Ricotta and Pine Nut Salad

By Nigella Lawson

Ricotta and Pine Nut Salad
Jonathan Player for The New York Times
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(617)
Comments
Read comments

Here is a laid-back, unfussy salad that takes no time to prepare and is a great accompaniment to a summer pasta. It’s also good on its own for lunch.

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Ingredients

Yield:8 to 10 servings
  • 2cups ricotta
  • ⅓cup (lightly packed) fresh basil leaves, more for garnish
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • ¾cup pine nuts
  • 8 to 10cups (loosely packed) mixed salad leaves
  • 2heads Belgian endive, torn into pieces
  • 2tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • ¼cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Paprika
Ingredient Substitution Guide
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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place ricotta in a mixing bowl and break up with a fork. Tear basil leaves into pieces, and toss with ricotta. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Step 2

    Place a small dry skillet over medium heat, and add pine nuts. Stir constantly until nuts are darkly golden. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

  3. Step 3

    Arrange salad leaves on a large platter and sprinkle with Belgian endive. In a small bowl, combine vinegar and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle mixture over salad greens, and toss. Spread pine nuts evenly over greens.

  4. Step 4

    Drop small mounds of ricotta mixture onto greens. Dust ricotta with paprika, and garnish platter with basil leaves. Serve.

Ratings

5 out of 5
617 user ratings
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Comments

SonomaSMB

Simple and fantastic. If you want to gild the lily, pear or apples slices in the fall, or yellow and red halved grape tomatoes in the summer. And a chunk of great bread. What more could a person want?

sophie g

Sliced honey crisp apples were a great addition (per another commenters notes). This worked extremely well with bitter sturdy mixed greens from chefs garden in Ohio. Was worried they would overpower the mild ricotta flavor - they did not.

jeffrey totaro

I added beets

Laura G.

Very good for weather in the 90s, though I adapted a bit: No endive, just a dark red lettuce throughout; subbed walnuts for pine-nuts, because I always do. Served wtih a chilled asparagus soup and the tomato bruschetta recipe also on this website that’s excellent.

CBokat

So simple and so, so good

kelseyt

Wouldn’t make this again by the recipe. Would recommend adding apple, pomegranate or something tart and more RWV. Ricotta salada would also be better than regular ricotta IMO.

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