Ricotta is a versatile cheese that can be used in various ways, including as a dip, in a cheese sauce, and in a sweet dessert. It can be used to replace high-fat ingredients in dishes like creamed veggies and pasta alfredo. Ricotta can also be combined with other ingredients like walnuts, basil, and spinach for a unique sauce. Mixing ricotta with canned cranberry sauce and a little sugar or honey can create a sweet topping for fruit salad or cake.
Most everyone knows how cute creamy, sweet ricotta curds taste with a bowl of fruit or all by themselves. Despite the name, many people associate ricotta with dairy products, but don’t really think of it as a type of cheese. That means many cooks don’t explore all the ways they can incorporate ricotta with other foods, such as in a cheese sauce. Ricotta dip is the perfect topping for vegetables, can replace a fattening sour cream dip, and can even combine with other ingredients to create a sweet, cheesy dessert.
Everyone loves creamed veggies, but few people want all the fat and calories that come with traveling. One way to simplify a plant-based cheese sauce is to replace the sour cream and high-fat cheese with yogurt and cottage cheese. Beating a chopped onion and several peeled hard-boiled eggs or a few egg substitutes in your blender along with a squeeze of lemon and maybe a little minced garlic makes for a ricotta sauce that perks up the veggies and makes dinner look like luxury. This sauce has multiple personalities; the wise cook might add curry once, coriander another, and Italian herbs yet another time to change the taste.
They are really grateful to the dinner guests who are served pasta alfredo that has been lightened with ricotta and skim milk rather than heavy cream and cheeses. The trick to a satisfying ricotta alfredo sauce is to include lots of minced garlic that has been lightly browned in oil and some fresh herbs to brighten the flavor. A little dry mustard adds a little extra interest, and this sauce can also be used on fish fillets or steaks, and to season chicken breasts.
Another ricotta sauce with a unique personality features walnuts, basil and spinach in addition to the ricotta and some grated Romano or Parmesan cheese. Minced garlic and onion are fine if the cook intends to use this sauce for pasta, and pine nuts can substitute for walnuts for those who don’t mind the extra expense. A little yogurt can dilute the sauce if needed.
Cooks can create a deliciously delicious ricotta sauce in seconds by combining ricotta with canned cranberry sauce. A little sugar or honey adds sweetness along with a squeeze of lime. Some cooks like to add a block of low-fat or low-fat cream cheese as well. This does a good job of bringing out the personality of a mixed fruit salad. It’s also a nice addition to angel food or pound cake.
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