Creamy Ricotta Dip with The Best Chips I’ve Ever Tasted.
I don’t know if any of you have ever slow-roasted strawberries. I mean really slow-roast – 250° for at least 3 hours, and as many as 6. You simply put the strawberries in a pan/dish packed closely with a little sugar and let them slowly roast. I find I need to flip them midway through and 4 hours seems to be the sweet spot. You don’t want them to dry out and become leathery. And you also don’t want the juices to turn brown and caramelize.
I’ve made these several times and here was my dilemma. Their flavor concentrates and they become intensely flavored. Very intensely flavored. I’ve seen recommendations for spooning them over pound cake, etc. and I’ve tried it. But I think they are so strong they end up overpowering anything sweetly flavored. I really love them and I got to thinking about using them in a completely different way.
Their flavor is so intense it reminds me of something that has almost been pickled and I decided to use them in a more savory type of dish. I made a half batch of my Homemade Ricotta and this time I added a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar to the strawberries as they roasted. When they were done, I strained the strawberries from their syrup, chopped them up and stirred them into the ricotta, along with a little salt, plenty of pepper, and some chopped fresh mint.
It took me several days to arrive at this recipe and as I was thinking about it, I realized I had a pack of Hong Kong dumpling wrappers sitting in my freezer. So, I decided to fry them up and use them as scoops for the strawberry ricotta. I’d never tried frying these and didn’t know what to expect. Well, this turned out to be one of my best decisions of all time.
It only takes about 1 – 2 minutes for these to puff up, turn golden and crisp. I lightly sprinkled them with fine sea salt as soon as they came out of the oil. These are hands down the very best scoops/chips I’ve ever eaten. They’re delicate, because Hong Kong style dumpling wrappers are particularly thin, but they’re plenty sturdy enough to hold mounds of the dip.
And here’s one of the best parts. I made about 30 of these, so they weren’t all eaten at once. I made sure I saved a few to test over the next several days. I finally ate the last one on the third day and it tasted exactly like it did when it was freshly made. I could not believe it. I will never again be without a pack of these stashed in my freezer. I was able to fry 3 at a time in a 3 quart saucepan, so it only took about 15 minutes to fry up 30 of these beauties.
Now, as to the other items on this platter of food. We don’t eat many snack foods. We’re meal people. So, I knew I needed to turn this into a full meal. I had a Korean pear, some smoked sausages, and more strawberries. I just browned the sausage slices, cut up the pear, and cleaned the fresh strawberries. Then I mounded the dip onto the center of a big platter, swirled some “valleys” on top, and spooned on the reserved syrup from the strawberries. A healthy drizzle of good olive oil, black pepper, and a few mint leaves went on top and I then finished it all off with plenty of ground pistachios. The pear slices were great with the strawberry ricotta. As to the sausages, you could serve anything you’d like with this, but their salty smokiness was a particularly good match.
This dip turned out to be one of the best things I’ve ever made. I’m not being ridiculous when I say this. It truly is that delicious. The ricotta ended up being the perfect foil for the strawberries. The creamy and milky richness is just what the strawberries need in order to balance out their intensity. This isn’t a sweet dip. It’s savory, but with a hit of sweet/tart when you bite into a bit of strawberry and get a little of the syrup.
Meals don’t have to be standard fare. This kind of food is exciting and fun. It’s why I still love cooking after all these years.
Slow-Roasted Strawberry Ricotta with Fried Dumpling Wrappers
6
servingsSlow-roasted strawberries are stirred into creamy homemade ricotta. The syrup from the strawberries is swirled onto the top of the dip, along with olive oil. Then fried dumpling wrappers, and slices of Korean pear are used to scoop up the dip. Add some sliced smoked sausage and you've got a meal you won't soon forget.
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Ingredients
1 pound strawberries, washed and topped
Scant 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 cups vegetable oil
30 Hong Kong Style Dumpling wrappers or wonton skins
Fine sea salt
14 ounces smoked sausage
1/2 recipe My Creamiest and Easiest Homemade Ricotta
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves
Black pepper
1 Korean pear, sliced into wedges
Fresh strawberries (as many as you'd like), cleaned
Extra virgin olive oil (approximately 2 -3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons roasted pistachios, crushed
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 250° with a rack in the center. Line a 13 x 9 inch sheet pan with parchment paper. Slice the large strawberries into quarters and the smaller ones in half. You want them to be close to the same size. Add the strawberries to the prepared pan. Toss with the sugar and balsamic vinegar. If your strawberries are exceptionally sweet, use less sugar. Bake for about 4 hours, until the strawberries have given up a lot of their liquid and the juices are very syrupy. I find that I need to gently flip them once or twice to keep them from fully drying out. Remove from the oven and put the strawberries and the syrup in separate small bowls. Let cool. These can be made the day before.
- In a large saucepan (I used a 3 quart size), heat the vegetable oil to 350°. Fry the dumpling wrappers (I could fit 3 at a time into my pot) for about 1 - 2 minutes, flipping them 3 or 4 times to make sure they cook evenly. using a spider or slotted spoon, remove them to a paper towel lined sheet pan and sprinkle with fine sea salt. Cook the remaining wrappers in the same manner. Set aside. You can fry these way ahead of time. They stay fresh tasting for days.
- Slice the sausage into 1 1/2 inch long slices. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When it’s good and hot, add the sausage slices and cook for a couple of minutes without stirring. Flip the slices and continue to cook for another 3 or 4 minutes, until they’re warmed through and starting to brown. Remove from the heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk the ricotta with 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt. Add several grinds of black pepper, the finely chopped mint, and mix thoroughly. Chop the roasted strawberries and gently stir them into the ricotta.
- Mound the ricotta in the center of a big platter, creating valleys in which you will then drizzle the reserved strawberry syrup and olive oil. Arrange the fried wrappers, sliced Korean pears, sausages, and fresh strawberries around the strawberry ricotta. Top with more black pepper, a few mint leaves, and the crushed pistachios. Enjoy!
