From dinner to dessert to breakfast: five ricotta recipes (and a surprise or two)

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]T[/su_dropcap]his weekend, our daughter who bakes was in town. So she and Marion baked the traditional Italian cake you see here, made with ricotta, goat cheese, dried tart cherries and a mere seven tablespoons of flour. More about this cake later, but it got me thinking about ricotta.

Ricotta literally means recooked. It’s an Italian cheese made from sheep, cow, goat or Italian water buffalo milk whey left over when making other cheeses—notably mozzarella and provolone. Ricotta is creamy white, with a soft texture and a slightly sweet flavor. Slightly is the key word. This hint of sweetness makes it work well in desserts, but doesn’t preclude it from being added to savory dishes. Heree are some ways we’ve made use of this versatile cheese.

Ricotta Chevre Cake

In the truly traditional Italian version of this cake, the word chevre would not appear—it’s made only with ricotta, no goat cheese. But as with all traditional recipes, there are countless variations. So Marion felt free to add goat cheese, adding a nice slightly tart flavor to our recipe.

Ricotta Pancakes with Sautéed Pears

These pancakes are a dessert-like, indulgent weekend breakfast, particularly good for impressing house guests. And much like ricotta itself, they’re not overly sweet. Pears are still in the stores now, but when they’re not, you can substitute sautéed apples, or berries or stone fruits macerated in a little sugar. You’ll find our recipe here.

Linguine with Tomatoes, Ricotta and Basil

Ricotta isn’t just for dessert, though. Here, it combines with tomatoes, basil and linguine for a quick, creamy vegetarian dinner.

Ricotta-Vanilla Cream

Ricotta-Vanilla Cream isn’t a dessert on its own. Made with four basic ingredients, it’s a simple, silky, rich base for inventing your own desserts. You’ll find the recipe here—along with some ideas for experimenting with toppings.

Mascarpone is ricotta’s creamier, more luxurious cousin, a buttery rich double-cream or triple-cream dessert cheese from Italy. It has a similar flavor profile to ricotta, but its buttery richness makes people mistake it for custard or whipped cream in cannoli.

Mascarpone Cream Desserts

Here, we actually cheat a little, combining mascarpone, ricotta and cream cheese and a just three more ingredients to create this cream base. Like the ricotta-vanilla cream above, this recipe is a ridiculously simple, elegant blank canvas for creating scene-stealing desserts.