Ricotta cheese: what to eat, recipes

It is difficult to find a tourist who, resting in Italy, would not try the traditional desserts of this country on the basis of ricotta. This cheese has a special, sweetish taste, for which it is so fond of confectioners. But in other areas of cooking no less popular is ricotta cheese. What is it that the Italians eat? What recipes are used for this? The answers to these and other questions can be found in the article presented.

What is Ricotta?

First of all, ricotta is Italian cheese, the production of which differs significantly from other varieties. More precisely, it's not even cheese, but a traditional dairy product. It is more like cottage cheese, but has a softer consistency. To taste not sour, but on the contrary, fresh, even rather sweet.

Ricotta is hard to call cheese, because it is not made from milk (according to a traditional recipe), but from whey, which remains after obtaining mozzarella or other varieties. It is a product of recycling raw materials. The appearance of this type of cheese in Italy and was associated with the need to dispose of a large amount of whey, which remained in the production of mozzarella.

In ricotta there is lactose, which gives it a sweetish flavor. The fat content of the cheese depends on the milk used in the production (cow, sheep, etc.), and varies from 8% to 24%. This is associated with a lower caloric value of ricotta cheese. What do the Italians eat with? Necessarily with desserts. This makes them not only tasty, but also very useful for the figure.

Production technology

Ricotta is a product obtained as a result of repeated boiling of milk whey. In the translation from the Italian language, cotta means "cook", and ri is the prefix denoting repetition of the action. The process of obtaining ricotta is simple and does not take much time.

First, the serum is heated to a temperature of 80 degrees. Due to this, the milk fats begin to fold and precipitate. The main condition of production is to maintain the necessary temperature at 80-90 degrees. After about 1 hour, all flakes of ricotta can be collected from the surface of the whey.

By the technology of production of ricotta is more like soft cheese cottage cheese . In general, there are several types of ricotta, which is made from different whey and is maintained for a certain time.

Italian ricotta cheese: what are they eating?

Ricotta, like cottage cheese, is easily beaten into a soft mass. Thanks to this, this cheese is used in traditional Italian desserts. But not only confectioners appreciate ricotta. What is this soft cheese yet?

Ricotta is used for cooking some types of lasagna, when baking traditional Italian Easter bread, it is spread like pasta on sandwiches, crackers. Soft cheese with a sweetish taste fits well with fresh vegetables and fruits. Therefore, it is often used as one of the ingredients in salads.

Ricotta allows you to make the dish less caloric. In desserts, it is sometimes replaced by fatty cream. In this case, add a little boiled water to the soft cheese and mix the mixture well with a spoon. In this consistency it can be used as a cream.

Ricotta fits to taste for many products. It complements traditional dishes with a unique Italian zest.

Traditional dessert with ricotta: "Fiadone in Italian"

This dessert has an indescribable flavor of citrus and vanilla, an amazing taste and is characterized by an incredible ease of cooking. The main ingredient of the dish is ricotta cheese. With what is this dessert? It is especially tasty with strawberry jam, although in Russia it is served even with sour cream.

To prepare this traditional dessert in Italian, you first need to beat 3 eggs and 50 grams of sugar. The mass should become lush, white. The amount of sugar can be increased or decreased, depending on taste preferences.

Now you can add other ingredients: a teaspoon of vanilla, a pinch of salt, 1 lemon rind and starch (1 tablespoon corn or potato). The mass is whisked to a homogeneous state. Then gently enter ricotta (250 g).

Pour the resulting mass into a parchment-covered form. Bake until golden brown about 40 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Finished fyadone cut into squares or triangles.

"Sicilian cassata"

This is one of the most popular and favorite desserts in Italy. Many confectioners believe that it is almost impossible for a layman to repeat the taste of this cassata. In fact, everything is not so difficult. The main thing is that when cooking it is ricotta. With what is such a dessert? Serve the cassata with dessert Sicilian wine or with other traditional drinks.

To begin with, you need to prepare the cream, because it should be well chilled. Ricotta (500 g) beat with sugar powder and add 100 g of pre-soaked in the rum candied fruits. The resulting cream is sent to the refrigerator for 12 hours.

At this time, bake a biscuit according to its proven recipe, which is necessarily available for every mistress. Finished cake cut along into 3 parts.

To biscuit did not turn dry to taste, it must be soaked. To do this, prepare sugar syrup from 100 ml of water, a tablespoon of sugar and 25 ml of rum. Wait until it cools down, and you can collect the cassata.

In the form put the first disk of biscuit and soak it with syrup using a silicone brush. Top with a layer of cream. Repeat the same operations with other discs. Put the cassata in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

After the specified time, the dessert can be decorated. To do this, you need sugar powder and 200 grams of ricotta cheese (with what you eat, indicated above). Prepare the cream from the ingredients and cover the sides and top of the cake with it. Sprinkle with crushed pistachios on top. By the way, the cassata is prepared not only as a cake, but also in the form of small cakes.

Ricotta cheese: what to eat, recipes for delicious and healthy salads

Delicious Italian desserts with curd cheese - this is certainly very tasty. But this is not all dishes where ricotta cheese is used. With what do you eat it? Often it is used in salads, with fresh vegetables and fruits.

Many Italians like the combination of ricotta with chicken and apples. Salad is very useful and low-calorie. To make it, you need to chop boiled chicken fillet with straw (500 g), sweet and sour apples (3 pieces) in large pieces, and a bunch of green lettuce to tear. Add 250 g of ricotta, pour over the dressing and decorate with halves of quail eggs. Salad ready!

To prepare the refueling will need 6 tbsp. Spoons of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of mustard in beans, 1 tbsp. Spoonful of wine vinegar, 3 tbsp. Spoons of boiled water and 1 teaspoon of honey. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. The dressing is ready!

You can make a sweet fruit salad based on ricotta cheese. With what to eat and what to add to it? Favorite fruit and berries (apples, bananas, strawberries, grapes) cut into large slices, combine in one plate and season with whipped ricotta cheese. Top with honey to taste. Such a salad will be useful to eat even for breakfast.

How can I replace ricotta?

Ricotta has its own special taste, so it is not recommended to replace it in salads and other dishes. But if there is a need, you can choose any soft cheese (for example, Almette), even home-made cottage cheese. It is desirable that it was fresh, slightly reminiscent of the taste of ricotta cheese. With what is it?

Soft curd cheese is added to the same dishes as ricotta. But still you will not be able to repeat the refined taste. Therefore, when preparing an Italian dessert or salad, it makes sense to look at the shelves of shops precisely ricotta.