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BAKED RICOTTA WITH GRILLED RADICCHIO

BAKED RICOTTA WITH GRILLED RADICCHIO

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Serves: 6

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  • Gluten Free
  • Nigella Recipe
  • Vegetarian

For all that you need to clatter about with Springform tins and baking sheets, this is remarkably easy to make. I always seem to have spare egg white knocking around, which also inclines me to cook it. But it's worth making the - slight - effort even if you have to put aside the yolks for use elsewhere. This makes a wonderful summer starter or light lunch, the latter either by itself or rustled up as a vegetarian-pleaser.

If you want to forgo the grilled radicchio alongside, then do and just make a green salad to go with it, but the combination, as it stands, is perfect: the heat-wilted radicchio loses some of its bitterness, but keeps just enough perfectly to offset the delicate, not-quite-blandness of the ricotta. The summer-scentedness of thyme deliciously permeates both.

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Ingredients

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for the baked ricotta

  • 500 grams ricotta cheese (full-fat / whole milk)
  • 2 large egg whites (lightly beaten)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

for the radicchio

  • approx. 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
  • 1 large radicchio (cut into 8ths lengthways)
  • 1 lemon (to serve)
FOREVER SUMMER

As featured in

FOREVER SUMMER

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350ºF.
  2. Mix the ricotta with the beaten egg whites and add most of the chopped thyme, the lemon zest and salt and pepper.
  3. Brush a 20cm / 8 inch Springform tin with oil, and pour in the ricotta mixture then drizzle with olive oil and scatter a little more chopped thyme over the top. Don't be alarmed at how shallow this is; it is not intended to be other than a slim disc.
  4. Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes. The baked ricotta will rise a little and set dry on top, but will not turn a golden colour like a cake.
  5. Let the tin cool a little before springing open, and removing to a plate. Leave to cool a little longer, then cut into wedges and eat, still warm, with the radicchio.
  6. Talking of which, you should get on with this just before serving, which really means preheating the grill while the ricotta-cake is cooling. Mix the olive oil and thyme in a shallow bowl, and then wipe the radicchio slices in the herby oil before grilling them for a few minutes, turning them as necessary, until slightly wilted and golden at the edges.
  7. Add a squeeze of lemon at the end before serving with the baked ricotta.

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