Herbal ricotta custard, scampi and green tomato gel
Roberto Gracci, Italy
Ingredients for 4 people
- 200 g ricotta cheese
- 50 g fresh cream
- 2 eggs
- 8 scampi (prawns)
- 150 g unripe (green) tomatoes
- Sugar
- 2 g leaf gelatin
- Parsley
- Dill
- Marjoram
- White wine
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 15 basil leaves
- 10 taggiasche olives
- salt, pepper
Time required: 60 minutes plus resting
Preperation
Peel the tomatoes, remove the seeds and puree them in a food processor, soak the leaf gelatin in cold water. Heat two spoonfuls of puréed tomato in a pan and melt the squeezed gelatin with half a teaspoon of sugar. Blend with the tomato sauce, mix well, salt and place in the refrigerator for two hours.
Put the ricotta cheese in the blender with the cream, eggs, parsley, dill and a few leaves of marjoram. Divide the ricotta mixture in four 5 or 6 ounce ramekins and bake for 20 minutes at 180° Celsius. Shell the scampi without removing the head and clean carefully. Place the scampi in an oven-proof dish with a little bit of oil, salt, pepper and a splash of white wine. Bake at 180° Celsius for 8 minutes.
Put five tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil with the basil leaves in the food processor and blend into a uniform, green oil. Repeat this operation with the pitted olives to obtain a black oil.
In a fairly large flat dish trace a circle with the black oil, inside this, trace another circle with the green oil. Turn out a ricotta flan at the center of the circles and place two scampi around it with the pincers circling the flan. Put the tomato gel in a large ceramic spoon and place the spoon on the plate. Serve.
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