Roasted grapes and berries are starting to release their juices, the ricotta is enlivened by lemon zest and vanilla, and the garnishes of toasted almonds and mint add even more flavor. But this dessert failed to impress the majority of newsroom taste testers.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
But TL test cooks love fruit/ricotta combo
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“I can’t see this as a dessert,” page designer and newsroom taste tester Lyndsay Bartos said after she tasted a fruit-and-ricotta concoction from the Times Leader test kitchen. “Maybe if you put it in a pie shell …”
“I would add a little sweetener,” said news editor Roger DuPuis. “Maybe a touch of honey would be good.”
“The fruit was OK but the cheese was too sour,” columnist Bill O’Boyle said. “It didn’t marry well; I can relate to that.”
Before you jump to the conclusion, gentle readers, that no one enjoyed my Roasted Blueberries and Grapes with Whipped Ricotta, let me just say that Mark and I — and my mom, who also had a taste before I took the rest of the batch to the newsroom — were unanimous in our approval of this recipe, which came from the June 2022 issue of Prevention magazine.
“Roasting blueberries and grapes concentrates their sweetness,” the magazine explained, “creating a dessert with no need for added sugars.”
Not only did the roasting bring out the sweetness of the fruit, the pinch of added salt likely helped in that regard. And, in my opinion, the lemon zest and vanilla whipped into the ricotta made that otherwise bland cheese taste like ice cream.
As for the garnish of toasted almonds and slivered herbs (I opted for mint instead of basil), that just made the dish seem all the more like a delightful sundae.
“What would you rather take from a dessert buffet?” I asked reporter and taste tester Kevin Carroll. “This, or a conventional sundae?”
“A conventional sundae,” he admitted with a laugh.
OK, so this wasn’t everyone’s favorite dish. But the news wasn’t all bad.
“I love the grapes,” Kevin said.
“I love the blueberries,” reporter Jen Learn-Andes said.
“I never had roasted grapes before,” said page designer Ashley Bringmann, who enjoyed the sweetness of the fruit but wanted nothing to do with the ricotta.
Ricotta, it turns out, isn’t a popular ingredient with the newsroom gang.
“Not unless it has tomato sauce, pasta and mozzarella with it,” Jen said, thinking about lasagna.
“I’m not a huge fan of ricotta cheese normally,” reporter Margaret Roarty said. “But I think it goes pretty well with the sweetness of the fruit, and the toasted almonds add a nice flavor.”
“I appreciate the way you try to make nutritious things,” Jen added.
While I won’t be making this dish for a workplace potluck anytime soon, I do plan to make it again at home, where Mark praised the way all the flavors complemented each other.
Later, when he heard about the newsroom’s overall reaction, he suggested I might have had a marketing problem. “You shouldn’t have called it a dessert,” he said.
Roasted Blueberries and Grapes with Whipped Ricotta
1 cup small seedless red grapes
6 ounce package blueberries
kosher salt
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus more for serving
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Toasted sliced almonds and chopped fresh basil, for serving
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; add grapes and roast 5 minutes. Toss blueberries and a pinch of salt with grapes and continue roasting until fruit begins to burst, 18 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in food processor, puree ricotta, lemon zest and vanilla until smooth.
3. Divide ricotta among small, shallow bowls and top with fruit and their juices, almonds, basil and additional lemon zest if desired.
