Friday, December 23, 2011

Seventh Day of Appetizers: Endive Ricotta Spoons

Happy Christmas Eve eve everyone!  Keeping in line with my last post, this is another fresh and easy appetizer to serve at any holiday party.  I love using the endive leaves as serving "spoons" for the ricotta cheese and raisin mixture.  It looks impossibly elegant and it saves on some dish washing.  And because I don't have a dishwasher in my kitchen, I'm always looking for ways to cut down on dish washing!  The combination of the creamy ricotta cheese and the salty-sweet raisin topping is quite tasty.  Because the dish is so simple, be sure to use quality ricotta cheese and olive oil.  I served this appetizer years ago at an annual Secret Santa party that I have with my girlfriends from St. Olaf, and it was a hit!  Our party this year is going to be after Christmas to accommodate our busy holiday and travel schedules, but I might just bring this one back into my appetizer rotation and see what kind of twists I can think of now that I'm more comfortable in the kitchen!   


Endive Ricotta Spoons
from Real Simple, Nov. 2007
serves 6-8

Ingredients
1/2 cup, roasted unsalted almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tbls chives, chopped
3 tbls extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 endive
- 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

Directions
Combine almonds, raisins, chives, olive oil, salt, & pepper in a small bowl. 

Trim the ends of the endive and separate the leaves.  Arrange the leaves on a plate so that the "scoop" side is facing up.  On the core side of the endive leaf, place a dollop of ricotta cheese.  Then top the ricotta with a spoonful of the almond mixture.  Repeat until out of endive or out of mixture.  Serve and enjoy!

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