Despite encountering massive traffic jams and pre-inaugural motorcades, a trip to the DuPont Circle Farmer's Market last weekend was well worth the trouble. After arriving back home in Virginia, I whipped up a delicious baked ricotta tart with a mashed potato crust. I topped it all off with some delicious roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions. Read about it, or scroll down for the recipe.
Cute pink radishes at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market: Sunday, January 11th, 2009.
Though I live across the river from the typically traffic congested Washington, DC, a Sunday morning drive to the city is normally a quick twenty minute trip. So when I asked my friend Bethany to join me this weekend, I imagined our drive to the
DuPont Circle Farmer's Market would be something of a leisurely jaunt.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
Somehow, I missed the warnings that this Sunday was the practice run for inauguration. After being rerouted due to road closures, and then stopped due to a large "practice motorcade" passing us by, we drove out of the White House area, crossed the Memorial Bridge back to Virginia, crossed over the bridge again back into the city, and finally arrived at the DuPont Circle Farmers Market an hour later. There's nothing I appreciate more than practicing for traffic jams and road closures before the real deal occurs this coming Tuesday.
Well, at least we got a good parking spot.
The bounty at DuPont Circle never fails to amaze me, especially given that it is January. There were several good finds, including the adorable pink radishes pictured above.
How about this fresh purple and green kale from
Spring Valley Farm and Orchard?
I also found some freshly pressed pear cider at
Black Rock Orchards. I was intrigued and brought a pint home with me. It was good, but I'm partial to the tangier taste of apple cider.
The next fun find was from
Quaker Valley Orchards who was offering popping corn on the cob. Of course I brought some home with me.
Following the instructions given on the sign, I stuck one in the microwave for a minute and a half. Voila!
If you live in the Washington DC area, and you haven't tried Blue Ridge Dairy's ricotta cheese yet, I highly recommend that you do. Personally, I'm not a big fan of most ricotta as it tends to lack flavor. But, this ricotta is so creamy and features just the right subtle flavor that I will eat it by the spoonful. What's more- it's 99 percent fat free-- which is amazing considering how creamy it is. {If you can't get Blue Ridge Dairy's ricotta, try to seek out a ricotta made by a small producer who takes care to preserve the cheese's delicate flavor while producing it.}
I've been intrigued by a lot of recipes for baked ricotta, but I had never tried making it. Many of the recipes I've seen called for either a simple baking of the ricotta mixed with a little egg. Many others called for sweet dessert-like concoctions.
All sounded good, but I wanted to make a supper tart. I also wanted to try a new crust: one made with the flesh of a baked potato. After a little research on baked potato and mashed potato crusts, I came up with a pretty good concoction (if I do say so myself).
After filling the pre-baked potato crust with a simple ricotta mixture, I topped the finished tarts off with some delicious oven roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions, olives, and fresh basil. These garnishes are all optional, but certainly made the tart extra-delicious. You can always use leftover caramelized onions from another dish, or you can caramelize the onions and roast the tomatoes up to a day before assembling the tart.
Baked Ricotta Tart with Mashed Potato Crust Print Friendly Version
This recipe yields 6 mini tarts, or one 9" tart. If using mini-tart pans, this recipe can easily be halved to make 3 mini tarts.
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 medium baking potatoes, baked or microwaved (about 2 Cups of potato)
- 1 TB + 1 tsp milk
- 1/4 Cup Flour
- 2 tsp olive oil + extra for brushing the crust
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Filling:
- 3 Cups Ricotta Cheese
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Optional Additions:
- slow-roasted cherry tomatoes
- caramelized onions
- fresh herbs
- olives (I recommend Kalamata)
- toasted pine nuts
Directions
Bake the Crust:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.
Remove the baked potato from the skin and mash. Add milk, flour, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mash until the mixture comes together. If the mixture feels too sticky, add a small amount of flour until the mixture is malleable, but will not stick to your fingers.
If using mini-tart pans, place the pans on a large cookie sheet.
Lightly brush 6 mini-tart pans or one large 9" tart pan with olive oil. Scoop the mashed potato mixture into each tart pan.
Use your fingers to press the mixture into the pan. When the potato mixture has been completely pressed into the pan, lightly brush the outside of the mixture with olive oil.
Bake the crust for 30 minutes, or until the crust is beginning to turn golden-brown. Remove from the oven.
Make the Filling:
Combine all the filling ingredients. If desired, you can add caramelized onions or fresh herbs to the filling.
Scoop the filling into the pre-baked crust(s). Return the tarts to the oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
If adding slow roasted tomatoes to the top, you may want to remove the tarts at 20 minutes. Press the tomatoes into the top of the ricotta mixture, then return the tarts to the oven for the remaining ten minutes.
All other additions (caramelized onions, fresh herbs, olives, pine nuts) can be added to the tart after it is removed from the oven.
Allow the tarts to cool slightly, remove from their pan, and serve as a delicious brunch item or as a light (and delicious) main course with a side salad.
