How to make the ricotta pudding (budino di ricotta) with blueberry glaze

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Ricotta pudding (budino di ricotta in Italian) is the classic grandmother dessert, that simple, soft and exquisite cake that makes you return to the past.

It has a delicate, fluffy flavor and the smooth texture to which you can not resist, but most of all it’s easy and quick to prepare. In one hour at the most the cake is ready, including preparation and cooking.

For this ricotta pudding we dusted off, and adjusted slightly, the recipe of the legendary Pellegrino Artusi, just to tell you how traditional this dessert is! His great cookbook, The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well, it is still a valuable instrument for discovering the historical recipes of the Italian cuisine.

Ricotta, with its slightly sour note, gives a fresh liveliness to the dish, tempering the underlying sweetness of this pudding.

For an elegant presentation we have added a blueberry glaze-sauce, but if you prefer you can also do it with raspberries, strawberries cherries or currants.

That’s all, the recipe is very simple, but its flavor is outstanding and is suitable even as dessert for fancy, gourmet dinner.

Ingredients of the the ricotta pudding (budino di ricotta)

• 300 grams of ricotta cheese
• 120 grams of sugar
• 100 grams of almonds
• 4 eggs
• zest of lemon or orange
• a sprinkle of orange flower water or Calvados

For the blueberry glaze-sauce

• 100 grams of blueberries
• 30 grams of brown sugar
• water
• lemon juice

How to prepare the perfect ricotta cheese pudding (budino di ricotta)

Just one advice, before starting: do not use industrial ricotta, otherwise you will make a pudding of infinite sadness, a pale imitation of on of the greatest recipe of the Italian cuisine.

It is essential that the ricotta is fresh, sweet and firm. If it’s too watery, just put the ricotta in a cloth and squeeze to drain the excess of liquid, but do not overdo it otherwise the pudding becomes a brick. Having said that, we can start with the recipe.

In a mixer blend the almonds until you get a fine flour. Beat the eggs with a fork and then add to the rest of the ingredients and mix vigorously with a spatula or a wooden spoon.

Grease a baking mold, pour the mixture, level, put it in a water bath and bake for 40 minutes at 170 degrees.

Wait for it to cool and place in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. And here we go, the ricotta pudding is ready, now we need to add the cherry, no, sorry, the blueberry on the cake.

To prepare blueberry sauce-glaze

Blend half of the blueberry and put them in a pan to cook on low heat with sugar, lemon juice, the remaining blueberries and a bit of water.

When the sauce has thickened, 10 minutes, remove from the heat and place in a bowl and use it to decorate the ricotta pudding, before serving it. Remember that the sauce should be hot, in order to create a nice contrast of cold & warm.