Tag: ricotta

Ricotta cake: the simple recipe – Italian Cuisine

In the April issue of La Cucina Italiana you saw the ricotta cake prepared by my mom, here's the recipe!

In my memories the ricotta cheese pie my mom's was always too hard! Over time he refined the recipe but when I was a child he was almost a family joke, but anyway it was my absolute favorite cake and it was also my birthday cake (March 28th).
It was made in the simplest version, we did not use complicated sweets, or pretentious recipes, shortcrust pastry, ricotta, a grated lemon peel.
Now the recipe is perfect, even if tearing the correct doses from my mom is a business, all by eye He says…
But after having redone it several times I can now share it with you and I assure you, it is very good.

Ricotta cake recipe

Ingredients

800 g of cow's milk ricotta
125 g of cold butter
125 g of sugar
320 g of flour
3 whole eggs and 1 yolk
half a teaspoon of baking powder
1 untreated lemon
1 pinch of salt

Method

For the pastry, 125 g of cold butter cut into small pieces to mix quickly with 125 g of sugar and 300 g of flour, 1 a pinch of salt, grated organic lemon peel, only the yellow of the skin, but you know it well, everything with your hands, until you make so many crumbs. Then add 1 whole egg and half a teaspoon of baking powder. Make a ball and put an hour in the fridge.
For the cream mix 800 g of ricotta, 2 eggs, 100 g of sugar. Sometimes now my mom adds chocolate chips and candied orange peels, to please my dad, a little more greedy than she, and of course the grandchildren.
Flour the top, roll out the dough, cover a cake pan – better hinged – fill with the ricotta cream, cover with crossed dough strips. Brush very well with the beaten egg yolk. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
Serve warm, because warm ricotta is one of the best things in the world.

10 special recipes with ricotta – Italian Cuisine

A simple ingredient that can make an entire menu special: here's how to choose ricotta, how to use it in the kitchen and our recipes

Light, natural, with a fresh taste and a high nutritional value, the ricotta cheese has won the favor of Italian consumers. And not just theirs, given that, in ten years, its production in the USA has grown by almost 100%.
A real boom, which is also explained by the fact that it is among the most versatile and appreciated foods in the kitchen: perfect for preparing croutons and canapés, is the basic ingredient of many creams and preparations of confectionery (let's think only of Sicilian cannoli or Neapolitan pastiera), without forgetting the savory pies, the fillings for ravioli is tortellini, i sauces for pasta and dozens of other culinary preparations.

Different types for different uses

Among the ricotta vaccines of industrial manufacture currently available on the market, we can distinguish different types in relation to the ingredients used.
The common basis is always whey, but some ricottas are produced with only serum, others also contain cow's milk and others are added with milk cream.
As for the other ingredients, all industrial products use suitable acidity correctors. The most common is citric acid, but sometimes lactic acid is also used, which is naturally produced in fermented milk.
Finally, some ricottas are added with salt and, in some cases, even with live milk enzymes.
It is evident that such a varied composition determines equally various characteristics of taste, aroma and consistency, giving each product specific prerogatives, which make it more or less suitable depending on the use to be made of it and the particular tastes of consumers.

How to check the quality

Whatever the use to which fresh ricotta is intended, some quality requirements must be respected. Given the tendency to deteriorate rapidly, the first thing to check is freshness. In the case of industrial products, the expiry date is a useful reference: it must be as far away as possible. In any case, it is always advisable to directly check the freshness before use. The organoleptic characteristics that first indicate an alteration are the smell, the color and the consistency:

– when it's fresh it has a perfume delicate, milky and vaguely aromatic depending on the variety; when it alters the smell becomes pungent, acidic to the point of becoming decidedly unpleasant
– natural coloring snow White becomes darker with aging, fading towards yellowish
– when soured it has a thicker paste e sfarinabile compared to the fresh product
– the taste of a fresh ricotta is sweetish, milky, slightly acid; once altered, the acidic note becomes predominant until the product is inedible
– the separation liquid observed in the packaging of industrial products after opening is a natural consequence of the manufacturing process, however it must not be excessive

In the gallery above, 10 recipes with ricotta.

Ricotta Pancakes – Pancake Recipe from – Italian Cuisine

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.
Do the same for the liquid ingredients, leaving the ricotta aside.
Pour the latter over the powders and mix carefully.

Finally add the ricotta too, incorporating it with a whisk to obtain a smooth batter without lumps.

Melt a knob of butter in a non-stick pan and start cooking the pancakes, a ladle at a time.
Wait for the dough to firm and start forming bubbles on the surface before turning it to cook the second side too.

The ricotta pancakes are ready: stack them on a plate, decorate them to taste and serve them!