Pizza Today - January 2020 - 33

Ricotta gives your
pizza a new
texture and charm
By Jeremy White Photo Katie Wilson

R

icotta is a versatile ingredient
that every pizza
kitchen needs
to utilize. The
cheese brings
a coolness and
creaminess to pies and plays well
with so many topping combinations. Its slightly granular texture
makes for a unique mouthfeel. It's
also an excellent choice in some
pasta dishes.
Truth be told, it's easy to make
ricotta yourself if you're looking
to really up your culinary game. If
you don't want to invest the time
and manpower into that, however,
there are many great options on the
market. The cheese is inherently
"bland," which means you're using
it to provide texture and to bring
out flavors from other ingredients
as opposed to expecting it to be the
star of the show.
TYPICALLY SPEAKING, I PERSONALLY PREFER TO WORK WITH A
FLAVORFUL CHEESE SUCH AS, SAY,
GORGONZOLA, when developing

recipes. But ricotta is just so darn
capable in too many capacities that
it can't be overlooked. And it's a
dream with tomato sauce.
One of my favorite summertime
appetizers at home is a slice of
grilled sourdough bread topped
with a bit of olive oil, salt, homegrown cherry tomatoes and dollops
of ricotta. I finish it with a drizzle
of balsamic vinegar. It's super
simple, yet the flavor and textures
are tough to beat.
You could easily menu this -
call it bruschetta - with your
choice of toasted bread. Sometimes
I sub the ricotta out with goat
cheese to coax out a tangy flavor
profile. But you get the point!
When it comes to pizza, red
sauce is the way to go when using
ricotta, in my opinion. That redwhite combo makes a powerful
pair! As previously mentioned, the
cheese will bring a coolness to the
pie. So, I like to partner it with

toppings that carry some spice. See,
the cheese isn't just for old-school
cheesecake!
Here are a couple of recipes your
customers might find interesting. As always, I encourage you to
utilize these as a jumping-off point
for your own experimentation.

Salami & Jalapeño
12-inch pizza dough
6 ounces tomato sauce
6 ounces salami slices
¼ cup fresh jalapeños, sliced
½ cup red and yellow cherry
tomatoes, halved
6 ounces fresh mozzarella
4 ounces ricotta, dolloped
Open dough into a disk and
add tomato sauce. Arrange
salami slices evenly across the pie,
then top with jalapeños, cherry
tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and
dollops of ricotta. Bake until crust
is golden brown.

Sausage & Mushroom
12-inch pizza dough
6 ounces tomato sauce
8 ounces Italian sausage, crumbled
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup yellow onion, chopped
6 ounces fresh mozzarella
4 ounces ricotta, dolloped
Open dough into a disk and
add tomato sauce. Top with
sausage, mushrooms, onion, fresh
mozzarella and ricotta. Bake until
crust is golden brown.
ONE OF THE MORE NATURAL
RICOTTA USES WOULD BE AS A CALZONE OR RAVIOLI FILLING. As you

can see, there's really no limit to the
versatility here. For more recipes
that utilize ricotta, visit www.pizzatoday.com, click on the search icon
at the top and type in 'ricotta.' n
JEREMY WHITE

Pizza Today.

is Editor-in-Chief at
http://www.pizzatoday.com http://www.pizzatoday.com
Pizza Today - January 2020

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