Making and Using Ricotta: From Appetizer to Dessert
If you've missed the opportunity to learn how to make fresh homemade ricotta in the past years, here is your chance to catch up! Taste ricotta warm, as soon as it's made. But as delicious as it is alone, ricotta also makes a great basis for a variety of fillings.
Ricotta is one of the key ingredients in the classic rigatoni, shepherd-style, that we'll be making. The frittata, a dish from my home town of Verbicaro, is made with fresh ricotta and fresh asparagus. The zucchini are also stuffed with ricotta.
We will end the meal with a traditional dessert made in Southern Italy on March 19th for St. Joseph’s day: cream puffs filled with ricotta and garnished with my famous "candied orange" strips.
Be warned: you may not be able to eat store-bought ricotta again!
The Menu
Bruschetta con Ricotta Fresca (bruschetta with fresh ricotta)
Rigatoni alla Pastora (Sheperd’s style rigatoni with ricotta and sausage)
Frittata con asparagi e ricotta (Egg frittata with ricotta and fresh asparagus)
Zucchine ripiene con ricotta (Zucchine stuffed and baked with ricotta)
Sfinge di San Giuseppe (Cream puffs filled with ricotta cream)