This lemon ricotta pizza is a beautiful meat-free pizza which is both bold and subtle in flavour. It’s a very grown-up offering, and we’re sure you will enjoy adding it to your repertoire. A good quality fresh ricotta is so delicate and mild in flavour with a texture that’s creamy and soft on the palate. You may be forgiven for thinking that ricotta on a pizza may be bland and “too light.” But this is far from the case. Full milk ricotta has a richness which is such a perfect meat substitute. We combine it with the liberal use of tangy fresh lemon and fresh rocket, with its peppery overtones. This is balanced by the unmistakable nuttiness of toasted pine nuts, and rich garlic underneath. It’s very flavourful and you won’t miss the meat!
For something like this fresh lemon ricotta pizza, you don’t want it all to be too cheesy. But, we have added a little depth with a combination of sweet parmesan and just a sprinkling of mozzarella. Ricotta is the star of the show though, featuring both underneath and dotted fresh over top.
We love homemade pizza dough as the flavour is so delicious. This is our favourite pizza dough recipe – there might be fancier ones or better ones out there, but that’s the one we use, and it works for us. If you can’t be bothered with the dough, that’s okay too. Look for a good quality pre-bought version or the best ready-made pizza base you can find and don’t sweat it. We like Letizza, who are also in your local specialty retailer.
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Lemon Ricotta Pizza with Garlic & Rocket
Ingredients
- 1 pizza base, homemade or pre-made
- 150 grams Olympus fresh ricotta
- 1 clove garlic
- 30 grams parmesan reggiano, grated
- 50 grams fresh mozzarella, grated
- 2 handfuls fresh baby rocket leaves
- 1 lemon
- 80-100 grams Olympus fresh ricotta, to serve
- 2 Tb pine nuts, toasted
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Add pizza base to a pizza tray or stone
- Crush garlic into a small bowl. Add extra virgin olive oil and mix. Brush pizza base with this mixture.
- Crush ricotta lightly with a fork in a small bowl, and sprinkle over pizza base. Cut extra ricotta for serving and set aside. Next, cover with parmesan cheese, followed by mozzarella.
- When oven is nice and hot, add pizza and allow the cheese to bubble and base to brown lightly.
- When ready, assemble fresh rocket leaves over the top.
- Sprinkle toasted pine nuts over the pizza.
- Break off delicate chunks of fresh ricotta and spread over to serve
- Zest lemon and sprinkle over before squeezing the juice of half a lemon over top. Add cracked black pepper and salt to taste. Serve immediately.