Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Ina's Spanish Pea Soup and Herbed Ricotta Bruschetta


Popping in quickly as the other night, I made a fantastic pea soup and some herbed ricotta that you absolutely positively must make for dinner tonight. Or at least tomorrow night.

I don't know if my weird pregnancy-related tastebuds have reared their little heads or what, but lately, I have been craving any and all spreadable cheese. (I know - I totally forgot to mention this in this past week's Bumpdate.) Prior to Christmas, I had friends over and served a sage-infused Boursin (something I swear I have never bought before), and on New Year's Eve, we had more friends over and I served a jalapeno-infused goat-like spread, which I had tasted merely minutes before everyone's arrival during a last minute Whole Foods run. And thus, when deciding to make Ina's Spanish Pea Soup from her new book, Foolproof, her older recipe for Herbed Ricotta Bruschetta (found in How Easy is That?) seemed to be an obvious pairing choice.

Confession: I have eaten almost an entire loaf of bread (and then some - once more bread was purchased) all by myself over the past two and a half days. All because the bread served as a mechanism that would afford me to eat more herbed ricotta. And let me tell you - this is no easy task. It requires dedication during both lunch and dinner.

The herbed ricotta recipe is super simple and contains dill, scallions and chives, as well as heavy cream and whole milk. (One of the great things about having a toddler is always having whole milk on hand.) I went a little heavy with the dill as it's one of my favorite herbs, but you can easily adjust this recipe to use your own favorite herbs. Also, it took barely any waiting time at all, and makes quite a bit. (Somehow I still have a tad leftover.)  The recipe calls for the ricotta to be spread on sourdough bread, but my grocery store was out, and I've found that a regular old country boule and / or Italian bread works just fine. Also, my patience for grilling and oiling the bread departed after my first meal, and I've found that toasting the bread works just fine as well.

James was away for the past week, but came home last night and gobbled this up handedly, and couldn't stop saying how delicious it was. (All the while, I was staring him down, just daring him to eat up more of my precious spreadable cheese.)

I hate to shortchange the pea soup recipe with all this talk about my newly beloved herbed ricotta, as the soup was absolutely fantastic as well. I wouldn't normally be excited to make pea soup, but again, this was another super super easy and quick recipe (definitely doable on a weeknight), and the taste was fantastic. Even Sammy has enjoyed it over the past few meals!



It's nap time and I have a zillion piles of clothes to fold, so I don't have the time to type out the recipes, but here are links I found online: Spanish Pea Soup with Crispy Ham and Herbed Ricotta Bruschetta. I'll even sort of understand if you hold off on making the pea soup right now, but honestly - if you don't make the herbed ricotta asap - well... that's just unfathomable to me.

5 comments:

  1. I would like to know if you would consider delivering a sample of the ricotta to a new mom?! ;)

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  2. Thank you for inspiring me to make something fatty today (the herbed ricotta, of course). I'm skipping the soup because it sounds like the ham really makes it, and being of the non-carnivorous types...well, you know. Can't wait to gorge myself on bread and homemade ricotta, though! ;)

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    1. Don't skip the soup! The prosciutto is merely an accouterment and definitely did not make the dish. I actually skipped the ham when having leftovers. So glad you're trying out the ricotta though. I can't be the only pregnant girl gorging herself on bread and homemade cheese.

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    2. So, I did skip the soup but hated the soup I replaced it with. (Apparently curry and pregnancy don't mix for me). Just seeing this comment now, and needing to remake the ricotta because I think mine was too salty (I don't think I had the full two cups when all was said and done, so the full tsp of salt was too much), I will include the soup this time.

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    3. I made the soup this evening. It is spectacular. You can eat it with or without the Proscuitto. I didn't add the olive oil on top but sprinkled some fresh parm on it. My.husband raved over it. A new soup staple.

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