Savory Cheese Pudding with Green Olive Salsa
Appetizers Simple Recipes Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian Recipes Cheese Gluten-Free Recipes Sauces and Salsa
It's Monday and I already have TWO new recipes: a savory pudding with few ingredients (you only need cheeses and eggs) and a punchy salsa. They go very well together, but can also be used separately. The salsa can also be used as a salad dressing, on roasts (lamb!), just on toasted bread, in sauces (for stews) added at the end, or as a topping for cream soups if you want some acidity.
Ingredients
Cheese Pudding
500g fresh cheese (ricotta or fresh cow's cheese)
100g aged hard cheese (like Parmesan, Pecorino; I used Horezu fermented cheese)
2 eggs
salt, black pepper
Olive Salsa
100g green olives
2 anchovy fillets
2 tablespoons pine nuts (or cashews, blanched almonds)
zest of 1/2 lemon
4 tablespoons lemon juice
5-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
Servings: 4
How to prepare savory cheese pudding with green olive salsa
- For the pudding, use whatever fresh cheese you have, just make sure it's well-drained of whey; if it's not drained you can hang it in cheesecloth for a few hours. I usually use ricotta, the pudding comes out smooth with it, but this time I used Delaco Classic cottage cheese. The one from Delhaize also has good consistency, both have a bit more whey than they should, but they're borderline, they don't need draining.
In a bowl, work the cheese until it becomes as smooth as possible. Finely grate the hard cheese and then grind plenty of black pepper and add salt. Mix well. Add the eggs and mix with a fork until the mixture is homogeneous. - Divide the mixture into 4 individual ceramic dishes (you'll serve the pudding directly from them) or into 4 pastry rings 8cm in diameter (if you want to remove them from the mold as seen in my photo). Grease the dishes or rings with oil beforehand.
- Bake in the oven at 200C for about 20-25 minutes. Check that the puddings are puffed and set before removing them. Remove and let cool in the molds.
- While the puddings bake, prepare the salsa: put the olives and anchovies on a cutting board and mince them, insist on mincing as fine as possible. Put in a bowl.
- Put the pine nuts (lightly toasted beforehand in a dry pan; 2-3 minutes) on the cutting board and chop as finely as possible. Put the pine nuts over the olives.
* steps 4 and 5 can be done in a food processor, blending together the olives, anchovies and pine nuts - Zest the lemon over the top. Grind black pepper. Add the lemon juice and oil and mix well. The salsa can be kept in the refrigerator, its flavor will improve.
- When the puddings are warm, remove from the rings (if applicable). Serve with toasted bread and olive salsa alongside. You don't need much salsa, because it's very potent in flavor.
