Ricotta al forno
This is a kind of fancy frittata, without using lots of eggs. You can flavour it with endless variations of ingredients - but this is just about my favourite. Serve at room temperature as part of an antipasto selection, or with some dressed rocket leaves on the side.
Ingredients
20 pods fresh peas, podded
100g broad bean pods
butter, for greasing
150g freshly grated parmesan
2 large handfuls of basil leaves
a large handful of mint leaves
a handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
100ml double cream
500g fresh ricotta
2 free-range eggs
freshly ground black pepper
12 black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Method
· Preheat the oven to 190C.
· Blanch the peas in boiling salted water. Remove and set aside.
· Blanch the broad bean pods in boiling salted water, then remove beans from the pods and double-peel.
· Grease a 24cm springform cake tin with a little butter and coat with a little of the parmesan.
· Place the herbs, peas, beans, half the cream and half the ricotta in a food processor and blend until smooth and bright green. With the motor running, add the remaining ricotta and cream, then add the eggs one by one, processing again until just combined. Season with pepper and stir in the rest of the parmesan and the olives.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for about 30 minutes. The baked ricotta will rise and have a brown crust but still be a little soft in the centre.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
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