Just recently we have been making our own ricotta cheese from powdered skim milk and have been integrating it into recipes we already like, as well as trying new ones. One base recipe we have been using is combining the ricotta with silver beet to make a standard mix which we can then turn into any one of a number of meals.
Recipe
Silver beety bit
Silver beet 200gms
2 small onions
1 clove of garlic
1 knob butter
Pinch of salt to taste
1. In a fry pan, melt the knob of butter (or margarine).
2. Chop the onion and add to the fry pan.
3. Mince the garlic and add to the fry pan, fry until the onion is transparent.
4. Remove the stems and mid rib from the silver beet and cut into 25mm (approximately) strips.
5. Add the silver beet strips to the fry pan and cook down with the lid on, until it is reduced in volume and has wilted down.
Ricotta bit
340gms (1 batch) homemade ricotta
2 eggs
100gms coarsely grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients and stir around until they are combined.
To make the ricotta and silver beet standard mix, allow the silver beety bit to cool down a bit and then add it to the ricotta bit and stir until combined.
OK, so it looks good, smells good and tastes good, but what can you do with it?
Recipe 1 – Pie
Grab a 25cm pie plate and grease it, and place pastry in the bottom (you could use homemade shortcrust or the equivalent, but we had some old, frozen puff pastry and used that). Fill with the ricotta and silver beet filling then top with puff pastry. Bake at 200°C for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden.
Recipe 2 – Cannelloni
Get hold of some cannelloni shells or make your own pasta, fill them with the ricotta and silverbeet mixture, place in a baking dish and then pour the sauce. To make the sauce put two jars of tomato puree into saucepan and heat it up to boiling add a clover or two of garlic and a heaped dessert spoon of Italian seasoning. Then pour the sauce over the cannelloni, cover with grated cheese and bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 180°C.
Recipe 3 - Ravioli
Make up pasta as per here and then fill with the ricotta and silverbeet mix to make ravioli.
