Sweet Potato Ricotta Cups

One of my friends coming over for brunch doesn’t like eggs, which sounds crazy, but I’ve been there before. Well, if you’re ever in that situation (and even if you’re not), this is the perfect dish to make! Anything made in muffin tins is automatically more impressive because you get these perfectly sculpted individual portions. And they taste amazing, which is quite impressive too.

I started with this recipe for Farmhouse Baked Ricotta from Easy Peasy Organic which basically says to mix ricotta with pecorino, and then stick it in muffin tins lined with parchment paper, with a layer of thinly-sliced sweet potatoes in the middle of the cheese. Top with more pecorino, and bake at 400*f for 20-30 minutes. Then top them with a purée made of basil, olive oil, and lemon rind.

Well, I sort of did that. My store didn’t have pecorino, so I mixed the ricotta with Jarlsburg, Parmesan, and some of the Parmesan chip-ettes that I still have left over (and about which I am still excited). I also didn’t have parchment paper (as you may already have guessed) so I greased the tins with butter. This worked well enough that after loosening them slightly, I was able to flip the tin over (with some help) and they slid out onto a pan – and stayed intact! They kind of had the consistency of flan.

Also the basil sauce was tough for my feeble immersion blender, mainly because of the small quantity, and it also seemed like it needed something, so I added some lemon juice and I think some salt and pepper, and it worked out.

Some parting thoughts:
I don’t know why the recipe calls for 1-2 sweet potatoes – we used like 2 slices per cup which amounted to less than half of one. (Oh also we used yam, not sweet potato.) And if I were going to do it again I would probably make lots of little layers of the cheese and sweet potatoes – and that would probably involve more sweet potatoes.
Also, the mix of cheeses I used was awesome, and I think anything with a stronger flavor could be mixed with the ricotta and do just fine.