While filming and cooking across the Mediterranean this summer, Iwas reminded of the hyper-locality of certain foods: honey that's rich in the taste of the wild heather around which the bees buzz; pasta made according to village traditions handed down through the generations; charcuterie that echoes the richness of the acorns and chestnuts on which the pigs feed.
One of the highlights of my trip came in Sardinia. I rose at dawn to help milk a flock of goats, and ate ashepherd's breakfast of freshly made ricotta. Here was a cheese as fresh, young and light as the dawn we'd seen break only an hour earlier. Itreminded me of Michael Pollan's book Cooked, in which he recalls how aWelsh dairyman once told him that "everything" affects the quality and flavour of his cheeses, up to and including "the mood of the milker".
I love the way soft white cheese suchas ricotta or the creamier mascarpone reflect the milieu in which an animal has been raised. This receptiveness to other flavours is what makes both cheeses such favourites of mine, in savoury and sweet cooking alike. Harder cheeses are often best left to stand on their own two feet; but the almost-bland nature of these lighter cheeses means they really absorb the taste and fragrance of herbs or truffles, making them a great choice in spreads or stuffings, or to soothe adish that needs calming down.
A mixture of caster sugar, grated lemon zest, ricotta and mascarpone is step one in many a cheesecake; asouthern Italian might add candied peel, too. Other Italian puddings that benefit from ricotta's light yet creamy touch include Sicily's cannoli and cassata, in which ricotta is layered between slices of cake.
My all-time favourite classic use ofricotta is in gnudi: fluffy, cheesy dumplings of almost ethereal, feathery lightness. Less traditional, maybe, but no less tasty, are dollopsof lemon zest-studded ricotta in grilled vegetable or lentil salads. Mascarpone I use mostly in desserts, it competes with clotted cream as my favourite accompaniment to stewed stone fruit, though, that said, I have been known to use it in rich pasta sauces or even in a soft, herb-based sauce for sweet spiced meatballs.
Stuffed Romano peppers with ricotta and mascarpone
Use the best ricotta you can get yourhands on for these. Serves six asa starter or as part of a meze.
6 Romano peppers
200g ricotta
100g mascarpone or cream cheese
40g pine nuts, lightly toasted
10g fresh oregano leaves, roughlychopped
1 tsp grated lemon zest, plus1tspjuice
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
1 tsp best-quality balsamic vinegar
1 small green chilli, cut into paper-thin slices
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Use a small, sharp knife tocut a 6cm-long vertical incision from the top towards the end of each pepper (this is so you canscoopthe seeds out later). Arrange the peppers on an oven trayand roast for 30 minutes, until soft and a little charred. Remove, setaside to cool, then use ateaspoon carefully to extract and discard the seeds. The aim is to keepthe peppersintact, complete with their stems, so take your time: it's afiddlyjob. Peel the skins off thepeppers – again, don't rush it –thenset aside on a plate lined withkitchen paper.
To make the filling, put the cheeses, nuts, oregano, lemon zest, lemon juice and a teaspoon of olive oil in a large bowl. Add half ateaspoon of salt and a good grind ofblack pepper, and whisk.
Spoon about two tablespoons of the cheese mixture into each pepperand press in so it fills them evenly. Don't worry if the incision widens when you do this; just pull the edges together afterwards, to enclose the filling.
Give the outside of the peppers aquick wipe clean, then place themon individual plates. Drizzle two teaspoons of olive oil around each pepper, then dot the oil with afew drops of the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle over a few slices of green chilli and serve with some really good, crusty bread.
Watercress and rocket soup with ricotta spätzle
These German noodles, which pulloff the neat trick of being soft and light, as well as crisp and fried, turn what could be too virtuous asoup into a brilliant comfort food. It's a great dish to kick-start soup season. Serves four to six.
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled andthinlysliced
3 bay leaves
Zest of 1 whole lemon, shaved off in long strips (use a vegetable peeler)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 large potato (300g gross), peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1.2 litres vegetable stock
200g watercress
100g rocket
15g tarragon
1 tsp caster sugar
Salt and black pepper
For the spätzle
150g plain flour
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
About 100ml whole milk
100g ricotta
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
50g finely grated parmesan
¼ tsp ground allspice
10g tarragon, chopped
30g unsalted butter
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions, bay leaves and lemon skin, and cook for eight minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the garlic and potato, and cook for five minutes more, to soften. (If the mixture starts sticking to the pan, add acouple of tablespoons of stock to loosen.) Remove and discard the bay leaves and lemon zest, then add the watercress, rocket, tarragon, stock, sugar, half ateaspoon of salt and agood grind of black pepper. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, blitzuntil smooth and set aside.
To make the spätzle, mix the flour with half a teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, ricotta, garlic, parmesan, allspice and tarragon. Stir in the flour until the mixture is uniform and the consistency of thick pancake batter; add a bit more milk, if necessary.
Bring a large pan of water to aboiland place a colander on top. Spoon the spätzle mixture into the colander and, using the back of the spoon, push it through the holes into the simmering water. Blanch fora minute, until the spätzle rise tothe surface, lift out with aslotted spoon and transfer to asieve to drain.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan on high heat and add the spätzle: don't overcrowd the pan, sodo this in batches if need be. Fry for seven minutes, stirring often, sothey crisp up all over.
To serve, ladle the soup into warmed bowls, sprinkle the spätzle on top and serve at once.
