Witchy Kitchen

Tag: ricotta

  • Eclipse Pizza

    Eclipse Pizza

    Who should I summon with my pizza?

    It’s finally here!! It’s #Witchtober, hosted by Fiction Food Café. THAT’S RIGHT WITCHES!! Check out the tag for Witchy recipes from fiction all month long.

    The House of the Devil (2009), written and directed by Ti West, is a bit of a haunted house movie, a bit of a slasher, and a bit of witchy movie rolled in to one. What’s otherwise a basic tropey horror movie gets elevated by it’s full 80s style. From the titles to the soundtrack to the camerawork to the feathered hair and Satanic Panic, this movie feels like the cover of a VC Andrews novel and I loved it.

    An eclipse features heavily in the film, being both the occasion for the final ritual as well as inspiration for the special of the day in the pizza parlor that our final girl Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) and her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig) have lunch. “Eclipse Pie” is detailed on the chalkboard: white sauce, garlic, tomato, olives and feta. I put together such a pie using a few techniques I’ve collected over the years: those for New York pizza dough, white sauce, and deliciously slow-roasted romas that I make all the time and use for everything (you know, salads, pastas, drawing pentagrams). And voila: pizza fit for a demon.

    Eclipse Pizza

    For the white sauce
    From Serious Eats

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 small onion
    • 2 cloves garlic
    • 1/4 cup heavy cream
    • 2 sprigs thyme, chopped
    • salt & pepper

    Heat olive oil. In a food processor, blitz together onion and garlic (alternately you can finely chop both), and cook until softened and most of the moisture has evaporated, being careful not to brown. Add heavy cream and thyme and a pinch of salt & pepper, and cook for a few minutes until reduced and thick. Remove from heat.

    For the tomatoes (slices or sauce)

    • 2 pounds roma tomatoes, trimmed and medium sliced lengthwise
    • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
    • olive oil
    • salt & pepper

    Heat oven to 300°. Toss tomatoes and garlic with generous olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread in a single layer in a couple roasting pans or a couple baking sheets. Cook for 1 1/2 hours. They can be used as is, OR if you want to make a sauce for drawing symbols and such, transfer to a food processor and blend with just enough water to get a thick but squirtable consistency. Transfer to a squirt bottle.

    For the pie

    • One New York-style pizza dough (recipe from Serious Eats)
    • white sauce & tomatoes (above)
    • 4 ounces ricotta
    • 4 ounces mozzarella
    • salt & pepper
    • palmful kalamata olives, sliced
    • palmful basil, small chop
    • palmful feta

    Heat oven to 500°

    Grease a pizza peel, stone, or baking sheet, and gently stretch the dough to a 14 inch round. Top with white sauce.

    Mix ricotta and mozzarella, season with salt and pepper, and spread over the pizza. Add olives, basil, feta, and either the whole tomatoes or draw a pentagram (or heart or happy face, whatever).

    Cook for about 15 minutes (start checking at 12) until golden and bubbly. Allow to cool slightly, slice and serve.

    Bonus: Samantha bopping around the spooky house like an 80s music video!

  • Three Cheese Pastizzi

    Three Cheese Pastizzi

    This month’s MENA Cooking Club country is Malta, hosted by Yasmeen of the lovely blog Wandering Spice.

    Malta is a sun-drenched archipelago in the Mediterranean. It’s gorgeous, and seems almost otherwordly; it’s thought to be the home of the lost city of Atlantis, as well as Calypso’s cave from the odyssey.

    These pastizzi are a common street food – puff pastry with fillings such as ricotta, curried split peas, or ground meat. I had just made a lasagna to take to my friend who just had a baby, so it seemed perfect to use the leftover ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan to make these little bites. I used store bought puff pastry as I’ve not yet been brave enough to attempt my own, but that made these extremely quick to whip up, which makes them the perfect low-maintenance tea snack or appetizer.

    I’d definitely make these again, and I’d love to try some of the other fillings, or add some herbs to this one. Next time I’ll pinch them shut a little tighter so the filling doesn’t escape, and probably do an egg wash too for a nice golden color.

    Three Cheese Pastizzi

    • 1/2 cup ricotta
      1/4 cup grated mozzarella
      1/4 cup grated parmesan
      salt & pepper
      2 sheets puff pastry, partially thawed

    Heat oven to 400°. Mix together cheeses and season with salt and pepper to taste. With a ring cutter, cut each sheet of puff pastry into 9 rings. Fill each ring with a heaping teaspoon of the cheese mixture, then pinch the edges together and twist the ends to make little oblong pouch shapes.

    Place evenly on a prepared baking sheet and cook 17-19 minutes (start checking around 15 to make sure they aren’t getting too brown. Mine took 18) until golden brown. Cool slightly and serve warm.

    If you want to become a pastizzi master and make your own puff pastry, here’s a great little video for inspiration, complete with song about pastizzi!

    Photograph of the azure window Stuart Brampton Photography


  • Autumn Moussaka

    Autumn Moussaka

    While I have fallen completely in love with cooking Pakistani and North Indian food, I’ve also long had an interest of traveling a little further up the spice route to explore Middle Eastern and North African cuisines. I love the warm spices, the delicate sweetness of fruit and rosewater, the sweet and savory snacks on the tea table. I’ve dabbled a little bit (come on, I make my own hummus, please) but I want to learn more, which is why I’m very excited about my first month cooking with the MENA Cooking Club.

    Each month is a different country, and everyone cooks one of the recipes the host for that country has chosen. This month is Egypt, hosted by Amira from Arabian Mama. I chose her suggestion, the classic Egyptian Moussaka (Messa’aa).

    In future months I plan to stick almost completely to the particular recipe so I can really learn to cook authentically, but as it’s October and I’m in the middle of a Halloween cooking frenzy, I have a driving compulsion to throw things like pumpkin and hazelnuts into almost everything I make. I didn’t veer very far off course though (this is based on Kitchen Nani’s Egyptian Moussaka), I simply replaced the pine nuts and almonds with toasted hazelnuts, omitted the peppers, and instead of making a béchamel I included layers of pumpkin ricotta for the creamy factor.

    This was delicious; warm and savory. My little 16 month old gobbled up three servings the other night. It has several components, but they’re all easy to make (especially since I can make lasagne with my eyes closed), and leftovers are fantastic: happy desk lunch.

    Autumn Moussaka

    Adapted from Kichen Nani

    For the eggplant

    • 2 large eggplants, cut into 1.5 inch slices
    • olive oil & sea salt

    Assemble slices on a single layer on two baking sheets, lightly coat with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast at 425°, flipping once (and checking everyone once in awhile that they aren’t burning), until golden brown and just a little charred – about 15 minutes each side.

    For the sauce

    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
    • 2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
    • 2 6oz cans tomato paste
    • salt & pepper
    • 2 sprigs thyme

    Heat olive oil over medium heat (I used a non-stick wok which I think worked well, you’ll end up cooking the tomato paste quite a bit and not have to worry about it sticking) and sauté garlic for a few minutes, then add coriander seeds and sauté for a minute. Add tomato paste, a good pinch of salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until it is a very deep, almost burnt looking red. Add two cups of water plus the thyme and mix well (I used a whisk to break up all the tomato paste). Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, then set aside. Check seasoning, may need more salt.

    For the meat mixture

    • 2 tbsp olive oil
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • salt & pepper
    • 1 garlic clove, chopped
    • 1 lb ground beef
    • 1.5 tbsp Arabic 7 spice (which I actually had because I had made for another recipe, yay!) or a mixture of cumin, coriander, paprika, cloves and cinnamon
    • 2 tbsp raisins or currants

    Heat olive oil over medium hight heat and sauté onion with salt and pepper until translucent, then add garlic and sauté another couple of minutes. Slide onions to the side and crank the heat up to high, and brown the ground beef with another good sprinkle of salt. Add spices and stir for a few minutes, until meat is well cooked through, then remove from heat and stir in raisins or currants.

    For the moussaka

    • 15 oz ricotta cheese
    • 1 cup pumpkin or butternut squash puree
    • salt & pepper
    • olive oil
    • 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped (I crushed them with the back of my knife then chopped them)
    • eggplant (above)
    • sauce (above)
    • meat mixture (above)

    Combine ricotta, pumpkin, salt and pepper to taste and mix well with a spatula. I also went ahead and mixed the sauce and the meat together, although you could layer separately.

    In a casserole dish (I lightly greased it with olive oil, probably not necessary but I would hate to spend all this effort then burn my eggplants to the bottom), layer half the eggplants, then spread half the meat/sauce mixture, sprinkle half the hazelnuts, and spread half the ricotta/pumpkin mixture (a spatula works well). Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Reheat the whole thing in a 375° oven.

    Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika and allow to set for a few minutes before serving.

  • Chilled Blackberry Soup with Sweet Corn, Mozzerella and Ricotta

    Chilled Blackberry Soup with Sweet Corn, Mozzerella and Ricotta

    I wanted some ideas for blackberry soup, so I Googled and found several, but they were all sweet! The one savory one I found was a Russian version (Makvlis Supi) which combines blackberries with herbs and cucumbers for a chilled summer soup. “I am intrigued,” I said to myself, so I used it as inspiration for my soup. I am also intrigued by this burrata thing I keep seeing popping up, which I mean to try soon but in the meantime whipped up a mixture of mozzarella and ricotta which I imagine is similar.

    Chilled Blackberry Soup with Sweet Corn, Mozzerella and Ricotta

    • 1 lb blackberries
    • 1 clove garlic
    • 1/2 large cucumber
    • 1 tbsp thyme
    • 1 packed tbsp basil
    • 2 tsp maple syrup
    • sea salt and black pepper
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • 1/4 cup sweet corn
    • 1/4 cup ricotta
    • 1/4 cup mozzarella

    Combine blackberries, garlic, cucumber, thyme, basil, maple syrup, salt and pepper in blender and blend until smooth. Blend on a lower setting and drizzle olive oil. Chill for at least an hour.

    In food processor, combine corn, ricotta and mozzarella with a pinch of salt and pepper.

    To serve, pour soup in bowls and top with a dollop of the corn/ricotta/mozzarella mixture and a sprinkle of basil.