Recipe Archive

Baked Ricotta

500g fresh Italian style Ricotta
4 twigs of Rosemary
3 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt, pepper
Olive oil

Buy the freshest ricotta you can. You want the sort that comes in a tub and has a small liquid content. Place the ricotta into a colander, rest over another container and keep in the fridge or a cool place for at least four hours. Press out any remaining liquid, and place ricotta onto grease proof paper, on a tray, and press into a round shape around 4 cm high in the middle, 1cm at the edge. Press firmly, to remove any gaps from the cheese. Scatter herbs over the cheese, use your hands to pat seeds and herbs into the cheese, drizzle with olive oil, bake at 180-200 C till lightly coloured. Serve warm, or chill. Will last for around 10 days. Serve with bread, other cheese, or use in sandwiches and salads. You can experiment with your own flavourings.

Roast Pumpkin and Gorgnozola Risotto

Ingredients, serves 6
950g pumpkin, peeled and seeds removed, cut into 3-5cm pieces
sea salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
8 cups chicken stock more if necessary
1 small onion, peeled and chopped finely
1 small leek finely chopped
3 cups Vialone Rice
200g Gorgonzola Piccante
butter
freshly ground black pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Place pumpkin into a baking tray and sprinkle with sea salt. Pour over a little olive oil and roast in the middle of the oven until the pumpkin is cooked and well browned. Set aside in a warm place. Bring the chicken stock to the boil and allow it to simmer over very low heat. In a large heavy base sauté pan gently cook the onion and leek with olive oil and a little butter till it begins to soften and appear slightly transparent. Add the rice and continue to cook over a gentle heat for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock about one cup ant a time and cook, stirring the rice constantly with a wooden spoon. As the mixture thickens, continue to add the stock until the rice is cooked. It should be firm to the bite but not chalky. Reserve a little of the stock and add with the Gorgonzola and a large knob of butter, then gently add the cubes of roasted pumpkin (which should still be warm). This will produce a wonderfully aromatic, and deliciously oozy risotto.

Ryan Andrijich. This recipe may not be reproduced without the consent of the author.