Farm Fridays: Lemony Ricotta Summer Squash Galette

I meant to post this days and days ago, but I've been incapacitated by a terrible summer cold/sinus infection. I've been on the couch all week, hardly even picking up my laptop (which seems soooo heavy and requires me to actually sit up). I must be feeling a bit better, because I have the energy to work on this now. I'd better be recovering, because I really want to get going with some canning projects this weekend!

I did manage to drag myself up to the farm yesterday morning and was extremely pleased with all the produce. After several sparse weeks, things are finally picking up. The blackberries are ready for picking and they are gorgeous - all the bushes were absolutely laden with huge berries. I also picked up another delicious watermelon, lots of plump tomatoes and pounds of new potatoes. And, of course, the ubiquitous summer squash.

I know that a lot of people get sick of summer squash - once it starts coming in, it can smother you. But I'm more than happy to be drowned in squash. I really only started to eat it two years ago, and the honeymoon stage isn't over yet. There are still tons of great squash recipes out there that I haven't tried. (If the squash plants in my garden actually produced anything, I might be forced to eat my words.)

When this recipe showed up in my August Better Homes and Gardens, I knew it had to be made right away. I'm a big tart person, so a tart with summer squash sounded too good to pass up. While I do love a flaky, buttery crust, I went a bit more healthy with this one and tried out an olive oil crust. It was definitely tougher (on day one, it was difficult to bite through in places), but was much better the next day after it had softened. The filling was awesome - summer squash and ricotta cheese is a winning combination in my book. A slice of this tart and a salad makes for a delicious summer lunch.

Lemony Ricotta Summer Squash Galette
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens August 2013. Tart dough is from Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal.

crust:
2 1/2 c flour
1/3 c quality olive oil
1/2 c ice water
1 tsp fine salt

filling:
2 zucchini or summer squash, thinly sliced (the recipe says two medium-sized squash, which will yield 2 1/2 c, but my two yielded much more than that - I added all the slices I could squeeze onto the tart and then saved the rest for another recipe)
3/4 c ricotta cheese
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
1/4 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 egg yolk

Mix together the flour, olive oil, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Slowly drizzle in the ice water until the dough clumps together into a ball. Remove the dough, divide in half, roll each half into a ball and flatten into a disc. Set one half aside for another project (I slip it into a ziplock bag and freeze it). Put the half you are using in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.

Put the squash slices into a colander and sprinkle with salt, tossing to coat. Let drain for 15 minutes, then pat dry with paper towels.

Preheat oven to 400° F. Remove the tart dough from the fridge and place on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll it into a rough 12" circle (the dough will be tough to roll out, so I like to prep it with a Julia Child technique: literally beat the dough with your rolling pin until it begins to stretch out, then roll. This helps soften the dough without warming it with your hands). 

In a small bowl, mix together the cheeses, garlic, 1 tsp olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a clean 2" edge. Top this with the drained and dried squash slices (I piled three or four layers of squash on there). Drizzle the top with the remaining olive oil, then salt and pepper to taste.

Gently fold over the edges of the crust to keep in all the filling (I also took the opportunity to fold under all the rough, irregular edges from my clumsy rolling).

In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk with 1 tsp water. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the crust.

Slide the parchment and tart onto a baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the squash is tender. Enjoy!

Tuscan Lemon Muffins

I made these muffins last week. I still don't know how I feel about them.

I was looking for a recipe that would use up some leftover ricotta cheese and lemons. I was also looking for breakfast. This seemed to fit the bill.

Muffins are always quick, and these were no exception. It's a very easy recipe to whip up and toss into the oven. So far, it doesn't sound so bad . . .

The problem is the flavor. They are lemony, yes. But they're also cheesy. I don't normally think of ricotta as a cheesy cheese, but there was clearly something cheesy about these muffins. Weird, right? Ricotta does give baked goods a bit of a spongy texture, so I expected that. But I didn't expect the the cheesiness. Perhaps it was the brand of ricotta I used (Organic Valley). Perhaps it was the strength of my lemon. I'm not sure.

Would I do this recipe again? I'm still on the fence. I haven't written it on a recipe card, which suggests that I don't plan on keeping it. Then again, I haven't gotten rid of the magazine page yet. It's an average muffin. Low calorie and good for breakfast, uses up annoying leftover ingredients, but not something I'll be craving in the middle of the night.


October roses in the backyard.

Tuscan Lemon Muffins
From Cooking Light May 2011.

1 3/4 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c ricotta cheese
1/2 c water
1/4 c olive oil
zest from one lemon
juice from one lemon
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp demerera sugar

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine ricotta, water, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until just moist.

Lightly coat a muffin pan with baking spray. Divide the batter among the cups (I got a dozen muffins). Sprinkle demerera sugar on top of each muffin. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan 5 minutes, then remove and serve or store. (I found that these freeze well.)

Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Finally, a recipe good enough to share! I've been cooking consistently this month, but I've either neglected to photograph my recipes or decided they weren't worth it. Tossing shredded carrots and broccoli with store-bought dressing doesn't warrant a blog post (seriously, Bon Appetit?). 

This is a great recipe for this time of year, when you're still craving winter's comfort food, but are trying to shake off some of its heaviness. I found that the spinach took up a lot of space in the filling that might otherwise have been taken up by cheese and sausage. That made for a much lighter shell. I think it's also a good recipe for busy people. Making the shells did take me forever - around two hours - but the recipe makes four dozen, which will last quite a while. And the prep time was my own fault. I took my time and went the long way about prepping some of my ingredients. For example, I used fresh baby spinach where the recipe suggested frozen, which meant I had to spend a good 40 minutes stacking tiny leaves and chopping them up. Halfway through I realized that this is what food processors are for. But really, the rhythmic nature of chopping can be relaxing, so I pushed through to the end. The sausage took a long time, too, because mine refused to crumble. It was a little tricky to get it out of the casing, but then it just sat in the pan, foiling my efforts to break it up. I ended up taking it out of the pan and dicing it, which also took awhile. Next time I'll go for butcher-fresh sausage, rather than the packaged national brand for easier crumbling. 

But despite these hangups, I ended the day with a lovely tray of shells baking in the oven and two more in the freezer for later. I find that stuffed shells freeze very well. I make them in my glass pyrex oven dishes, pop the lid on and freeze the whole thing. They'll just need a few extra minutes in the oven later on. 

And the immediate payoff, apart from a tray of shells for dinner, is a house smelling like sauteed sausage and onions and an oven full of sweet, concentrated tomato sauce (I love what time in the oven does to tomato sauce!) rather than burnt popcorn. That's a definite win.

Sausage, Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Adapted slightly from Simply Recipes.

12 oz package of jumbo shells

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

3/4 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and chopped

2-3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 egg

16 oz ricotta cheese (I think I used 22 oz, because I was trying to get rid of some leftovers, so I ended up with a bit more filling)

10 oz fresh spinach, rinsed well and chopped

1 c grated Parmesan

1 tsp dried basil (or 1 tbsp fresh)

1/4 c plain bread crumbs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 jars tomato sauce

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the shells according to package directions. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook about 5 minutes until softened. Add the sausage to the pan and cook about 5 more minutes (until no pink remains). Add the garlic and cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Remove from the heat.

In a very large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Then add the ricotta, 1/2 c Parmesan, basil, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Mix this well, then add the spinach and the sausage mixture. (You could combine all this at once, but I found it easier to work with the cheese mixture first, and then add all the extras. I think that gave me a more even mixture.) 

Spread some sauce in your baking dish (I used about half a jar of sauce for a 9 x 13 dish - my other two baking dishes were smaller, so I adjusted accordingly. The idea is just to give your shells something moist to sit on). Fill each shell with about 1 tbsp of cheese mixture and arrange in the pan (it's hard to judge how much each shell needs. I think 1 tbsp is a good start, and if there's any filling left over, you can go back and add it to any shells that look skimpy). Spread the remaining sauce on top.

  

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375° F. Cover the pan with foil and bake about 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly (remember to add a few minutes for frozen shells). Remove foil, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c Parmesan and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Like I said earlier in the post, this made about 4 dozen for me, even with some broken shells. If you aren't making this for a large group, just freeze the rest until you need them.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

I threw the best dinner party yesterday.

Jeff and I love to cook for people. We keep making delicious food that we'd love to share with other people. Unfortunately, we live over an hour from any of our relatives and most of our friends. It takes a lot of planning to get anyone down here. So we don't throw parties as often as we'd like.

The last dinner party we threw was in December, for a group of close friends. We decided to make several of the most delicious recipes we had in our repertoire. Unfortunately, we planned things poorly. Our guests began to arrive just as I started the béchamel sauce for my roasted vegetable lasagna. I ended up being tied to the stove until dinner was ready, and Jeff had to be in the kitchen for most of that time, too. The food was delicious, we had fun, but we made it very stressful for ourselves at the beginning.

When I decided to throw a collective birthday party for my parents and my brother (all within two weeks of one another - my birthday's the odd one out in my family), I knew we had to do things differently. I decided to make an entree that would just sit on the stove for hours and be ready whenever I needed it: I settled on beef stew (after some negotiation with my brother, who is food-critic picky - he agreed with this on the condition that the meat wouldn't be tough). I did three side dishes, one of which was a casserole that we had prepared before the guests arrived and could pop in the oven whenever. I made biscuits the day before. My only duties once people arrived were two side dishes, one of which was just roasting in the oven, that took about 20 minutes. So I actually had time to go out and talk to people, which was lovely. I definitely plan on going this route again.

The other great thing was the food, which got rave reviews. I'm sorry that I'm not posting about the beef stew - I will someday - because that went over extremely well. First of all, it was a good entree for a crowd with different needs. There were multiple requests for bowls of stew with no meat in them. Meanwhile, my brother wanted extra meat but few potatoes. And he ended up having three servings and leaving us with a few tiny vegetables at the bottom of an empty pot. The side dishes went over equally well, since there's almost nothing left (and I tend to overcook). It's a wonderful feeling to know that you've worked hard to make something delicious and that everyone really enjoyed it.

But I digress, since I'm here to tell you about dessert. I really restrained myself here. Last year when I did this, I made a layer-cake (since it was a birthday party). But everyone on my family seems to be on some kind of diet and not want that kind of sweet. So this year, I went with some apple pie bars and lemon ricotta cookies. The lemon cookies are becoming a staple in my kitchen. I actually am not a huge fan - I prefer my baked goods with chocolate, not fruit. But my mom, grandma and brother love them, so I find myself making them a lot. This is the first time, however, that they have not been devoured! I chalk it up to the amount of food everyone ate at dinner, though - the cookies themselves were light (because of the ricotta) and absolutely packed with lemon flavor. The lightness makes them a nice change for this time of year, when we've begun to turn back to the heavy, chocolate-laden Valentine's Day sort of desserts.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies
I actually got this recipe from a cooking class at Rutgers, but I think it's originally from Giada.

for the cookies:

2 1/2 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 stick butter

2 c sugar

2 eggs

15 oz whole milk ricotta cheese (I started using organic ricotta, which seems to be a bit more watery than the regular kind - this made my cookies spread a bit more than usual)

juice from one lemon (~ 3 tbsp)

zest from one lemon (if you end up with long strips like I did, chop them a bit to break them into small bits)

for the glaze:

1 1/2 c powdered sugar

juice from one lemon (definitely use fresh lemons - the flavor will be much better!)

zest from one lemon

Preheat the oven to 375°. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides after each one. Add the cheese, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir until combined. Stir in the dry mixture until just combined.

Spoon the mixture in tbsp increments onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake about 15 minutes, until the middles are set and they're just golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let rest on the baking sheets for about 20 minutes.

When the cookies are ready to glaze, combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth (I might reduce the amounts next time, because I only used about 2/3 of the glaze). Spoon about 1/2 tsp glaze onto each cookie and spread it gently with the back of the spoon. (I find it easiest to glaze the cookies while still on the parchment, to reduce the mess - I used to do it with the cookies on cooling racks and it was a drippy disaster!) Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours (I did this, and then put the cookies into a tupperware which allowed the glaze to re-moisten. I think the only solution is to not make these too far in advance, so you can keep them out).