Whipped Ricotta Toast, plus Balsamic Cherries
- Makes 2 people
- Prep 10 minutes
- Cook 5 minutes
- Total 15 minutes
Whipped ricotta toast with deep red, fresh cherries tossed in balsamic vinegar and scattered with some chopped basil leaves. So pretty, so easy and so good!
We love pretty things, don't you? When food looks pretty it has to taste as good as it looks and this Whipped Ricotta Toast, plus Balsamic Cherries it that. It couldn't be easier to make (which we love as always) and tastes good. Why have we never tried cherries with balsamic vinegar before!?
We stumbled across a few recipes recently for cherry and goats cheese crostini. As good as it sounds we've totally overindulged in goats cheese recently. We mean we love it, especially a tangy, crumbly one with salty prosciutto crudo on crackers but you know when you have too much of one thing? Well, that's been us with goats cheese recently.
The cherries however, looked gorgeous with their deep ruby red colour against the white, creamy cheese. We knew we wanted to recreate this somehow…step in the whipped ricotta.
How to make whipped ricotta
Whipped ricotta is basically ricotta cheese whipped in a food processor for a few seconds until it's thick, creamy and velvety soft. We love it like this especially with a little lemon zest, it's suited to sweet or savoury dishes and goes perfectly with the balsamic cherries.
The whipped ricotta is spread on some char grilled toasts. We love to cut thick slices to crusty bread, brush them with a little olive oil and place them on a hot griddle pan until toasted on each side. We do this for all crostini, bruschetta and toast recipes. We love the flavour of the charred grill marks and the peppery olive oil.
To make the balsamic cherries it's simple. Cut the cherries in half and remove the stone and stalk. Add them to a bowl with a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and toss to coat them. That's it, all that's left to do is assemble the whipped ricotta toasts. Spread a layer of the whipped ricotta over the toasts then top with cherries, finally add a little scattering a finely chopped basil and serve. Enjoy for a light lunch, snack or aperitivo.
Ingredients
Makes 2 people
- 8.8 oz (250g) cherries
- 8.8 oz (250g) ricotta
- zest of 1/4 lemon
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 small bunch basil (, finely chopped)
- 4 slices of ciabatta bread
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
Method
Brush each side of the bread with a little oil then place on a hot griddle pan until toasted on each side, there should be nice char marks on the bread.
Cut the cherries in half and remove the stones and stalks. Add to a bowl with the balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss to combine and set aside.
To make the whipped ricotta, add the ricotta to a food processor with the lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend for a couple seconds until smooth and creamy.
Spread the toast generously with ricotta and top with cherries. Finally, scatter over some finely chopped basil and serve.
Kitchen notes
Please note this recipe was tested and developed using metric measurements all imperial measurements are approximate.
