Move over Parmesan
I’d happily grate Parmesan over everything, and not just a little bit either. But for a while now, the popular cheese has had some serious competition when it comes to my cheese needs. These days, I grate ricotta salata over everything.
At Scheepskameel in Amsterdam, one of my favorite restaurants, they’re stars when it comes to vegetable dishes. Everything there is incredibly delicious, but I always notice that the vegetable dishes stay with me the longest. When I celebrated my birthday there recently, a large bowl of carrots suddenly appeared in front of me. Topped with crunchy breadcrumbs (another favorite ingredient) and grated cheese. Softer than Parmesan, but just as salty and delicious, it was ricotta salata.
Dried ricotta
Huh, but isn’t ricotta sold in those little tubs? Don’t you stir it into pasta sauce or spread it on toast? Ricotta salata is a form of ricotta, but instead of eating it fresh, it is salted and dried. It remains a fairly soft cheese, but it’s firm enough to grate—and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing constantly lately.
Over my mushroom toast, over my pasta, over my vegetables (and with those crunchy breadcrumbs too, of course). I can’t get enough of it. Also delicious: cut it into thin slices (using a cheese slicer if you like) and eat them on a sandwich with tomato.
Where to buy it?
Unfortunately, this wonderful addition to your life isn’t exactly easy to find at the supermarket. Visit a good cheese shop, a wholesaler, or Lindenhoff. There are also plenty of places to order it online. Go on, you can thank me later.
Read also:
