ARTICLE & PHOTOS BY LAURA GROSS-HIGGINS
When I was growing up, I did not cook entrees much and was not very familiar with ricotta. We kids were responsible for making the vegetable, the salad and any starch for the evening meal. It may be that my stepmother used it when making lasagna. But I don’t remember that. My background is not Italian. So, it was something I learned about when I left home.
What exactly is ricotta? I knew it was used in making lasagna and later for making the béchamel sauce for moussaka. I have made a moussaka recipe from “The New York Times Cookbook.”
According to one website, “Ricotta is a fresh Italian cheese traditionally made from the whey left over from the production of other cheeses, such as mozzarella or provolone. Its name, “ricotta,” means “re-cooked” in Italian, referring to the process of heating the whey again to coagulate the remaining proteins and fats.
And it may be that my familiarity with ricotta would have been limited to using it for lasagna or moussaka, had not my husband needed it when making moussaka for his truck mechanic in trade for an oil change. As a result of that, we began to have extra ricotta at home. And being frugal, I tried to find recipes that would use the leftover ricotta.
I did know that cannoli also used ricotta in its filling. But I had never made them. I thought that other people might also be in the same situation—having leftover ricotta and wanting to use it up. So, I decided to use this as a stepping-off point for an article.
Both my husband and I like to borrow cookbooks from the library. And in one of these books I stumbled across an Italian Jewish recipe for a ricotta dessert called Cassola. It’s delicious and very simple: ricotta, sugar, eggs and cinnamon. I made it, and we liked it. It’s now part of my recipe inventory.
But recently, after my husband made a moussaka and also a patstitsio, I did not have enough ricotta left to make the cassola, so I found a recipe online and made ricotta cookies. These are flavored with lemon zest and have a lemon glaze as well. They are scrumptious, even the ones without the glaze.
When writing this, I also remembered that “The South Beach Diet” suggested using part-skim ricotta for desserts that satisfy one’s sweet tooth without the fat involved in eating ice cream. One of my sisters and her husband followed that diet for a while. I never tried the diet, although I bought the book to check it out. So that is another avenue to explore for leftover ricotta.
And recently, my fascination with ricotta was furthered when I took another book out of the library called “Food gift love” by Maggie Battista (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015). She has a recipe for making ricotta from scratch. I haven’t tried it yet, but that may be a winter project. I am including it here for anyone who might want to try it.
So, if your acquaintance with ricotta has been limited to its use in making lasagna or moussaka, or something else, here are some recipes you might try to see if they sync with your family’s taste buds.
Italian Ricotta Cookies
(Adapted from The New York Times)
Makes 60 cookies
3½ cups (495g) all-purpose flour* (I used part whole-wheat flour)
2½ tsp baking powder**
¾ tsp salt
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¾ cups (350g) granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
15 oz ricotta, whole milk or fresh (1¾ cups)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Icing: 1 Tbsp butter (salted or unsalted), melted
3½ cups (420g) powdered sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 Tbsp milk
In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt for 20 seconds, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip together butter, granulated sugar and lemon zest until pale and fluffy (scrape down sides and bottom of bowl occasionally throughout entire mixing process).
Mix in ricotta and vanilla extract, then blend in eggs one at a time. Set mixer on low speed and slowly add in flour mixture and mix just until combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours or up to 2 days. Preheat oven to 350 degrees during last 20 minutes of dough chilling.
Scoop chilled dough out 1 Tbsp at a time and shape into balls (if it’s too sticky just drop onto sheet using two spoons), drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (don’t use dark baking sheets).
Bake in preheated oven until set, 12-14 minutes (bottoms will be lightly golden brown). Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cool, spoon icing over cookies and return to wire rack, immediately add sprinkles if using.
Allow icing to set at room temperature. Store in an airtight container, preferably in a single layer and preferably store in the fridge (bring to room temperature before serving).
Glaze: In a mixing bowl whisk together powdered sugar, melted butter, lemon juice or almond extract, vanilla and 4 Tbsp milk until smooth.
Add in more milk 1 tsp at a time to thin as needed (you don’t want it to be very thin, it should be quite a bit thicker than a doughnut glaze).
Notes: Scoop flour directly from container using measuring cup and level top using a butter knife. Don’t whisk or sift before measuring and don’t spoon into a cup. The best option is to use a kitchen scale
Cassola
Ricotta Bake
( adapted from “Jewish Flavors of Italy”)
4 large eggs
generous 2/3 c. of sugar (160 grams)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3 cups of ricotta (750 grams)
8-inch-square pan, greased with 1 TBSP of olive oil
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Beat the eggs with the sugar, cinnamon, salt for a couple of minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the ricotta and beat again, this time on a slow setting so you don’t overwork it, but just enough to blend in the ricotta, until creamy and well combined.
Pour the ricotta in the oiled baking tin and bake for about 45 minutes.
Remove pan from the oven and leave it to rest in the tin, on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Cut into squares, roughly 1¼ inch by 1¼ inches and eat warm or at room temperature. Good straight from the refrigerator, where it can be kept covered for 3 or 4 days.
Ricotta Cheese
(adapted from “Food gift love”)
Makes about 2 cups
8 cups whole milk
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (2 lemons)
Special equipment
Cheesecloth
Candy thermometer
Line a large sieve or fine mesh strainer with 4 layers of cheesecloth. Set it over a deep bowl. (If needed, use a little masking tape to secure the sieve to the bowl, so it doesn’t fall in.) Set aside.
Add the milk to a large (at least 8-inch) stainless steel, heavy-bottomed pot set over medium heat. Bring to a low simmer until tiny bubbles form around the outside edges of the milk, or until the milk reaches about 180 degrees F on a candy thermometer (about 25 minutes). Stir occasionally with a rubber spatula to prevent scorching. Remove from the heat.
Add the salt and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Let the milk sit 10 minutes to allow the curds to form.
Pour the curd-filled mixture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and allow it to drain. Let drain 30 minutes for a softer ricotta cheese and 60 minutes or more for a firmer one. Use or gift immediately, or store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 1 week.