Proud Italian Cook

Citrus Infused Ricotta Pie for Easter and Beyond

March 25, 2021 by Marie 5 Comments

Bright citrus flavors of lemon and orange infuse this sweet and creamy ricotta pie. Ricotta pie is a traditional Easter dessert which has so many variations according to individual family recipes. But if I’m to be honest it really isn’t just for Easter, this pie is welcomed any time of the year when you’re wanting a special dessert to serve.

I have another variation of ricotta pie that I make in my own family as well, it’s filled with mini chocolate chips, citron, zest and a hint of cinnamon with flavors like the inside of a cannoli.

But this dreamy version lets the sweetened ricotta shine with hints of vanilla, lemon and orange. This pie is also topped with a lattice crust which reminds me of an Easter basket, and besides the more crust the better in my book!

With Easter right around the corner this pie would be a perfect addition to your dessert table, Happy Easter!

Citrus Infused Ricotta Pie for Easter and Beyond

Author: Marie

Ingredients

Use a 9 inch deep dish pie pan
Pastry for a double crusted pie, either homemade or a good quality store bought one.
2¾ cups of whole milk ricotta*** IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you drain your ricotta really good, excess moisture will affect the cooking time and texture. You can drain it overnight in the fridge if it's the deli kind sitting in some water. Or you can look for a full fat supermarket version.
¾ c. sugar
5 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
¼ teaspoon lemon extract
zest of 1 large orange
zest of 1 large lemon or 2 small
reserve a pinch of each to sprinkle on top
small pastel colored chocolate eggs for garnish presentation

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat the drained ricotta with the sugar until very smooth.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Beat in the vanilla and lemon extract
Fold in the lemon and orange zest to well combined.
Place 1 half of your double pie crust into your pie plate, unbaked
Pour all the filling into the pie shell.
Place the whole plate onto a rimmed cookie sheet for easy in and out of the oven.
Take the other piece of dough, roll it out and make 6 or 8 strips of dough and place them over the filling in a criss cross design.
I usually brush some cream over the top of the crust to make a golden crust, you can do an egg wash as well, then sprinkle the pinch of zest you set aside all over the top.
Bake the pie for around 45 minutes or until ricotta is set and a toothpick comes out clean and crust golden.
Let it cool down then refrigerate before eating
Garnish with a handful of pastel colored, small size chocolate eggs on top for presentation.

5 Comments Filed Under: Desserts, Pies, Spring Tagged: citrus infused, Easter dessert, sweet ricotta pie

Stuffed Cabbage, Italian Style

March 5, 2021 by Marie 5 Comments

It’s March, and you’re going to see lots of cabbage in the supermarkets. I encourage you to pick up a large head and try my twist on stuffed cabbage Italian style. This is not to say that the traditional version isn’t any good, this is just my Italian take on it.

The concept is simple, the cabbage is wilted and wrapped around all the makings of your favorite Italian meatball and the sauce is a delicious marinara.

The cabbage I used here was your typical green cabbage, I chose a big head with lots of leaves. Savoy cabbage is another perfect variety to use if you can find one that is on the larger size.

The hardest thing about making stuffed cabbage is blanching the leaves off and to do this you’ll need a big pot of boiling water going. Core the end of the cabbage and submerge the whole thing into the boiling pot and place a cover on top.

After a few minutes remove the cover and peel off as many leaves as you can and drain on paper towels. Repeat the whole process until you have the number of leaves you want. The bigger the cabbage, the more leaves you’ll have.

After the leaves cool down place one at a time on a cutting board, pat dry and just cut out that center core so it’s easier to fold them. Then form the shape of a meatball using about 1/2 cup of meat mixture tucking the cabbage all around the sides of the meatball creating a round shape instead of the traditional log shape.

Here’s where you can really get creative! You can use your own family favorite meatball recipe or do a little improvising like I did with the ingredients above. I used 2 pounds of ground beef for this recipe, it was an 80/20 mix but ground sirloin works great as well as ground pork and turkey. Because of my large head of cabbage I was able to yield 14 rolls in total.

This post is meant to inspire you with the ingredients I used, or if you like, change things up with some of your favorites. For instance, using small chunks of mozzarella instead of the provolone cheese, or eliminate the cooked rice for breadcrumbs or even riced cauliflower. I always like to add a generous amount of grated pecorino, a couple of tablespoons of marinara, a good handful of fresh parsley and enough garlic so you can really taste it, you get the picture, flavor it up good!

Tuck your wilted cabbage all around your meatball and then place them seam side down in a pool of marinara.

Spoon additional marinara ( homemade or a good quality store bought) on top of each roll, sprinkle pecorino on top and a nice drizzle of olive oil all over.

Cover your baking dish completely with foil and place into a pre-heated 360 degree oven for around 40 minutes. Uncover and test to see if a tip of a knife goes though easily.

When finished cooking let it rest for a few minutes then garnish with parsley or basil and enjoy!

I hope you’ve been inspired to make my Italian style version of stuffed cabbage!

5 Comments Filed Under: Meats, Vegetables Tagged: cabbage, cabbage rolls, Italian style, stuffed cabbage

Winter Panzanella Salad With Roasted Vegetables

February 20, 2021 by Marie 9 Comments

A panzanella salad traditionally is made in summertime with fresh tomatoes and bread, but today I’m featuring a winter version of a panzanella salad. I promise you will love it and you’ll be surprised just how easy it is to make.

Go take a look inside your fridge and see what veggies you have in there, any combination would work, this is truly a freeform type of recipe.

Below is exactly what I had in my fridge.

I had a mix of broccoli, carrots, onion, peppers, brussel sprouts, sugar snap peas and cauliflower. If I had squash I would have added that, whatever you have will work.

Don’t be afraid to fill a whole sheet pan full of your favorite veggies like I did. Then drizzle them all over with olive oil, add salt and pepper and roast at 400 degrees until golden, with still a little bite. Make sure you don’t over cook them, you don’t want mushy vegetables here.

Another important component to this salad is homemade croutons. I can’t stress enough how important it is to make your own, store bought ones do not compare.

I used a stale hunk of ciabatta for mine but any crusty bread would do. Just chunk it up, place on a baking sheet, drizzle and toss them with a generous amount of olive oil, pepper and I had a rosemary salt that I added.

You’re going to put those bread cubes into a 400 degree oven until they get golden and crispy, they don’t take too long so keep watching and tossing them.

Then the final important elements are a homemade vinaigrette and fresh bocconcini, ( fresh mozzarella). Again I stress homemade is best, so please don’t use a bottled dressing of any kind, making your own vinaigrette is easy to do and makes a world of difference to the taste and over all deliciousness of this salad.

I will add my vinaigrette recipe below at the end of the post.

After the veggies have been roasted and cooled down and the croutons and vinaigrette is made, it’s time to put this winter panzanella together.

Grab a pretty bowl, add the roasted veggies, torn basil and chopped fresh parsley. Toss in your croutons and bocconcini, use as much as you want and add in a few sliced cherry tomatoes for freshness.

All that’s left is to spoon that vinaigrette over the top and dig in! This could serve as a lunch, side dish or if you just feel like eating a bowl of goodness!

I hope you try this winter version of a panzanella salad.

5.0 from 2 reviews

Homemade Vinaigrette

Author: Marie

Ingredients