Ricotta

Is there anything as delicately delicious as ricotta? Meaning 're-cooked' in Italian, this was how ricotta was traditionally made. After cheesemaking, re-cooking the whey coagulates the remaining milk solids so they can be skimmed from the surface. These fragile curds are then placed in a form or basket until they drain enough to retain their shape.

Care needs to be taken with today's supermarket offerings of poor quality ricotta frequently made with partially skimmed milk. The texture can be overly grainy and wet and other ingredients, such as gums and gelatin may be added. Although some of these may be substituted in baking, most spell disaster when trying to use it in a traditional recipe.

When freshly made, this creamy comfort cheese is a favourite of mine straight from the pot and into a bowl, still warm. I also like it in a baked cheesecake with the typical cream cheese and a little sour cream to add tang.

But in a simple ricotta tart with eggs and cream as the minimal treatment, it is a rich finale to a weekday meal.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Mary,

That is one gorgeous tart!
Jann said…
I can't wait to try this......looks so delicious!
Mary said…
It is very much the texture of the ricotta enhanced custard center that does it for me.
Thank you both for your comments!
Anonymous said…
I love tarts like this but I've never tried to make one. Must add ricotta tart to my massive list of things to bake! Yours looks delicious.

Ari (Baking and Books)
Kristina said…
I'll be needing the recipe for this one! It looks like a great dessert for a long, weekend meal. I share your "horror" for inferior ricotta--it does ruin recipes. For example, we made deep fried potatoe croquettes recently, and the ricotta we used in the middle was a supermarket version. They had absolutely no flavour at all!

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