Showing posts with label ricotta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ricotta. Show all posts

Thursday, 4 June 2009

Soy, tomato and bell pepper filling for crepes and cannelloni

As a vegetarian person I like the use of soy - vegetarians need their proteines too. This filling goes as well for crêpes as cannelloni. If you want to make the tomato flavour stronger, add more passata (=tomato puree).

Ingredients (x 4-5 crêpes):
140 g grinded tofu (soy)
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 small tomatoes
½ bell pepper
1 egg
100 g ricotta
80 g tomato puree
70 g cheese
a few tablespoons Béchamel sauce
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preparation:
Fry the minced onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the grinded soy. Add a cup of water. Keep the heat pretty high. Cut the bell pepper into small pieces and add it into the pan. Pour in the tomato puree. Cut the tomatoes into slices and add them on the pan too. Add salt and pepper and let it cook until it becomes pretty condensed. Knead the filling with an egg, cheese cu into small pieces, ricotta and some tablespoons of Béchamel. Fill your crêpes or cannelloni with this filling.

Here are the crêpes I made this time. After I had filled them I still let them heat up in the microwave. I like to serve them with some plain salad.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Risotto of spinach, leek and peas

Here's a recipe for a very green risotto. It tastes fresh and in winter it reminds me of summer, even if using frozen spinach and peas! I created this recipe once when these three vegetables were the only ones I had at home and I had to improvise. Good that I did.

Ingredients (x2):
200 g risotto rice
500 ml vegetarian broth
1 onion
200 g frozen spinach
100 g peas
1 small leek
3 tablespoons ricotta
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
nutmeg
salt
pepper
soft cheese (In Italy I'd use Fontina, in Finland Koskenlaskija, not sure what the equivalent is over here!)
parsley

Preparation:
Chop the onion into fine pieces. Chop the leek first into circles and then cut them in 4. Pour these two vegetables on a frying pan with olive oil and fry them for 5-7 minutes. Put a bouillon cube into 500 ml of water in a pan and let it dissolve on the cooker.

Put the rice and the butter into the saucepan. Put them on the cooker and keep them in medium heat, mixing continuously. When the rice has got a golden and more transparent colour, add the spinach and a part of the broth. Mix all the time so that the rice doesn't get stuck in the bottom. Check the indications in the package for the cooking time of the rice. Add more broth little by little. Add salt, pepper and less than a teaspoon of nutmeg. At halfway of the cooking time add the peas and the leek you have previously chopped.

By the end of the cooking time, add ricotta. Cut the soft cheese into pieces that you will set on the food when serving. Cut the parsley leaves smaller and add it on the portions.