Ricotta

Forget “love”: All you need is milk, acid, and salt.

Ricotta adds a buttery richness and bit of tang to this cake, but you can substitute full-fat cottage cheese.

For this dinner-worthy sandwich, you’ll sear the eggplant on the stove, then marinate it in oil and vinegar to make it silky-soft and flavor-packed. 

If you’ve ever been intimidated by the thought of making fresh pasta at home, look no further. Ricotta gnocchi is simple to make, and it’s faster and more foolproof than its potato counterparts. The only tricky part is adding enough flour so that your dough is easy to work with, but not so much that it becomes stodgy or tough. If you don't want to make the buttery herb and pea sauce, use whatever you'd prefer, be it marinara, pesto, or sage and brown butter. 

There’s a huge texture thing going on here with silky, smoky charred peppers and crisp, crunchy cucumbers.

This lasagna version of carbonara includes mild Fontina, pancetta-studded ricotta, and eggs baked right in, toad-in-the-hole style.

This versatile condiment takes a page from Paula Wolfert’s original version in her book, The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, in which a surplus of greens gets cooked down to a deeply savory jammy consistency.

They’re stuffed with garlic, pistachios, and stretchy molten-mozzarella.

To get the most flavor out of this open-faced breakfast sandwich, look for spring onions with round bulbs and very tender dark green stalks.

All kinds of creamy-tangy-custardy things are happening here.

A lemony, herby bean salad with lots of crunch from sliced snap peas is good. But when it's piled on top of garlic-rubbed, ricotta-spread toast, it's even better.

This spicy, sweet, and punchy pasta salad is perfect for a hot summer picnic when you need your dishes perfect at room (ahem, air) temperature.

And it'll be yours too pretty soon. Of all the dishes I've been looking forward to these last nine months, this marinated zucchini is number one.

Salty and sweet, crunchy and juicy, this throw-it-together summer side has it all.

Let's learn about the fluffiest cheese in the land.

Built of toasted nuts, creamy ricotta, and salty Parmesan, you don’t even need a food processor to make this riff on the normal pesto you know and love.

Here's our compromise: You can use a good store-bought marinara, but don't skip the homemade béchamel—there's no substitute.

Finally: an easy, cheesy, vegetarian(!) lasagna recipe that doesn't require you to dirty every pot and pan in your kitchen.

Life is all about balance, isn't it? This easy ricotta dip makes eating your veggies a pleasure, not a chore.

Make this fail-safe combination of sweet-juicy fruit, crunchy-salty nuts, and chewy-fatty cheese your all-season salad template.

Chef Daniela Soto-Innes thinks of these as a Mexican take on bagels with cream cheese and lox. The addictive caramelized fish sauce vinaigrette brightens every bite.

This croquembouche is constructed with cheesy gougères and an herbed cheese filling. It’s the showstopping holiday appetizer you didn’t know you needed.

Remember, the higher-quality ingredients you can find, the better the cannoli will be.

Crispy roasted broccoli proves it works just as well as an appetizer as it does a side dish.