Spinach & ricotta cheesecake

Ingredients 400g spinach, 75g ricotta, 30g walnuts, 1/4 nutmeg, 10g parmigiano, 3 eggs

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

Spinach and ricotta, when done well is a marvellous combination. Without the addition of freshly grated nutmeg, cheese, or the contrast of a piquant tomato sauce or juicy vegetables it can be a little bit bland though, even for a spinach freak like me. This juicy little cake (I suppose one could consider it an incredibly lazy souffle) is marvellous for lunch with salad, or could be served with sides as the protein part of an evening meal.

1) Blitz the spinach in a blender and add the ricotta, freshly grated nutmeg, finely chopped walnuts and parmeggian.

2) Whisk the eggs in a bowl and stir the spinach and ricotta mixture into the eggs.

3) Spoon into lightly buttered ramekins and bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

By buttering the ramekins they will slide effortlessly out but be careful not to burn yourself!

Spinach & ricotta knish

Ingredients Jus-Rol™ puff pastry, 400g spinach, 150g ricotta, 1/4 nutmeg, 2 Maris Piper potatoes

Serves: 1 Preparation: 30 minutes


A knish is a Jewish recipe though this I hasten to add is my own twist on the traditional form. The thinnest crispiest flakiest outer shell, a soft warm savoury filling - this is pure heaven. This goes wonderfully well with roasted tomatoes.


1) To make spinach and ricotta mash: see previous recipe.


2) Roll out the chilled pastry until it is as thin as possible but still thick enough to handle without poking holes through it. Remember pastry is made of butter and the potato is warm so you don't want to melt it!


3) Using a tennis ball sized scoop of potato, add it to the centre of the pastry, then cut the pastry down until it is just big enough to envelop the potato. Either poke a hole in the centre or as I did, twist the pastry together to form a spiral at the top. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.


Please note - the picture has obviously been deconstructed to show you the filling... don't put it in the oven open or it will dry out!

Spinach & ricotta mash

Ingredients 400g spinach, 150g ricotta, 1/4 nutmeg, 2 Maris Piper potatoes

Serves: 4 preparation: 25 minutes


Mashed potato is without a doubt my favourite food. It is the ultimate in comfort and is wonderfully versatile. Much like everything goes with toast, in my humble opinion you can add pretty much anything to mashed potato from citrus to cheese to spices to vegetables and it will still be absolutely divine. This spinach & ricotta mash forms the basis of another recipe - Spinach & Ricotta Knish but is lovely just as it is.


1) Peel and dice the potatoes, then boil in hot salted water for 20 minutes.


2) Whilst the potatoes are cooking, blitz the spinach in a blender as fine as you can get it. Add the ricotta, black pepper and grated nutmeg and pulse through.


3) Drain the potatoes and add to the blender, blitzing for a few seconds until the potato is smooth.

Roast grape & ricotta garlic bread

Ingredients Seedless red grapes, ricotta cheese, 100g butter, 3 cloves garlic, 50g parsley, baguette

Serves: 1 Preparation: 30 minutes


I adore garlic bread. Like Scott Pilgrim I could eat it for every meal - there is something so comforting about the crisp outer shell of bread filled with meltingly soft butter-drenched bread and the sharp aroma of roasting garlic. This recipe makes excellent party food - a slathering of ricotta and the heady fruit really is a fabulous companion to the garlic.


1) To make garlic bread, simply peel and crush the garlic cloves, finely chop the parsley and stir together. Using room temperature butter, cream it until it is at a pliable consistency and stir through the garlic and parsley.


2) Slice the garlic bread at intervals - do not cut all the way through the bread, go to just over half way


3) There are two methods for making garlic bread, each equally effective. The first is to form the garlic butter into a sausage shape, wrap it in cling-film and allow it to become hard in the fridge. Then slice it and use these discs of garlic butter to slide between the partially sliced baguette. The second is to literally just spread the soft garlic butter into the slits of the partially sliced baguette.


4) Bake the bread in the oven for 8 minutes, ensuring the "unsliced" base of the bread is at the bottom so the butter does not seep out! On a separate tray, roast the grapes.


5) Tear off or slice through the bread and spread with ricotta. Top with the grapes and serve.

Spinach & ricotta bean burger

Ingredients 400g spinach, 1 potato, 1 can cannellini beans, nutmeg, pistachio nuts, old bread, sesame seeds, ricotta cheese.

Serves: 4 preparation: 30 minutes


Spinach and ricotta are a match made in heaven - delicate, soft and comforting - and this bean burger is absolutely delicious.


1) Peel and dice the potato, then boil in hot, salted water until soft. Drain, mash and set aside to cool.


2) Drain the can of beans and slice them in half. This sounds laborous but it needn't be - just line them up and slice multiple beans at the same time! stir into the mashed potato.


3) Blitz the spinach in a blender and grate in some nutmeg and season with black pepper before adding 2 tablespoons of ricotta.


4) Stir the spinach and ricotta mixture into with the potato and beans and form patties.


5) Blitz your bread in a blender until fine breadcrumbs are formed. Crush a handful of pistachios in a blender and stir through the bread with some sesame seeds.


6) Roll the patties in the breadcrumb mixture, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Spinach & ricotta risotto

Ingredients Risotto rice (arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano - I would recommend carnaroli), white onion, vegetable   stock, butter, basil oil, spinach   leaves, nutmeg, ricotta, black pepper, sherry.

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol (white wine, brandy or vermouth produce the best flavours) and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time.


1) Finely dice a white onion and saute in a pan with a little butter and 3/4 of a nutmeg, grated. 


2) Add the rice and a glug of basil oil. Stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in a glug of sherry.


3) Stir through as the sherry cooks off and then add a ladle of vegetable stock.


4) Continue to stir through, adding stock a ladle at a time as it cooks off. Stir in 2 handfuls of spinach with the final ladle of stock, add a teaspoon of black pepper and 2 tablespoons of ricotta then stir through and serve.

Spinach & ricotta gnocchi

Ingredients   200g Spinach, 125g ricotta, 1 potato, 3 oz plain flour, nutmeg

1) Add the spinach and ricotta into a blender with some freshly grated nutmeg and black pepper.


2) Bake a small potato and allow it to cool. Remove the skin and add to the blender along with the plain flour. Blitz through and roll the mixture into balls.


3) Roll the balls in flour, then drop in boiling, salted water. Once the dumplings float to the surface, they're ready.


I served this with some leftover tomato sauce from making spinach, stilton and cashew cannelloni

Courgette tagine

Ingredients Courgette, spinach, ricotta, nutmeg, sausage meat, chilli peppers, eggs, breadcrumbs, parmigiano, salt, pepper,

1) With a vegetable peeler, shave razor thin strips of courgette and line an oven-proof dish with them.

2) Combine freshly chopped chillis with the sausage meat and spoon on top of the courgette. Press down firmly.

3) Blend a few handfuls of spinach leaves, freshly grated nutmeg, salt pepper and some ricotta.

4) Whisk 2 eggs with some ricotta and spoon on top of the spinach mix. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and parmeggian and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

5) Flip the tagine over onto a plate and serve in slices.