Baked ricotta with olive salad

Anyone who’s been reading my blog for a little while might have probably noticed I’m insanely partial to sweets – don’t get me wrong, I love food as a whole, but desserts ARE the best part of a meal. Don’t you think? :D

As a very responsible person, ahem, I know that one can’t live on cakes, cookies and ice cream – that’s why I’m always searching for delicious savory recipes that will be as much fun to prepare as their sweet counterparts.

I love cooking with ricotta, but what really caught my eye here was the olive salad and the dressing – what a fabulous combination of flavors.

Baked ricotta with olive salad
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Ricotta:
350g ricotta – I used homemade
2 eggs, separated
75g parmesan, finely grated
pinch of nutmeg, freshly grated

Olive salad:
200g mixed olives
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ thinly sliced zest of an orange
¼ cup firmly packed flat-leaf parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil*

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; grease well four 150ml-capacity well greased ovenproof dishes.

For olive salad, combine olives with chilli, garlic, orange zest, parsley and extra-virgin olive oil, season to taste – I used only freshly ground black pepper since the olives are salty already. Set aside.
Press ricotta through a fine sieve into a bowl – mine was really soft, so I skipped this part; add egg yolks, parmesan and nutmeg and stir to combine. Whisk egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form, add to ricotta mixture and gently fold until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon ricotta into prepared dishes and bake for 15 minutes or until golden – mine needed 25 minutes; they will puff in the oven like soufflés but will deflate.
Stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the molds and unmold the ricotta. Serve warm or at room temperature with the olive salad.

* I used garlic infused olive oil and omitted the garlic clove from the recipe

Serves 4

Chocolate thumbprints

It’s been a while since I last made ice cream and, even with the cold days here, I sometimes feel like having a scoop or two... :D
Next time I make ice cream I know exactly where to go for inspiration: the issue #9 of Desserts Magazine is full of delicious ice cream recipes! And my sweet corn ice cream is there, too. :D

In the winter, I’ll take any excuse to turn the oven on to get the kitchen warm and cozy, and that’s much better when there are cookies involved. This recipe comes from Martha’s website but it only worked out perfectly because of Lizzie’s comment about the extravagant amount of filling and the Food Librarian’s warning about burned thumbs. :D

Chocolate thumbprints

Cookie dough:
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (70g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour, sifted

Filling:
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, room temperature
56g (2oz) semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two baking sheets with baking paper.

Start by making the dough: in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium high, until a dough forms – it won’t be sticky.
Roll dough by teaspoonfuls into balls, and place 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press thumb* into tops of cookies to make indentations. Return to oven, and bake until light brown on the edges, 7 to 9 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Make the filling: combine chocolate, butter, and corn syrup in a small heatproof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. When cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture – there will be some filling left, even though I halved the filling recipe without halving the dough recipe.

* I used this measuring spoon to make the indentations on the hot cookies

Makes 2 dozen – I got 30

Citrus delicious pudding

I have a new obsession: delicious and put-together-in-a-minute desserts that get transformed while the oven – two different textures in only one dish.
It all started with Bill’s banana pudding and last weekend I tried Donna Hay’s citrus pudding: half of it becomes sort of a sponge cake, and the other half is similar to silky baked custard. So, so good.

Something tells me I’m gonna love Nigella’s hotcake – and I won’t be waiting for the holidays to make it. :D

Citrus delicious pudding
from Donna Hay magazine

6 ½ tablespoons (91g) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups + 2 ½ tablespoons (330g) caster sugar
1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (375ml) milk
3 eggs
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (60ml) lime juice
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 large orange
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
Place the butter, sugar, milk, eggs, lemon and lime juices, flour, baking powder and orange zest in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth - I tried mixing the batter in my Kitchen Aid but it didn’t work well (the butter didn’t get mixed at all). So I switched to an immersion blender.
Pour into a lightly greased 5-cup (1.2 liters) ovenproof dish and bake for 1 hour or until golden.
Dust with icing sugar to serve (I forgot).

Serves 6

Herb and spinach fritters

Have you ever cooked something because you missed someone?

After watching a concert on TV, I could not stop thinking about my mom – she and my father met on one of that singer’s presentations, back in 1975. My way of dealing with it was preparing something I knew she’d love: it had to be something packed with veggies or fruit.

These fritters come from DH mag #29 and were perfect for the occasion.

Herb and spinach fritters
from Donna Hay magazine

1 cup (140g) self-rising flour, sifted
2 eggs
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup (60ml) milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped chives
½ cup chopped basil leaves
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup spinach leaves, packed, torn or chopped
vegetable oil for shallow-frying

Place the flour, eggs, butter, milk, salt and pepper in a large bowl and whisk to combine – a batter will form. Fold through the chives, basil, parsley and spinach. Place two tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan and heat over medium heat. Add tablespoons of the mixture to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until bubbles appear on the surface – avoid making tall or very large fritters because they might not cook completely on the inside. Set aside.
Add another two tablespoons of oil and repeat with the remaining mixture.

Serves 4 – I got 10 fritters

Lime poppy seed muffins

If my blog were a soccer championship, the Lemon Team would be on their way to grab the Cup. But I felt that would not be fair to the other citrus I love so much – poor limes and oranges haven’t been around here in a while. :(

In order to balance the score, I used limes instead of lemons in these muffins – the recipe comes from the lovely and dear Lynne, who was also kind enough to ship me a box of goodies and poppy seeds (I can’t find them here).

Thank you, Lynne, for both the gifts and the wonderful recipe!
xoxo

Lime poppy seed muffins

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
1 egg
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (124g) sugar
2 tablespoons lime zest
¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 ¼ cups (300ml) buttermilk
1 ½ teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
In a large mixing bowl, sift and whisk together the dry ingredients.
In a smaller bowl combine the sugar and lemon zest. Rub them together until the sugar is slightly moist and fragrant. Add the egg, the butter, the buttermilk, lime juice and the vanilla. Mix well.
Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir with a fork just until moistened. Do not over mix. The batter will be fairly thick.
Divide batter evenly into 12 paper-lined or greased muffin cups. Bake muffins on rack in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until muffins test done.

Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 12 – I got 11; my muffin pans hold 1/3 cup (80ml) batter each