Dinner at Home: High End on the CHEAP!!

A big shout out to Annona Gourmet

for tonight's dinner at home.  Yesterday, Annona's cooking class resulted in a batch of aji criollo and a

batch of mushroom pesto.   Today, my cuz Barbara and I represented Annona at a 'salad lunch' event at a local company.  We had the olive oil, balsamic, and 4 tasty salad dressings that Annona created for the event.  The other table had locally grown organic greens----so, we had to bring some of those pretty green and red leafy babies home (they sold out!!!)

So, how to make a high end dinner on the cheap??????

Start with the organic greens from the salad event and the last of the gem lettuce from your refrigerator. 

A salad of green jules lettuce, gem lettuce, and micro spicy red and green mizuna with your fave dressing is a good way to begin.

Then, 'cheater' high end rustic tart.  

Start with some kind of dough from the grocery store...puff pastry, thin pizza, crescent roll (press the perfs together), whatever....     Create a filling of whole milk, BGH-free ricotta from Belgioioso https://www.belgioioso.com/Products/Ricotta-con-Latte

Ricotta con Latte® - Belgioioso Cheese www.belgioioso.com BelGioioso Ricotta con Latte® is produced from the highest quality Wisconsin cow’s milk and whey and boasts a fresh, clean flavor. With no preservatives added, the milky flavor is like no other, making it the finest ricotta available.

by adding...

• a little mozzarella or parmesan (whatever you have in the fridge) plus... 
• some dried basil, 
• a touch of oregano, 
• some fresh ground pepper, 
• and a bit of salt.  

Spread this yumminess over the crust, leaving a two inch border around the edges on a round crust (if you're using puff pastry, score it lightly about 1/2 inch from the edge all the way around or arectangle!).   I removed the casing from 2 links of REALLY hot Italian sausage and browned it, then drained it on a paper towel.  Slice up a tomato or 2, place them on the ricotta layer.   Crumble the browned sausage over the tomatoes-- it's really nice around the edges, so you get a bite of spicy sausage with some crust.   Fold over the edges--this will leave just a 2 inch border of crust, with a big beautiful bunch of tomatoes and sausage showing in the middle.

Brush the edges with olive oil and put it in a 395 degree oven for about 20 minutes....after checking it, I added a few minutes to get the crust to the golden brown-ness that I wanted.   

After removing from the oven, I dolloped little portions of yesterday's mushroom pesto over the top and drizzled the whole thing with some EVOO (flavored oil would be great, but I used plain because that's what I had).

For the final touch, I stole an idea from Lidia Bastianich.   The beautiful ricotta is sweet and light.   I pulled a couple of Irish creme glasses out of the cupboard and

layered:  ricotta, Artisan Berry Jam (one of our jams that receives rave reviews) and some fresh blackberries.  I would have put 3 layers in each glass, but with a giant salad and 2 slices of sausage tomato ricotta tart, there will only be room for 2 layers.....if we wait an hour and run around the block and do 5000 push-ups.    Then we can have a little ricotta berry dessert with a great espresso or a little glass of wine (or more).

The whole dinner could be assembled in less than 30 minutes.  Vary the ingredients as you like...but for sure, include some BGH-free wonderful, wonderful, wonderful ricotta from BelGioioso......it's out of this world...for savory rustic tart or dessert.