Whipped Ricotta with Tomato Confit

Whipped ricotta is creamy, rich, and the EASIEST. Pair it with juicy, jammy, cherry tomato confit and thank yourself for the most delicious meatless meal you may have ever eaten. 

Some days are harder than others. I have recently developed a pretty shitty case of sciatica (a literal pain in the butt) and so the motivation to do, well anything is at an all time low. I realize that this is totally a pregnant woman complaining to the internet about her pregnant woman problems, and because this blog falls neither into the “pregnancy” or “mommy” categories, I won’t go into all the super fun details.

But I’m sure you all have your own ailments and annoyances to deal with, so even if yours don’t come by way of an ever stretching uterus, I think you probably still get the point. Which is…sometimes you need comforting, delicious, AND ridiculously easy. This is that – true story.

Whipped Ricotta with Tomato and Garlic Confit

This glorious tomato confit recipe is not my brainchild (sorry to say, because it is brilliant). It comes from Ari over at Well Seasoned Studio and involves throwing tomatoes and garlic onto a sheet pan with herbs, salt, and pepper and then drowning the whole thing in extra virgin olive oil. It all gets tossed in a hot oven where it bubbles its way to juicy, jammy, roasty perfection.

I made a few tweaks – more tomatoes, nixed the shallots (not that they wouldn’t be scrumptious, but I didn’t have any) and a little less olive oil.

You can toss it in pasta, serve it with a runny egg, or in my case dollop it over creamy, dreamy, whipped ricotta slathered on grilled bread. We’ll get to the deets on that tomato confit shortly, but first let’s dig into that ricotta biz.

How to Make Whipped Ricotta

This seems silly, but if you put plain, old, store-bought ricotta in a food processor along with a few seasonings and let it rip for a solid minute or two you’d be amazed at what it turns into. What was once chunky, grainy, and maybe even a bit watery is now rich, creamy, and luscious enough to make it at least PG-13. A couple things to know before you go buzzing yours up though.

• Use whole milk ricotta. You only live once, and if you can do dairy then gosh darnit, make it FULL FAT dairy.
• Season it however you like, but taste as you go. I like a touch of lemon zest and juice to brighten up all the richness, something herbal in the background to keep things interesting, and plenty of salt and pepper because well, it should be the law.
• Let it whip until it’s light, fluffy, and no longer resembles any sort of ricotta you’d ever see in your grocer’s dairy case.

How to Make Tomato Confit

So confit is a fancy word, I know. And usually it refers to a traditional French preparation of duck, where it’s braised in its own fat (we can all just take a moment to revel in that imagery). The result is a rich, unctuous, ducky delight that if you ever have the opportunity to try you totally should. But in this case we’re all about tomatoes. And in place of duck fat we’ve got fruity, extra virgin olive oil. So here goes.

• Grab a few pints of cherry tomatoes (grape are also fine) and a couple heads of garlic, sliced to expose the cloves. Pop them all on a sheet pan in a single layer.
• Sprinkle over a generous amount of salt and pepper and lay some hearty herbs on top – rosemary or thyme are both great options.
• Then drizzle drown it all in beautiful, buttery, olive oil.
• It all goes in a hot oven until the tomatoes begin to burst and brown on top and the aroma of roasted garlic perfumes the entire house/neighborhood.

Seriously simple, right? It’s a great combo for a weeknight dinner alongside a green salad, but it’s even better as a make ahead party snack. You can be fussy about it and assemble tiny canapés for each of your guests to nosh on over cocktails and lively discussion about NPR friendly topics. But my game plan is usually swirling my whipped beauty into a shallow bowl, topping with a copious amount of drippy tomato confit (making sure to get lots of that super flavorful oil in the mix), sprinkling with a little flaky salt and putting it all out with a hunk or two of rustic bread and some shards of parmesan cheese – because why not? Then your friends can dig in as they please and talk about whatever the hell they want!

So there it is, in all its glory. It’s seriously as simple as it is elegant, which makes it perfect if you’re into the whole just thrown together but still effortlessly fabulous dinner party vibe. But don’t worry, if you end up eating it all alone, hangry, and in the dark it will also be effortlessly fabulous. Also we would probably be friends.

Are you looking for more recipes like this?

Sure you are. Check these out:

• Easy Lemon Hummus
• Crispy Scallion Pancakes
• Classic Egg Salad
• Five Ingredient Zucchini Goat Cheese Pasta

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