Ricotta Tartlets

Makes 12

This recipe is adapted from one in the Canadian Living Vegetarian Collection[1], a great veggie cookbook that was given to me by my sister-in-law.  This was the first one I made out of the book because it intrigued me immensely, and has since become a huge hit with many of my friends and family.  I love to serve them as an accompaniment to Nicoise-Inspired salads, or as a clever and tasty protein boost to a green salad or simple soup.  You can change the herbs to suit the rest of your meal, or choose something mild like chives, parsley or thyme to keep them more compatible with anything you might dream up.  They keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days, but I bet they will be long gone before that!  I only have one muffin pan, but if you have two this recipe could easily be doubled. You could also halve the recipe if you have a mini-muffin tin and make fun canapés.

Start by finely grating

• 5 oz (~1 cup) parmesan cheese, or other hard dry cheese (you can cube it and run it through a mini or full size food processor to speed this up)

You are looking for something close to parmesan “dust” to coat the muffin tin (see below), but the remainder of the cheese can just be grated.  Don’t sweat it too much – cooking should be fun!

Grease a muffin tin with oil (using a pastry brush or wax paper can help with this).  Using about ¼ cup of the grated parmesan, sprinkle evenly amongst the muffin cups.   Shake and tilt the pan to encourage some cheese to stick to the sides of each cup until all sections are evenly coated and set aside.  This makes a nice crust on the outsides of the tartlets hand helps make the pan “non stick”.[2] 

Preheat the oven to 350^oF.  In a large bowl beat together the following until smooth:

• 15 oz part-skim ricotta (1 small container, about 2.5 cups)
• 2 egg whites
• remaining parmesan
• 2 T vegetable starch (potato, tapioca or corn)
• 1 T neutral tasting GF flour (brown rice, white rice, sorghum or almond meal)
• 1 t baking powder
• ~2 T fresh, or ~2 t dried herbs of your choice (can use more if mild or less if strong

Good choices for herbs are thyme, rosemary, chives, tarragon, parsley, herb du Provence, and/or lavender (used in combination with another milder herb). I like to use 1 T fresh chives with either 1 T of fresh tarragon or fresh thyme.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, dividing equally amongst the cups (about 1 T in each -the cups won’t be full).  Bake in the center of the oven until puffed and golden, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.  Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time if you have any hotspots in your oven.  Let the pan cool on a rack for 5 – 10 minutes before running a butter knife gently around the edges to loosen.  Serve hot, warm or cold – all are delicious!  These are deceptively filling, so serve one to two per person depending on what they are accompanying, to save yourself from demolishing them all!

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[1] Kent, Alison & the Canadian Living Test Kitchen.  2010. The Vegetarian Collection: Creative meat-free dishes that nourish and inspire. Transcontinental Books: Montreal, QC. 288 pp.

[2] If you want to cut down on the cheese, you could try making these with paper or silicone baking cups – let me know how it works out!