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Monday, May 10, 2010

Ricotta & Chocolate

As I've mentioned many times, I'm a big fan of chocolate and cheese. Katrina Markoff blogs at Peace Love & Chocolate at the Vosges website. Recently she posted a great and simple recipe for Ricotta & Chocolate. I tried it, and I must agree, it's just fabulous! Adaptations might be in the chocolate and olive oil used. Experiment.

Ricotta is a mild cheese that pairs well with dark chocolate. Unlike cottage cheese, ricotta has a rich, slightly sweet flavor and is used in both savory and sweet dishes. Katrina warns: You must use FRESH ricotta for this recipe! Actually everything should be fresh, including the chocolate. Chocolate does have a shelf-life.

Katrina suggests that this Ricotta be served as an hors d’oeuvre, but you'll find lots of other uses.

Fresh Ricotta Cheese with Olive Oil and Dark Chocolate

2 cups (or lbs.) Fresh Ricotta Cheese
3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A pinch Pink salt  or you can try some gray sea salt
A pinch White Pepper
1 1/2 ounces Dark Chocolate (65% dark, Venezuelan)

Place Ricotta in a dish. Stir in salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Chop dark chocolate into fine slivers and sprinkle atop. Serve with crackers.

One comment on the Peace, Love & Chocolate blog was to use this as a topping on Flourless Chocolate Cake. What a fabulous idea! Here are four recipes posted on DyingforChocolate.com for  Flourless Chocolate Cake HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.
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If you love chocolate and cheese, you might also want to try Vosges' Rooster Truffle. It's a dark chocolate truffle combined with taleggio cheese with organic walnuts--part of the Collezione Italiano.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I spent four months last year living in Monteverde, Costa Rica, which is home to famous cheese factory. Undoubtably their most interesting variety is "Choco Cheese," a block of chocolate flavored cheese you can buy in the grocery store. Not quite as classy as your ricotta, but an interesting experience nonetheless.

Janet Rudolph said...

How great! Wish I could taste it!

Janet Rudolph said...

Thanks for the link to Himalayan pink salt.