Sì, anche la mela è stata ripiena – mele ripiene con ricotta, miele e noci

pommefarcie7web

pommefarcie2web

Cooked apples, sweet and soft…and stuffed with apple mousse and Ricotta which is the Italian ingredient “par excellence” that I find so versatile. You can use it with desserts, or with savory dishes. In France we use “fromage blanc” but ricotta is less sensitive to heat. Ricotta in Italy is tastier, and creamier, it has a quite different taste,  I used Whole Foods ricotta and it turned out quite good. Next time, I will try it with goat milk ricotta for a slight stronger flavor. I didn’t have golden apples so I used whatever I picked last week at Berkeley Bowl. I think they’re pink ladies, they worked just fine, their flesh is quite tender and cook well.

My mom used to bake apples all winter, like those but just plain with a little sugar. My parents house was filled with tons of apples, they used to go buy them in bulk at some local farmer, and all winter we’d eat apples in all shapes and forms.

When I started making those, I had no idea on how they would turn, I wanted absolutely to use ricotta and to add raisins but thought that they would sink in the bottom since the mousse is so light, so I ended up not adding raisins

Ingredients for 4

  • 4 medium size apples
  • 1 cup ricotta
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • 4 tbs sugar (1 for the apple compote, 3 for the ricotta mixture)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
  • honey
  • 2 tbs walnut, chopped

Preparation

Remove the core of the apples. Remove the flesh from the inside and cut in small pieces.

Add 2 tsp of water to the apple flesh, vanilla bean scraped and sugar. Cook for until it turns into an applesauce (compote) texture.

Mash well, make it smooth and let cool.

In a container, add apples, ricotta, lemon zest, sugar, vanilla powder and egg yolk. Mix very well until the mixture becomes smooth.

Beat the whites into a stiff consistency and fold into the mixture. Fill the apples with it and cook in the oven for 20-25 min at 365F.

Sprinkle with honey and chopped nuts and serve lukewarm.