This week, someone I follow on Instagram posted a photo of their grocery haul with the caption “This will be my last time romanticizing winter produce🤍 I’m over it 🤍 ” and I did feel it in my bones…
The squash…… it has been sliced, stewed in butter and thyme, and roasted until caramelized and melty. The soups and stocks…… they have been made. Really, they’ve ALL been made. The mirepoix and the lentils have simmered in olive oil; golden broths of several varieties have all burbled over the low flame of my stove. A stew, a mash, a sweet-smelling roast of a heavy vegetable — I’m no longer even the teensiest bit inspired by any of it. I’ve torn off pieces of the crusty bread, dipped them into soup bowls, lit a candle or two or three to try and infuse some sort of something into the air, poured the red wine, and told myself this is nice. Repeatedly told myself that this is nice, and that I’m doing it, leaning into the slowness and hibernation of winter, once again! Allowing time for rest, for introversion, even when it feels more like lethargy and ugliness! Yeah! And I’m over it :/.
We’re in the thick of it, the buds won’t peek through the soil for a few months. We have a ways to go until spring. This was made clear last weekend when I walked into my Saturday farmer’s market (desperate attempt at joy #839), and saw the tables overflowing with, again, squash. Delicata. Butternut. Boxes of apples. Bosch pears. Kale, collard greens, and potatoes of every color and size. Fennel, leeks. I begrudgingly loaded my bags with a usual rotation of these thick-skinned winter items. But I decided on a few extra items to spark some more inspiration in the kitchen (and in turn, maybe my brain chemistry??). Expensive farm-fresh eggs. A bouquet of orange tulips still tucked in, shy. And: goat milk ricotta cheese. The slightly tangier sister of the ricotta we know and love.
Using this small tub of cheese as my muse, my star, my iiiiiit girl of the moment, I made three hearty, nourishing winter meals that didn’t bore me to tears. That Saturday intention to infuse a little *life* into my cooking plan by picking a Fun Extra was successful, and I got some tasty plates out of it.
Here are the three, transcribed into recipes for you, in case goat milk ricotta (or ricotta of any kind) is also your upcoming week’s It Girl.
Smoky Tomato Chickpeas with Fried Sage + Ricotta
Ingredients:
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce
1 15oz can of pureed or crushed tomatoes
1 15oz tub of goat ricotta (or dairy/almond ricotta of any kind!)
optional: 1 bunch fresh sage leaves, picked off the stem
1 large yellow onion
kosher salt and pepper
olive oil
vegetable oil (I opt for grapeseed)
Directions:
Prepare the sauce. In a blender or hand blender jar, combine the following: 2 large chipotles (if you’re not a huge spice lover, stick to one), the full can of pureed tomato, 1 tablespoon of goat ricotta, and a 1/2 tablespoon salt. Puree until creamy, and no visible seeds or skin from the chipotles remain. Have a little taste, and add more ricotta/more chipotle if needed, depending on your preferences!
Get the rest going. Halve the yellow onion and dice.
In a cast iron or other oven-proof skillet, heat 2 TBS olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add diced onion and 1 tsp salt, and cook, stirring every so often, for 8-10 minutes, or until the onions have softened and are just starting to brown.
Add drained and rinsed chickpeas, another dash of salt, and toss for 1-2 minutes, making sure all of the chickpeas get coated in that nice onion oil mixture.
Pour in the chipotle tomato sauce, stir with the chickpeas, and bring it all to a rapid simmer. Continue to simmer, but now on low heat, for 30 minutes, stirring 2-3 times in the process.
Optional: while the chickpeas simmer, fry the sage! Coat the bottom layer of a small skillet or saucepan in vegetable oil, and heat on medium until shimmering. Set aside a small plate with a paper towel lining.
Add separate sage leaves in a single layer (you will likely have to do a few rounds of frying). These cook quickly, so don’t walk away! Using a slotted spoon or tongs, fry the leaves for about 30 seconds per side, flip, and when just turning brown, remove and add to the plate. Toss the leaves with a sprinkle of salt as they cool.
Finish up the chickpeas. After 30 minutes, remove from heat. Add a few dollops of ricotta to the skillet, and broil the skillet in the oven for a few minutes (every oven is different, so again don’t walk away!), until the sauce has started to set and the cheese has started to brown.
Garnish and serve. Add the fried sage (whole leaves or crumbled), sprinkle on some flaky salt and cracked black pepper, and serve directly from the skillet at the table. Scoop onto a hunk of nice crusty bread, or eat by itself.
Honey Ricotta Whip Toast with Roasted Beets
Ingredients:
1 tub goat’s milk ricotta (or dairy/almond ricotta of any kind!)
honey (potential sub: truffle honey, hot honey)
1-2 raw beets, scrubbed, unpeeled
toast
kosher salt and pepper
toppings: everything bagel seasoning, salsa macha (here’s the one I always come back to), chile crisp, fried onions, or another nut/seed mix.
Directions:
Roast beets. Wrap each beet in aluminum foil (sealing each completely), and place them on a sheet tray. Roast beets in an oven set to 400° for 55-60 minutes, or until soft and easily piercable with a small knife. Once done, let beets cool, and then with a knife or your fingers, peel the skin right off (it’ll be easy to do so post-roasting!).
Whip! Add 1-2 heaping spoons of ricotta, a drizzle of honey, and a dash of kosher salt in a blender. An immersion blender also works inside a blender jar, but for small quantities, something like a Nutribullet works best. Pulse the blend until you’re left with a whipped, creamy smooth texture. Heaven!
Prepare the toast. Slather whipped ricotta onto toasted bread (or, to achieve a piped effect, add to a small ziploc with a cut-off corner edge, and squeeze to pipe! Add sliced/cooled beets. Sprinkle on more salt.
Add toppings and serve. I loved adding everything-but-the-bagel-seasoning to one toast, and salsa macha to the other. The smoky, nutty flavor complements the creamy sweetness of the rest of the toast nicely. Otherwise, a nice option would be to drizzle on some high-quality, glazed balsamic. Serve on nice plates with a glass of something sparkling.
Caramelized Brussels Sprout Pasta with Ricotta + Lemon
Ingredients:
~1 lb Brussels sprouts (I used cute lil’ ones)
1 tub goat’s milk ricotta (or dairy/almond ricotta of any kind!)
1 large yellow onion
2 lemons
1 box of pasta, any shape (I went fusilli!)
kosher salt and pepper
olive oil
red pepper flakes
Directions:
Prep veg. Dice half of the yellow onion (perhaps the other half of the onion you used to make smoky tomato beans??). Zest 1 whole lemon and set aside. Trim the tough ends of the sprouts, and chop them into small shreds. (Alternatively, you can pulse the sprouts in a food processor — I’m just lazy, and my laziness somehow manifests in preferring to chop all of these by hand rather than getting out my heavy food processor)
Cook pasta. In a medium saucepan filled with boiled, exceptionally salty water, cook the noods, stirring occasionally, until very al dente (typically 3 to 4 minutes less than the time on the package). Reserve and set aside 1 cup of pasta water, and drain the pasta.
Saute vegetables. Add 1/4 cup olive oil to a Dutch oven or large pot, and heat over medium-high. Add in diced onion, a pinch of salt and red pepper flakes, and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add sprouts, coat them in the oil, and cook at this temp for about 5 minutes. Then, reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 8-10 minutes, until sprouts and onions have browned and gotten in some gooood good caramelization.
Build sauce and serve. Into the Dutch oven, add 1/4 cup goat ricotta and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water. Stir. Add pasta, toss, and then drizzle in the other 1/2 cup of pasta water to loosen up the sauce. Squeeze in the juice from 1-2 lemons depending on preference, add lemon zest, sprinkle in some more salt and freshly cracked pepper, and stir. Serve in heaping quantities!
Share out-of-season fruit
