RICOTTA RECIPES

RICOTTA RECIPES

"RICOTTA RECIPES"-Cute chubby pasta tubes, called mezzi rigatoni, are now my go-to appetizers. There are so many ways to fill them! The basic idea is to stuff them with creamy ricotta—seasoned with minced herbs, saffron, orange zest, anything—then garnish with simple-to-make Parmesan crisps for crunch. They’re impressive, but not fussy or hard to make.

Here they’re seasoned with aromatic, decadent white truffles, scarily expensive, but a few grams of these precious nuggets go a long way here! A more economical but still highly flavorful substitute is dried porcini mushrooms.

Grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup (245 g) ricotta, preferably sheep’s milk

Salt and white pepper

¼ ounce white truffle or 1 tablespoon ground dried porcini mushrooms

8 ounces (225 g) mezzi rigatoni or other short tube pasta

Olive oil

Make the Parmesan crisps: Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Put a heaping tablespoon of Parmesan in 4 separate spots in the pan, creating 4 thin circles. Cook until the edges are light golden, about 2 minutes, but do not turn them over. With a spatula, carefully slide the Parmesan rounds out of the pan and onto a plate. They will be soft but will harden on the plate as they cool.

Put the ricotta into a bowl and season it with salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon grated truffle or ground porcini. Put the mixture into a pastry bag or into a plastic sandwich bag with the corner snipped off.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain, toss with 1 tablespoon oil, and let cool slightly.

Fill each tube with the ricotta mixture and set the tubes upright onto serving plates. Garnish each with crumbled bits of the Parmesan crisps, a few drops of oil, and additional thin slices of shaved truffle or the remaining ground porcini. Serve immediately.

NOTE: Parmesan crisps make a wonderful appetizer all by themselves. You can season them as they cook with a myriad of ingredients: a pinch of red pepper flakes, dried rosemary, or even cocoa nibs.

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