Lemon Thyme Baked Ricotta Cheese Dip

As I was looking through Pinterest, this recipe immediately caught my eye, and I knew I had to make it.  As an Italian I love ricotta, put ricotta on anything and I will try it, honestly I could just eat it plain by the spoonful.  For this recipe you can find it here https://stephaniesain.com/lemon-thyme-baked-ricotta-cheese-dip/ or on my Pinterest board called Yum June 2020.

Complete side note....how do you pronounce ricotta?  My bestie and I can not agree on how to pronounce it.  She says it like it is spelled, and I definitely have a "G" sound in there.  But I also have been told I say most words "funny".

On to the the task at hand, as always I grabbed my ingredients and got started.



I decided to try a few things for this recipe that I have never done before.  First was I never used fresh garlic and minced it myself.  Guilty....I totally use the jar that is already minced, I know my grandmother is turning over in her grave right now.  Sorry Grandma, I should of paid attention more to your amazing cooking while I was little.  But I redeemed myself, and I bought some fresh garlic and watched a youtube video and minced my own garlic.  It was so easy and I really enjoyed doing it myself.  Now if I can just get a little of the garlic smell off my hands that would be great.



I mixed all the rest of the ingredients in.  I also have never used thyme before, so of course I watched another youtube video (wasn't sure which part I was suppose to use).  Let me tell you thyme is super easy to work with, I may have to find more recipes that uses it. The last thing I wasn't sure was when it said the zest of a lemon, how much does it really mean.  I decided to zest the whole lemon (who doesn't love lemon?!?!?!).



Another little small thing I noticed when following this recipe is there is a typing error (I know who am I to talk my grammar is horrendous).  But it said 1/4 of the grated parm.  I wasn't sure if it meant a cup or a tablespoon.  I googled another similar recipe and they were using a 1/4 cup so I went with it and really I love cheese so more is always better. Once I mixed all my ingredients I put it in my small casserole dish and got ready to put it in the oven. 20 minutes later I pulled it out and noticed it was very loose, but smelled delicious.  I added the optional toppings of olive oil, thyme, and rep pepper flakes.


So I had to taste test this right away.  I probably should mention that you want to let it sit for a minute to make it less jiggly! With the first bite you definitely taste the lemon and it is amazing with the ricotta.  I used bread to dip into this, but I think I want to try some veggies next time with this.  The lemon may be a bit overpowering to some, but again I really like lemon so it was perfect for me.  Also I learned that fresh garlic is so much  better than the pre-minced garlic you fine in the jar.



So what did I learn from making this.  I learned that youtube is the greatest tool ever, and do not be scared to try new things.  I learned that while you may think two flavors don't go well together, definitely try it and you may be surprised.

Here is a copy of the recipe:

Lemon Thyme Baked Ricotta Cheese Dip

Ricotta cheese paired with lemon zest & thyme for an elegant party dip perfect for almost any occasion.

 CourseAppetizer

 CuisineItalian

 Prep Time5 minutes

 Cook Time20 minutes

 Total Time25 minutes

 Servings6 servings

 AuthorStephanie

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
• 1/4 finely shredded parmesan cheese
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp. olive oil + some for greasing dish & optional topping
• dash of red chili pepper flakes
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Generously grease small casserole dish with olive oil.
• Place all of the above ingredients in medium mixing bowl and combine well.
• Pour into prepared casserole dish and bake in preheated oven 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and can top with extra olive oil, thyme, & red chili pepper flakes.

So let me know what you think of this recipe and also how do you pronounce ricotta. Until next time...