Whipped Basil Ricotta with Spring Crudité ~ a healthy ode to spring produce, this raw vegetable appetizer with a fluffy herb ricotta dip is the perfect way to welcome the new season.
what can I bring? crudité is the new charcuterie!
I always hope they say appetizers because that’s what I love to bring most. I especially love to collect the best of whatever’s in season and center it with some unexpected dip. I’ve shown the idea on the blog before with my Rainbow Crudités with Fire Feta and my Grand Aioli, both inspired by the sunny Mediterranean. I love to ground the healthy crunch of raw veggies with something a little more substantial, and a cheesy dip really hits the spot.
raw veggie platters get a bad rap
It’s because they’re often served with a thin tasteless yogurt dip, or an unappealing bottled ranch dressing. But guess what? When you ground them with a delicious dip they become as irresistible as a bowl of chips.
prep veggies for entertaining or healthy snacking
Even if you’re not throwing a party, I love to pack prepped veggies like this with the dip for healthy snacks. Packed in small storage containers, covered with a damp paper towel, they’ll keep for days in the fridge.
Trimmed and cut veggies keep surprisingly well in the refrigerator with only one exception ~ tomatoes! Never refrigerate tomatoes, they become mushy.
baby spring vegetables make the best crudité
Crudités are a year round appetizer, but they really shine in the spring. Take a look around your produce section, or hit the the first farmers market of the season for young spring veggies like baby carrots, French beans, radishes, or the baby turnips, below. They taste especially good right now when we’re coming off a winter’s worth of comfort food and we’re naturally craving something fresh and crunchy.
A great cheesy dip makes all those healthy veggies even more enticing, and it really helps those who need a little convincing when it comes to purple cauliflower and radishes. For this whipped basil ricotta I mix two of my favorite things: soft creamy ricotta and a zesty homemade pesto sauce. The result is creamy, herby, and so good.
whipped basil ricotta is so good you’ll want to use it in other ways, too, like as a dip for warm bread, or as a quick pasta sauce.
ricotta cheese makes a great sub for mayo in dips
I buy the best full fat ricotta for this recipe, but of course if you have the time you can make your own homemade ricotta, recipe here. It only takes minutes!
crudité by the numbers
Of course you’ll choose what you love and what looks best in your produce section, here’s what I ended up with:
1. yellow bell pepper (cut into strips)
2. watermelon radish (don’t peel and slice into very thin rounds, then cut in half moons)
3. baby carrots (peel and leave 1/4 inch of the greens attached)
4. cucumber (don’t peel, and slice into sticks)
5. radish (leave 1/4 inch of the greens attached, cut larger radishes in half or in wedges)
6. golden beets ~ yes you can eat them raw! (peel, slice into very thin rounds, then cut in half moons)
7. jicama (peel and slice into match sticks)
8. spring onion (trim and slice into the green part with the tip of a knife so they fan out)
9. red bell pepper (cut into strips)
10. purple cauliflower (separate into small florets or slices)
11. French green beans (leave whole)
12. cherry tomatoes (leave whole and provide toothpicks)
13. baby turnips (halve and leave 1/4 inch of greens attached)
14. baby yellow carrots (peel and leave a 1/4 inch of greens attached)
Whipped Basil Ricotta with Crisp Spring Veggies
Equipment
- food processor or immersion blender
Ingredients
whipped basil ricotta
- 4 ounces fresh basil
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 Tbsp pine nuts
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- kosher or sea salt
- fresh cracked black pepper, optional
- 8 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
crudité
- baby carrots
- small cucumber sticks
- radishes
- golden beets, peeled and sliced very thin
- jicama, peeled and cut in matchsticks
- small green onions
- red pepper strips
- purple cauliflower florets
- French green beans
- cherry tomatoes
- yellow bell pepper strips
- watermelon radish, sliced very thin
Instructions
- Rinse and remove the thick stems from the basil, smaller stems are fine. Load it into a food processor. Add the garlic, pine nuts, and the juice of 1/2 the lemon. Process, scraping down the sides, until the basil is well broken down and becomes a rough paste.
- Add the olive oil and process further until the sauce is smooth. Scrape down the sides of the machine to get everything incorporated. Taste the pesto to adjust the lemon and add salt to taste. I added the juice from the other half of the lemon.
- Add the ricotta to the bowl of the food processor and process until everything is well combined and smooth.
- Taste one last time to adjust the salt, and then chill until needed. Add fresh cracked black pepper if you like.
- Serve the basil ricotta in the center of a plate of fresh vegetable crudité.
Notes
- Craving carbs? Ditch the veggies and serve your whipped basil ricotta with warm rolls or bread, it’s wonderful that way too.
This platter is has an awesome look and fresh feel to it, I love it. We are not really ricotta cheese fans though, are the other cheeses that would work for the dip?
You might try cream cheese, or a soft goat cheese Debra. Cottage cheese would work, too.
Sue, one of my great pleasures is to check your blog frequently (tbh, daily!) Your gifts as a photographer and inventive cook amaze me each time. I really enjoy the artistry. Thanks for being such a pleasure and generous blogger.
I have a small question—I live outside of DC and have lots of groceries nearby. But I think I would not be able to find some of the more colorful ingredients such as golden beets, purple cauliflower, and so on. Do you have any general suggestions about where to look? Maybe Asian markets? Thanks for any ideas.
Btw, I made your gorgeous charcuterie board for Thanksgiving guests. We were all over the moon, and I plan to make it a new tradition.
Hey Debbie ~ great question! I’ve recently moved from Los Angeles to Madison Wisconsin, and we love it, but one of the downsides is that I no longer have access to the variety of year round produce that I did back in LA. I do know that colorful, heirloom varieties of veggies are becoming much more mainstream. Most stores have golden beets, but you have to look carefully for them because they look similar to the regular beets on the outside. Colorful cherry tomatoes are pretty common, too. I think if you have a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods near you, they are good bets for specialty produce. Good luck!
I like your recipes very much but your blog is so full of ads it’s hard to find the content. Your blog has many more ads than other blogs I follow. Surely there’s a better way to have the focus on your content than on all the ads……
I totally get what you’re saying Jane, but it’s really one of those necessary evils when it comes to online sites like mine. I have my ad settings at the normal, recommended rate, so I think I’m on par with other similar websites and hopefully they shouldn’t be too distracting. Honestly, if you knew how hard I work on the recipe development, cooking, styling, photography, writing, social media, SEO etc, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t begrudge me the ads 🙂 I always check on my settings when I get a comment like this, so I will do that today!
I’ve just found your blog and I am drooling & inspired! I’ve got a goal this year to work on food presentation, experiment in the kitchen, and cook more with seasonal produce. I think your site will prove a great resource. Can’t wait to try many things. Great work!
You’re my ideal customer Jessica, welcome in!
Such a stunning platter for spring!
This looks fabulous and I’ve pinned it, but I wanted to ask an opinion on something else.
Last night at 9, maybe, I made your overnight oats – minus the whiskey butter – but this morning I found the oats at the bottom and the water, totally sitting on top. Stirring didn’t help. Have you ever had anything like that happen? I looked over my measuring cups (which I’m ashamed to admit were still sitting out, and had the correct ones, so no help there. One thing is, I live in Denver and maybe the altitude was an issue, but that seems unlikely. I’ll continue to think about it and then just try again. It looks and sounds as if I’d love it. Thanks for all your lovely posts.
Hey Susan ~ did you make sure to heat it up to boiling first, before leaving it overnight? The oats should soften and absorb much of the water while they sit overnight. Sometimes it requires a minute or so of simmering the next morning to get it nice and creamy. The only other thing that comes to mind is make sure you’re using steel cut or rolled oats…whole oat groats won’t work.
Delightful crudités !! So colorful and enticing- and love the ricotta and pesto mixture as the dip! Genius!
This whipped ricotta sounds lovely. I make a whipped ricotta/feta and I felt it needed something else and shall try it with your idea of the pesto. Thanks Sue, a really healthy and nutritious dish.
We first discovered a similar whipped ricotta at one of my favorite restaurants, where they serve it to you with warm bread…it was so good I had to try it for myself 🙂
How nice place your blog is 🙂