Sunday, August 10, 2008

Homemade Ricotta & Heirloom Cucumber on Crostini

Last night we had Tagert & Mikey and Sharon & Mark over for a quick, throw together meal. It was a lovely time. Today I went scrounging for leftovers and pulled together a delicious lunch from bits of the antipasto platter, with my homemeade ricotta and heirloom cucumbers, and some chimichurri sauce I had served with grilled steak.

To be honest, the ricotta needed something. It was my first batch, so didn't know how much, if any, salt or other seasonings to add. The creamy texture was perfect, but it needed something to punch up the flavor.

So, I added a 3T of chimichurri and about 4T of heavy cream to 1 cup of ricotta and mashed it together with a fork. I let that sit for an hour to let the flavors develop (I bet it will keep getting better the longer it sits), then spread it on crostini & topped with fresh sliced heirloom cucumbers. The bright flavor of the chimichurri really helped bring the ricotta to life and turned it into a delicious spread that I can guarantee I'll make again and again...

This is a fun counterpoint to the radish sandwich I made a while back (and have kept making) , and in fact I think I'll serve them together sometime.

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