Whipped Ricotta with Roasted Vegetables
This would be the perfect accompaniment to any charcuterie board. Ricotta is a mild creamy Italian cheese that lends well to loads of flavour. By roasting the garlic and cherry tomatoes you get a lovely natural sweetness that goes perfectly with a drizzle of honey. I also added a good bit of black pepper and some chilli flakes right before serving, as we are chilli fanatics in our house, but this is completely optional. We had this with some crusty ciabatta bread that was toasted, resembling crostini. This would also be lovely with some crudité vegetable such as carrots or red peppers for dipping in. Roasting peppers along with the tomatoes and garlic would also be delicious in this recipe.
Ingredients
Serves 4 (as a starter with no bread) | 180 calories
250g ricotta
1 whole bulb of garlic
about 15-20 cherry tomatoes, halved.
1/2 a small onion, sliced thin
1 tsp honey
some fresh basil
salt & pepper
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
Crusty bread to serve
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celcius
Chop off the top of your head of garlic so that the tops of all of the individual cloves are exposed. Leave the skin and everything on but drizzle a tsp of olive oil and some salt on the top.
Tightly wrap the bulb of garlic in tinfoil and place in baking tray with your halved tomatoes and sliced onion. Season the tomatoes and onion with the remaining olive oil along with salt & pepper.
Bake for 25 mins, then remove the tomatoes & onion, but leave the garlic to roast for a further 20 mins (still wrapped in foil).
Once the garlic is out of the oven, remove cloves from the papery skin by using a teaspoon or a small fork (they usually come out pretty easily when cooked). Add all these cloves to a blender with your ricotta and some salt & pepper and pulse until smooth and no large garlic lumps.
Spread onto your dish of choice. You can keep it refrigerated until you want to use it but I would recommend not leaving it for more than 24hrs.
Once ready to serve, top with your roasted tomato & onion, drizzle a tsp of honey over the top and sprinkle some fresh basil (add chilli flakes and more black pepper now if using).
Have sone crusty bread toasted at the ready and enjoy!
