Sweet but not sweet

After all the sweetness, caramel, sugar and desserts I had to take a break and show you I don't live on desserts only. Strange, isn't it? Not that I couldn't, but at least a little savoury appetizer just before that, huh?
There are days when I could live on appetizers and desserts only. No kidding.

The only one kidding around here is the weather.
Monday and Tuesday I was thinking I needed to search my wardrobe for a lighter jacket, it was getting really warm, blazing sun (I can't even remember where my sunglasses are, it's been so long since I saw some strong sunshine).
And then... Wednesday morning, not only there was no sun in sight, there was nothing in sight, all covered by fog.
What's happened? The skies got tired hanging above us and decided to come down for one my desserts. Yeah, it even cried, heavily. Nothing to do, sorry, but I finished all the caramel covered crostata :))))))
And, as you know, the only healthy antidepressive medicine in this case is to turn the oven on and bake something fragrant. Don't you agree?
These really take minutes to prepare and bake. But they will calm down your hunger while waiting for dinner to be ready. They're soft and taste and smell like lemons. Oh, so good.



RICOTTA POLPETTE

300 g ricotta
2 TBspoons grated cheese (Parmigiano or Grana)
70 g flour
1 egg yolk
1 organic lemon (zest)
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley leaves
A little EVOO
salt

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Put all the ingredients into a mixing ball: the ricotta, the grated cheese, the egg yolk, the finely grated lemon zest and the the finely chopped parsley, salt to taste,

and bring them together stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula, forming rather soft dough.

With wet hands, for little balls (tablespoon size) and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

Drizzle a little Extra virgin olive oil over them (or even better, brush with oil) and bake for about 15 minutes.
Flip them after 10 minutes .

Serve them as an appetizer, I made something I love very much to go with these: Grilled Red Radicchio, Belgian endive and toasted pancetta, seasoned with EVOO and Balsamic vinegar. Bitter and sweet combination of the two was amazingly good.





Che morbidezza, e che sapore dolce, profumo di limone… Vi va un antipastino?
Vi suggerisco di provarle assolutamente con il radicchio rosso grigliato e mischiato con l’insalata belga e la pancetta tostata, conditi con l’olio EVO e l’aceto balsamico. Si sposano a meraviglia. Dolce e amaro.

POLPETTE DI RICOTTA

300 g di ricotta (di mucca o di pecora)
2 cucchiai di formaggio grattugiato (Parmigiano o Grana)
70 g farina
1 tuorlo d’uovo
1 limone non trattato (la scorza grattugiata)
1 cucchiaino di prezzemolo tritato
Un po’ di olio EVO
Sale

Riscaldate il forno a 200°C.
Mettete tutti gli ingredienti in una ciotola: i formaggi, il tuorlo, la farina, la scorza grattugiata di un limone e il prezzemolo tritato, e mescolate tutto con un cucchiaio di legno per formare una pasta morbida.
Con le mani inumidite formate delle palline grandi come le noci e distribuitele su una placca da forno rivestita da carta da forno.
Spruzzate con un po’ di olio EVO e cuocete nel forno caldo per circa 15 minuti. Giratele dopo 10 minuti perche altrimenti si bruciano sotto.
Servitele calde, ma se vi avanza qualcuna, non butatela, sono buone anche fredde.



Nakon svih slatkih recepata koje sam vam servirala u zadnje vrijeme, morala sam izaći iz šećerne kome i vratiti se malo pravoj hrani. Za početak evo jednog brzog i ukusnog, mirisnog prijedloga za predjelo.

POLPETTE OD RICOTTE

300 g svježeg kravljeg ili ovčjeg sira (ricotte)
2 žlice ribanog sira (Parmigiano ili Grana)
70 g brašna
1 žumanjak
1 neprskani limun
1 žličica nasjeckanog lista peršuna
malo ulja
sol

Pomiješajte u zdjeli svježi sir, ribani sir, žumanjak, brašno, naribanu koricu limuna i sitno nasjeckan list peršuna da dobijete glatku smjesu. Posolite po ukusu.
Vlažnim rukama oblikujte kuglice veličine oraha i slažite ih na pleh obložen papirom za pečenje.
Pospite ih s malo ulja i pecite oko 15 minuta na 200°C.
Ja sam ih nakon 10 minuta okrenula jer su mi se ispod jače zapekle, a gore su ostale bijele.