When I’m planning a meal I often get stumped by the first course. When it’s just me and Domenico , I don’t go to all the trouble of ‘courses.’ But if I’m having guests over I like to serve at least two different dishes. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t about serving enough food. In fact, the problem is actually just the opposite.
When I have friends over I want the meal to last, but don’t really want to go over board with too much food. I’m trying to hit that sweet spot of the equation of amounts of food/ time at the table and – of course – not too much time in the kitchen.
Lately I’ve been answering my somewhat overly complicated ‘what to have as a first course’ question with a version of this dish that is basically cheese + salad + vegetable. This past weekend up in Umbria I took advantage of artichoke season and paired roasted artichokes with sheep’s milk ricotta and spicy green arugula.
I make this a lot, but it’s never the same twice. The recipe always changes depending on the time of year, but does follow this pattern (more or less). The ricotta gets whipped until its light and fluffy. I add lots of citrus (usuallylemon juice and zest) as well as chopped herbs (this time mint). Next a big pile of dressed greens (I love arugula, but you can use any kind of small salad green that is in season). Finally vegetables that have been barely roasted in a hot oven, cooled and arranged artfully on top. A final flurry of flaky sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, more zest and fruity olive oil. If I’m feeling indulgent a scattering of toasted nuts on top.
The glory of this recipe is that it’s pretty (always important) and is filling enough (cheese!) but still leaves my guests hungry for more (usually pasta, who am I kidding?) Also, it leaves room for creativity on your part.
Here are some substitutions you can use in case you can’t visit your farmer down the road to get fresh ricotta or don’t have Roman artichokes for sale at the market:
Cheese: Even if you can’t get the freshest ricotta like I can in Italy, this recipe makes even store bought ricotta delicious. But if you can’t find ricotta, you can substitute with straciatella (the creamy inside of burrata) or creamy goat cheese thinned down with a bit of whole milk yogurt.
Salad: Any spicy, dark green will do. I love arugula but watercress is a perfect substitute. I also love using radicchio for its brilliant color as well as its bitter bite.
Vegetable: If you don’t have access to fresh artichokes, or just don’t feel like trimming them, you can use any vegetable that stands up well to roasting. You want something that won’t get limp (no zucchini or broccoli please!) . I love roasting those multi colored carrots you can get these days, keeping them whole. Parsnips are another lovely substitute (quarter them if they are biggish). Beets are nice too, of course.
Nuts: Go wild with whatever is in your cupboard. Pine nuts (my favorite) are very expensive, so feel free to use almonds. I also love pistachios for the color. But whatever nut you use, toast them lightly to bring out their nuttiness.
artichoke and ricotta salad
Yield 6
This is the perfect salad to serve as a first course. Feel free to substitute any of the elements - cheese, salad, roasted vegetable - to come up with your own seasonal version.
Ingredients
- 6 artichokes
- 2 lemons
- 3 cups of ricotta
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for roasting artichokes and dressing salad
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for roasting
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for roasting
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint, plus more mint leaves for garnish
- 6 cu-8ps salad greens
- 1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly roasted
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C
Trim the artichokes by removing the outer leaves, tips and any choke. If they are roman artichokes, try to use as much of the stem as possible, trimming away the outer green layer. Keep the artichokes in a bowl of acidulated water (cool water with lemon juice)
(See this post for how to trim artichokes.)
When ready to roast artichokes, cut them in quarters and toss with enough olive oil to cover. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Lay them in one layer on one or more roasting pans. Cook until tender, about 25 minutes.
Let cool.
Place ricotta in a bowl and add olive oil, salt, pepper, juice from one lemon and finely chopped zest from one lemon, and mint. Using a hand mixer or whisk, whip until smooth, light and fluffy. If not using right way, place in refrigerator. Remove at least 30 minutes before using.
When ready to serve:
Divide the ricotta onto 6 salad plates, smoothing it out to cover the bottom of the plate.
Place salad greens in a bowl and dress with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Divide the greens between the plates, carefully piling them on top of the ricotta.
Next place the artichokes on top of the greens. Garnish with a bit more grated lemon zest, some mint leaves, salt and pepper. A final drizzle of olive oil, then a few toasted nuts.
For more inspiration on cooking an Italian feast in your own home please buy my book The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Families and Friends
Lovely recipe, pictures, post in general (as is the new book!). But I am so sad! I subscribe to the newsletter and am signed up to receive the blog posts as they are posted, but have not received one in months. It’s very frustrating; I so used to look forward to finding them in my inbox. Perhaps you have stopped sending out the posts as you write them? At least I do get the occasional roundup of recent posts, but I do miss the old way .
Thank you for your kind words! I have indeed changed the way I communicate, as you ave noticed. Instead of a notification going out each time I post, I instead send out 1 monthly email with posts from the last month. I also send out a monthly newsletter, with news. I’m sorry you miss the old way, but I’ve actually had this blog for over 10 years now, and some things have to change! I post much less frequently first of all. Also, the system that is used for notification also changed. Add to that people just get too much spam in their boxes and I didn’t want to add to that.