Panzanella with Roasted Garlic Ricotta
I love a salad that feels more like a full meal than just a side dish, and that’s where my Panzanella Salad with Roasted Garlic Ricotta comes in. The combination of crusty bread soaking up all those juicy cucumber and tomato flavors is my personal heaven and I hope there’s a bounty of it on the other side of life. But for the upgrade you didn’t know panzanella needed, we’re stacking this bad boy up on a creamy bed of roasted garlic ricotta. It’s the perfect way to make use of ripe, late-season tomatoes and day-old bread. Toss it together for a casual lunch, serve it at your next dinner party, or just enjoy it straight out of the bowl (no judgment here).
Whey too many notes for this recipe
You gotta try making your own ricotta sometime BUT I can already hear the complaints about time and the questions…. yes, store bought is fine. You can just make the roasted garlic oil and whip that into a store bought ricotta if you want to save time!
This recipe yields more garlic oil than you need for the salad, you’re welcome, so store it in an airtight container, pop it in the fridge and use it on everything for the next week or so!
When straining the ricotta, you can line the mesh strainer with cheesecloth to help strain it a bit more but don’t wring out any excess liquid from the cheesecloth or you’ll end up with a very dry ricotta that won’t properly whip.
If you want to scale the ricotta recipe up or down, note that one liter of milk will yield one cup of cheese.
The leftover whey can be used to braise chicken or pork or can be diluted and used as a soil amendment for plants that prefer acidic soil!
The whipped ricotta in this recipe is super versatile! You can mix in lavender and honey to serve with stone fruit or mix in vanilla to serve over fresh berries.
Panzanella with Roasted Garlic Ricotta
This Panzanella with Roasted Garlic Ricotta is the perfect way to use up day-old bread and enjoy the bright flavors of summer. With crisp cucumber and juicy tomatoes over creamy roasted garlic ricotta, this dish is perfect during these warm days!
Ingredients
- 20 cloves peeled garlic
- olive oil
- 4 cups day-old focaccia
- 1½ quarts whole milk
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- 3 medium heirloom tomatoes
- 1 cup cherry, grape, or sungold tomatoes
- 1 English cucumber, or 3 Persian cucumbers
- 1 cup torn basil
- flake salt
- fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Peel all of the garlic cloves, leaving them whole, and add them to a pretty small oven safe dish. Pour in enough olive oil to fully cover the garlic (you’ll likely use about a cup). Cover tightly with foil and place on top of a small baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes until the cloves are fragrant and lightly browned.
- While the garlic is roasting, cube up the day-old focaccia until you have about 4 cups of bread cubes. Toss with 3 tablespoons olive oil and season with a pinch of salt. Bake until golden and crispy, about 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- While the garlic and focaccia bake, start the ricotta by adding 1 ½ quarts of milk, 1 pint heavy cream, and 2 teaspoons kosher salt to a deep sauce pot. Cook over medium heat until the milk has reached approximately 200 degrees and is just getting frothy on top but not boiling, approximately 15 minutes. Turn off and remove from the heat.
- Add ⅓ cup lemon juice to the warmed milk and vigorously whisk together. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes to allow the milk to curdle and separate from the whey.
- Nest an unlined fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Ladle (but don’t dump) the milky curds into the fine mesh strainer to drain and separate the ricotta curds from the liquid whey. You can discard the whey at this point or reference the notes above for alternative uses.
- Add the prepared ricotta, as many roasted garlic cloves as your heart longs for (5-6 should do the trick), and a big pinch of salt to a food processor. Blend until smooth. Taste for salt.
- Slice the tomatoes and cucumbers. Add them to a mixing bowl and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the roasted garlic oil, a pinch of salt and a few cranks of fresh cracked pepper. Toss to combine. Add in the toasted focaccia and half of the torn basil then toss once more.
- In a serving dish, add the ricotta to a plate and shape into a swoop or circle with the back of a spoon. Top with the marinated salad and garnish with rest of the torn basil and some fresh cracked pepper. Enjoy quickly so the bread doesn’t get too soggy!
