Cool, milky and calm, contemporary ricotta is the right cheese for a summer time afternoon. Chalk white and mushy as snow, it’s the mildest of the contemporary cheeses. Comprised of whey, it isn’t fairly milk, not fairly cheese. The kind you should purchase in tubs from the supermarkets can be relatively agency, however one of the best is the softest and freshest that you’ll find in Italian grocers and specialist cheese outlets. It is going to often include tiny indentations from the mould through which it was initially formed.
You should use ricotta to fill a sponge cake – a a lot lighter and fewer candy addition than buttercream. I thicken the filling with mascarpone, so it holds its form, but in addition fold in slightly whipped cream to introduce a silky texture. Orange and lemon zest is sweet as a flavouring in summer time, particularly in case you are serving it with seasonal berries, as are a couple of drops of vanilla extract or the tiniest drop of orange flower water.
I made a many-layered cake this week, alternating layers of lemon sponge and ricotta cream, then completed it with a layer of sentimental cake crumbs. It was mercifully unsweet, and we ate it on a Sunday afternoon with a strawberry sauce constituted of puréed berries, a splash of lemon and a shake of icing sugar.
The contemporary ricotta got here out once more, a day later, seasoned with slightly black pepper, to eat with scorched tomatoes, thyme and thick toast drenched with olive oil.
Ricotta cake
Serves 8-10
For the sponge:
butter 250g
golden caster sugar 250g
eggs 4, massive
lemon 1, grated zest and juice
floor almonds 50g
plain flour 175g
baking powder 1 tsp
For the filling:
ricotta 500g
mascarpone 250g
icing sugar 3 frivolously heaped tbsp
lemon zest 2 tsp, finely grated
orange zest 2 tsp, finely grated
vanilla extract a couple of drops
double cream 250ml
icing sugar slightly, to complete
strawberries to serve
You have to 2 x 20cm cake tins, ideally springform. Set the oven at 180C/gasoline mark 4. Line the bottom of the cake tins with baking parchment. Drain the ricotta for the filling in a sieve over a bowl.
To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar in a meals mixer till really mild and fluffy. It needs to be very pale and creamy.
Beat the eggs frivolously and add, 1 / 4 at a time, to the butter and sugar. In the event that they curdle, simply preserve beating, including slightly of the flour to convey the combination collectively.
Add the lemon zest to the butter, reserving the juice. Combine collectively the bottom almonds, flour and baking powder. Fold the flour and almonds into the combination, then add the lemon juice. Spoon the combination into the lined cake tins, clean the highest and bake for 30-35 minutes. Take away, depart to accept 5 minutes, and switch the wrong way up on a rack.
Make the filling by placing the ricotta within the bowl of a meals mixer with the mascarpone and icing sugar. Beat briefly to combine. Introduce the grated zests and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, softly whip the cream. Cease whereas it’s nonetheless in mushy folds, then fold gently into the ricotta.
When the muffins are completely cool – don’t strive to do that whereas they’re nonetheless heat – slice every into 2, horizontally. An extended, serrated bread knife might be finest for this. You should have 4 discs of cake. Place a backside half of one of many muffins again in its tin, then spoon a 3rd of the ricotta filling on prime, smoothing it gently. Cowl with a second layer of sponge and a second layer of the filling. End with a 3rd sponge and a closing layer of filling.
Cut back the remaining piece of cake to coarse crumbs by hand or in a meals processor. Sprinkle two-thirds over the floor of the cake, reserving the remainder, then cowl and refrigerate for a few hours.
Free the cake from its tin, mud frivolously with icing sugar, press the reserved crumbs into the edges and serve with complete or sliced strawberries.
Roast tomatoes, thyme and garlic toasts
If you want, eat with a spoonful of ricotta.
Sufficient for two or 3
tomatoes 750g, assorted colors and sizes
olive oil 6 tbsp
crimson chilli 1, medium sized
bread 3 thick slices of chewy, ethereal bread, sourdough or ciabatta
thyme leaves 2 tbsp, chopped
garlic 2 cloves
Put the oven on. You want it actually scorching for this (the tomatoes are at their most scrumptious when they’re barely scorched) so set the oven to 220C/gasoline mark 8. Reduce the tomatoes in half – crimson, orange, cherry, no matter you may have – and put them in a single layer in a roasting tin.
Pour 3 tbsp of olive oil over the tomatoes and grind over them a relatively beneficiant quantity of black pepper and a seasoning of salt. Halve the chilli, then slice it finely. Add it to the tomatoes and toss the whole lot a few bit. Roast the tomatoes for half-hour, till there are many juices. Tear the bread into items 3-4 cm huge. Take away the tomatoes from the oven and pour or spoon out a lot of the juice into a large, shallow bowl.
Into the juices stir the three tbsp of olive oil and the thyme. Peel and crush the garlic to a paste and stir in. Dip the bread into the juices and let it soak some up. Flip the oven on to grill setting. Place the bread on a grill pan and toast underneath the grill till pale gold and frivolously crisp on one aspect. The underside ought to nonetheless be juicy. Lastly, return any juices to the tomatoes and place underneath the grill to allow them to brown and scorch right here and there – you’ll get deep smoky notes that approach – then tuck the items of toast on prime and convey to the desk.
Comply with Nigel on Twitter @NigelSlater
