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Fresh Cheese: Ricotta and Friends

It is insanely easy to make a fresh cheese that approximates ricotta and can be substituted for it without consequences. Technically, ricotta, which means “recooked,” is made from whey after the curds are removed to make cheese. The whey is left to cool and stand overnight, developing an acidic quality that is necessary for curdling the whey and resulting in the fine-grained ricotta.

There are recipes all over the Internet for “fresh ricotta,” a one-step process that is typically how one produces the Indian paneer or the Mexican queso fresco. You add an acidic ingredient (buttermilk, white vinegar or lemon juice) to milk, bring it to a temperature of 175 degrees, when the curds separate from the whey. You then carefully scoop out the curds and drain them in several layers of cheesecloth. The length of time in draining determines how soft or hard the cheese is, so you would adjust that depending on how you’re using it. For example, if you’re eating it fresh, the initial 15-20 minutes of draining is probably fine. If you’re using it for lasagna or pizza, I’d go for a couple of hours.  I don’t add salt to the curds but you could.

Following the excellent directions on Fankhauser’s Cheese Page, I tried making ricotta from the whey left over from the fresh cheese above. While I was making small quantities, I was able to get ricotta from the leftover whey. Fankhauser’s website said that they got 1 pound of ricotta from the whey left after processing 5 gallons of milk into cheese. Since I got such good results from the fresh cheese, I figured why not just substitute it for the ricotta? (Besides, look at the additives in store-bought ricotta, mostly stabilizers like carageenan, guar gum and cornstarch. All plant based but who needs them.)

Although I used to make this with vinegar, lately I’ve been using buttermilk, since we get good buttermilk from the same dairy where we get organic milk in glass bottles. I like the tanginess. Sometime, I’ll do a taste test to see which I like better. I’ve never used lemon juice and I probably wouldn’t since the acidity varies from lemon to lemon. When I can tomatoes I use bottled lemon juice to guarantee the acidity, but that doesn’t appeal to me on the cheese front.

Also, don’t discard the whey. Even though it looks greenish (from the riboflavin apparently), it makes an excellent base for soup. I’ve made leek and potato soup and celery soup from it with great results.

Fresh Cheese a la Ricotta (makes about 1 cup, ½ pound)

1 quart milk (whole or 2% is what I use)

1 cup buttermilk

Line a small sieve set over a bowl with 4-5 levels of cheesecloth. Have a silicone spatula, a thermometer (I use a candy thermometer) and a fine-mesh strainer (I use an Asian skimmer) handy. Put the milk and buttermilk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the curds and whey start to separate, around 175 degrees. Do not over cook but it’s ok to go to 180. Remove from the heat and slowly scoop the curds into the lined sieve. Let them drain for 15-20 minutes. If you want a harder cheese, tie the cheesecloth in a bundle and suspend the cheese over a bowl for an hour or two. It will lose more liquid and become hard. Store in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days.

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