Ricotta and Jam Tart

            I love cooking with ricotta and all other sorts of cottage cheese – especially making desserts! Once I was lucky to find an amazing recipe of ricotta and jam tart which, as the cooking magazine claimed, was authentically Italian – it was even called “Crostata di ricotta e marmellata”. I tried the recipe and instantly realized that I should find a place for it in my cookbook: it was so good that it became obvious that I’m gonna be making it again and again!

            When I told my Italian friend about this tart (should I use the right word here – ‘boasted” about cooking this fantastic dessert?) she was confused. She explained to me that in Italy they put either ricotta or jam in the filling of a pie and never mix them together. I tried to make a point by saying that the tart with both of them is absolutely delicious (which can be confirmed not only by me but by a dozen of readers of that magazine who highly praised the recipe). “I can assume that it might be delicious; but it cannot be called an Italian dish, anyway!” – she concluded.

            Well, what’s in a name? And who cares about authenticity when there’s a piece of a warm pie on a plate, with soft vanilla-scented ricotta, gooey jam and fragrant crumble? Especially when it is served with orange curd that complements the flavour of the jam!

Pan Seared Salmon with Beetroot and Ricotta Canelloni

           “Fresh doesn’t always mean better; a self-respected Italian housewife doesn’t bother to make pasta at home since she can get good one in the shop” – an article “Things you’d know if your nanny was Italian” stated. Well, there is a point here, no doubt. But what about ravioli?! I do not mind buying ready-made ravioli with meat, mushroom or cottage cheese filling but what would you do if you crave for a more sophisticated flavour inside the pasta shell? There’s no other way but to put an apron, dust the table with some flour and get into making your own dough!

            I had an absolutely amazing recipe of beetroot and ricotta ravioli from one cooking magazine; I’d made the dish a couple of times – each time it was a great success. Recently, however, as I had already prepared the filling and rolled the dough to the necessary thickness – I stopped for a moment thinking how I can change the dish a little bit (just for fun, you know!). At that moment I remembered Chef George Calombaris who once showed how to make fish mousse cannelloni to the contestants of Masterchef Australia. He put the mousse into a culinary bag and piped it onto strips of fresh pasta dough which were then rolled around the filling and cut into tubes to form cannelloni. I decided to use the same technique to make cannelloni with my beetroot filling.

           Wow! The result was beyond any expectations: it was basically the dish that I was familiar with  – but in a new form. A piece of a seared salmon with creamy dill sauce served as a great accompaniment to the cannelloni which had a distinct sweetness of beetroot and a pungent scent of parmesan. All in all, it was a beautiful dish and I will definitely bother to make it again. In the long run, I do not have an Italian nanny who would try to talk me out of making fresh pasta at home!

Almond Omelette

           If you are interested in cooking and read a lot about different cuisines, methods and techniques, eventually you come to the point when it’s difficult to find an innovative recipe: you realize that there’s a similar dish in another culture or it is just a traditional treat with a modern twist.

            Once, however, I got really surprised when I read a review of a book written by Madeleine Pelner Cosman who did some research on the English medieval cuisine. One of the dishes presented in her book was Amondyn Eyroun – an almond omelette. As I looked through the list of ingredients I had to admit that it’s difficult to imagine how the final dish will taste. Just think of it: you mix chopped almonds with ricotta, raisins and honey, you add rolled oats and (no kidding!) boiled eggs to it and then you bind it with raw eggs and fry in a pan. I’m actually a very open minded person when it comes to frittatas: I believe that you can put whatever you want in your morning omelette. But this seemed to be too much! Of course, I couldn’t but give the dish a try – just to form an opinion about it, you know. Surprisingly, the combination of ingredient worked really well! This big pancake-like omelette turned out to be a breakfast that I really enjoyed. So now I don’t have to decide whether I should make pancakes or frittatas in the morning – I go for this medieval in-between version of the two breakfast options!

Mozart Trifle

          I came across sweet treats called “Mozart” a few times in my life. First, there were world-known Austrian chocolate-coated marzipan candies: I tried them and I realized that I love the combination of chocolate and marzipan. Then, I learnt that the phenomenal contemporary French pâtissier Pierre Hermé has a gateau called “Mozart”: a meringue-based chocolate mousse with apples sandwiched between two layers of a rich cake – made, by the way, with yeast and boiled (!) eggs. And, finally, last year I found a recipe of a dessert layered in individual glasses which had the same core ingredients – apples and chocolate – as Hermé’s creation. Since I was fond of “individual desserts” at that time (there is something romantic and cute about them, isn’t it?) I decided to give it a try. The ricotta cream with three different, yet complimenting flavours, was nice, but overall the dessert somehow missed the mark. After a thorough analysis I came to the conclusion that adding layers of soaked sponge to it would upgrade the whole dish to a different level. Indeed, transforming it into a trifle was a great idea. The resulting dessert was bursting with summer flavours and juicy fruits, together with the moist pieces of sponge, beautifully counterbalanced the richness of the cream. To say true, now when I hear about the traditional English trifle, I instantly think of my Austrian version of it – with a refreshing taste and an elegant look.

Trilogy of Mushrooms

         There is always a story behind any dish: it may be romantic, funny, nostalgic, mysterious and – sometimes – unbelievable. Here is one.

            Once I decided to have a cup of tea at the lounge of a five-star hotel while I was waiting for my husband to come. I headed to the restroom to wash my hands first and as I was about to leave it, I caught a sight of some books and magazines on a coffee table (yes, there was a coffee table in the restroom…and a sofa, by the way). One of the huge volumes was a collection of the best vegetarian dishes served at the hotel chain throughout the country. Of course, I couldn’t resist sneaking peek into it. The book was amazing: full of spectacular pictures and mouth-watering dishes, with the detailed recipes included. My attention was drawn to an appetizer called “Trilogy of Mushroom” – a dish of, probably, the most well-known Indian Chef Hemant Oberoi. I loved the idea of putting three elements together: a stuffed mushroom, a mushroom toast and mushroom crème-brulee. I knew that it wouldn’t be a problem for me to stuff a mushroom and to make a toast but I definitely needed the guidance for a savory crème brulee. As I tool a notebook and a pen out of my bag (planning to rewrite the recipe quickly) a girl walked into the restroom. She misinterpreted the look of an enthusiastic cook with the look of a hungry person and, assuming that my date hadn’t come and I was left all alone, without any opportunity to have a proper lunch, – offered me some help. I realized that I actually looked weird: sitting in a restroom, looking through a cookbook – so I felt that I owe her an explanation. To say true, she didn’t quite believe me when I told her about my food blog – in her opinion, I am too skinny for a good cook. Anyway, we sort of made friends with that girl and even went to have tea at the lounge together (you can’t carry on a conversation in the restroom, can you?).

            As far as the dish is concerned, I recreated it that same week. I had just got a blow torch and was eager to use it in action! So, a savory brulee was made, together with simplified versions of a toast and a stuffed mushroom (Hemant Oberoi used different types of mushrooms while I had an access only to one). 

            The story, however, does not end here. A few weeks later, without any explanation, that book was sent to our office on my husband’s name (do they have cameras in the restrooms?!). Well, probably, one shouldn’t act so weirdly at a five star hotel. By saying that, I’m more than happy to have this incredible book now – with the original recipe of the dish and much more!

Zucchini and Ricotta Frittata

            My father always could (and as far as I know still can) cook only one dish (let’s make a remark here: by cooking I understand something that goes beyond topping a piece of bread with a slice of cheese and involves, at least, heating oil in a pan) – that is fried eggs. And, I should give him the credit, he took the process of cooking his dish quite seriously (it was so cute to watch him breaking the eggs into a pan and then keeping an eye on them so that they wouldn’t burn) and even managed to diversify his dish from time to time: he used to chop some additional ingredients and throw them in the pan together with the eggs. He loved to add some bacon or salami to his final dish, and what he got on his plate eventually even resembled a substantial meal.

            Only later on I learnt that my father was not a pioneer of the smart idea of adding yummy things to fries eggs – almost in every cuisine you will find a version of this dish. To my mind, Italian frittata is the most outstanding example of it. I love the fact that it’s a dish that leaves a lot of space for creativity: basically, you don’t need a strict recipe for making it; you can treat it as an opportunity to use leftover food to create a new meal. Thus, you can put chicken, vegetables or even pasta in it. And although I prefer to treat it the same way, I cannot but confess that there are a few combinations of flavours that make the best frittata for me. One of it is ricotta and zucchini. Soft and juicy in the middle, with a nice parmesan crust on top, it is one of my favourite breakfasts. It’s healthy and delicious, irresistibly tantalizing and ultimately easy to make!

Pineapple and Ricotta Pie

       Usually when we come to Russia for vocation I indulge in the food that is not available in India – mainly, in all sorts of dairy products that are widely represented in Russian markets in all possible forms and are, unfortunately, not so readily available in India.

            Last year, the first day we returned to Kolkata from Moscow (right after having a few hours of sleep after an exhausting flight) I felt an irresistible urge to have a piece of a ricotta pie. It was strange because I actually had consumed tons of ricotta during the month spent in the native country and had a strong belief that I won’t be able even to look at this product for quite a while. Nevertheless, I was desperate to have that pie – I guess, it was a psychological issue: probably, I felt already homesick for Russia…. Anyway, I needed that pie! The problem was, the only type of cottage cheese you get in India – paneer – is much harder and chewy that the one you normally get in Russia – soft and creamy, much more like its Italian counterpart. The only way out was to make my own ricotta. In fact, I make it quite often myself: you just need to curdle the milk, put it in a slightly warm oven for a few hours and then strain the mixture through a muslin cloth. The process is a bit time-consuming but worth all the efforts. So, it turned out that right on my first day back in India I found myself making cottage cheese at home and – despite the fact that it’s best when eaten fresh – I put the whole batch of it into the filling of my pie. As I got it from the oven and dug into the first slice I instantly felt that life, after all, was not that bad! (Yes, it was just the right remedy for my homesickness!)

Apple Delight for Weekend Breakfast

          One of the things I love to do in the kitchen is to use different sources and recipes in order to create a new dish. It’s quite exciting for me to imagine how the flavours will work together and, if all the elements on the plate compliment each other, the final result can become a real hit.

            For quite a long time I felt like trying to combine three different dishes that have the same core ingredient – apple – in order to create a bright and flavourful, fiber-rich meal for breakfast. One of the elements was a toast (something that I actually make quite often in the mornings), another one was a soufflé - omelette (I cooked it once and was impressed by its subtle taste and delicate texture), and the third one was a mousselin (I wanted to try the dish since I saw the recipe in my “Larousse Gastonomique” dictionary). The first two elements seemed to be more or less traditional options for breakfast while the third one was definitely more of a dessert type, so I figured out that I should better make the whole dish on a Saturday or a Sunday, when the first meal of the day can be of a brunch type and you can afford having something really sweet and fancy.  Besides, I wouldn’t have managed to cook all the three parts on a busy morning in the middle of the week, so I had to wait for a weekend anyway.

Corn and Ricotta Cakes

        I love those mornings when you don’t have to wake up early (well, who doesn’t like them?). If it’s a weekend morning, I really don’t mind getting into the kitchen and cooking something special. But if it’s one of the weekdays (yes, I’m lucky enough to have an opportunity to sleep late in the middle of the week) I feel somehow lazy to prepare a complicated breakfast – and usually I don’t have to, since I cook something in the evening so that that the following day my husband (who still has to face a necessity of being waken up by an alarm clock) can just pop a plate into a microwave oven before he heads to work. Of course, I normally make two place of something nice – the second one being meant for me, so in the morning I can bother only with making a cup of coffee. One of my favourite options of such premade breakfasts is corn and ricotta fritters. As I’m making them a day before, I’m salivating. I look forward to the next morning when after a few rounds of suria namaskar and a refreshing shower afterwards I award myself with this treat. What a great start of a day!

Asparagus and Cheese Roulade

I should confess that when we are expecting guests at our house, I pretty often start trying new things in a kitchen instead of sticking to old, time-tested recipes (which, no wonder, end in additional stress for me on those days). I try hard to get rid of this bad habit, I really do. And I know exactly where my problem comes from – I just hate cooking the dish (even if it’s ultimately delicious) for the same people twice. It’s like a strict no-no for me when it comes to formal dinner parties. Thus, I figured out, in order to be more organized  and disciplined on such days in the kitchen, I have to try the recipes of “special occasion dishes” long before those special occasions come up.

This week as I got my bunch of asparagus from the shop and wondered what I should do with it, my inner voice had an immediate answer: “The usual stuff – side for a savory breakfast or a garnish for a fish dish”. But then the reasonable part of me (the one that struggles with the above mentioned bad habit) reminded me of a spectacular picture of an asparagus roulade that I had once seen in a Russian cooking magazine and forced me into giving this dish a try. Well, it turned out to be much easier to do than I anticipated and as delicious as I expected (seriously, how can asparagus and cheese taste bad?) so I certainly added the recipe to my repertoire of fancy dishes.