It’s been a super busy few weeks, full of some exciting surprises I can’t wait to share with you soon, but the busyness has also meant being generally behind on the daily bones of life. My house feels dismayingly dirty, my kitchen increasingly tiny and overrun with plastic bags (‘cause, I mean, if I throw them away then am I killing ALL THE ANIMALS AND THE PLANET?!), and my heart increasingly softened to the beautiful fragility of being human. Today I teared up when a restaurant server took the time to pay my friend a kind compliment—it’s just that kind of a tender time.
In these moments, I savor the simplicity of flavors and preparation that arises from cooking with my heart more than my head.
This is an exquisitely easy dessert that feels totally sumptuous: Fresh blood oranges. Ricotta. Vanilla bean. Blood orange zest. Honey. Rosemary. Olive oil. Sea salt. It’s also a playing field within which you can easily experiment with flavor and discover the unique ratio of herbs and sweets and salts and fats that makes your tastebuds sing like Beyoncé in a sequin leotard.
My measurements below are simply a jumping off point.
Ingredients
- 2 medium blood oranges peeled and pith removed (keep peel to zest, or zest prior to peelin— and yes, you can use regular OG oranges! We’re on the No Oranges Left Behind team here.
- 1 tsp . chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- ½ cup fresh ricotta
- 1 Tbsp . honey
- ½ tsp . blood orange zest
- tsp pinch of ground vanilla bean or ¼ . pure vanilla extract
- olive oil to taste
- flaky sea salt to finish
Instructions
- Wash and dry one of your oranges and zest at least ½ teaspoon of its rind. Then peel both oranges and remove as much pith as you can. Separate into slices. To remove the casing of each slice, cut off the tiniest sliver on the inside edge of each slice. Crack open and remove the casing.
- Place peeled orange slices on a plate for serving.
- In a small bowl, combine ricotta, honey, orange zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Top with a dainty or generous sprinkle of rosemary, depending on how herby you feel. You could also use thyme, if you’re feeling like a different herb adventure.
- Serve orange slices and ricotta on small plates or in ice cream bowls, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt.
- Provide utensils if you wish, though you can also use your own bare hands to dip into this yumsitch.
