Name: Salted Truffles with Ricotta and Pistachio
Prep time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 slice soft sandwich bread; 120 g ricotta; 30 g Parmigiano Reggiano; 50 g pistachio flour; a pinch of salt; pistachio flour; chopped pistachios

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Salted truffles with ricotta and pistachio are delicious fast-finger food, ideal for an appetizer with friends. These little balls do not need to be cooked, are covered with pistachio flour and chopped pistachios, and are perfect for a tasty and fast snack! Are also ideal for a super simple last-minute appetizer for a Christmas party.

The recipe is so easy and fast that you can also prepare it together with your kids.

Salted Truffles with Ricotta and Pistachio

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In a bowl, just put the ingredients, mix and form the cheese balls. You can enrich the salted truffles with the ingredients you prefer, such as chopped hazelnuts, sesame seeds, almonds, spices, herbs, cold cuts, and your favorite cheeses.

In this recipe, I also used some bread to make them even richer, then I added ricotta, but if you want, you can also use mascarpone or robiola, all flavored with parmesan and pistachio.

They are delicious, and one leads to another.

What is ricotta?

Ricotta is a dairy product obtained by heating, with or without acidifiers, the whey residual from the cheese processing (re-cooked).

Since it is not produced from curd but from its by-product (whey), ricotta cannot be considered a real cheese.

In various languages, ricotta is known as:

whey cheese or whey protein cheese in English-speaking countries
serac or recuit or brousse in the French-speaking ones
requeson in Spain
requeijao in Portugal

The term ricotta usually means the fresh one.

Fresh ricotta has the typical truncated cone shape of the perforated containers in which it is left to drain. Of a more or less candid white color, depending on the type of milk used, it has a fairly soft and grainy consistency, not elastic nor hard.

The smell of fresh ricotta is of warm milk and hay (the latter is more intense in products made from sheep’s milk and even more so in buffalo milk).

The weight is variable and can vary, depending on the type, from 100 g to several kilograms.

In general, despite its humble origins, cow’s milk ricotta is perhaps the noblest of all dairy products today. It has an average energy intake (comparable to that of medium-fat meat or a lean salami), supplied mainly by fats, followed by proteins, and finally by carbohydrates.

What are pistachios?

The scientific name of the pistachio is “Pistacia vera”, a fruit tree that belongs to the Anacardiaceae family. This tree reaches a height of about ten meters and produces the seed, enclosed in a typical woody shell that ripens at the end of summer. Pistachio originates from the East, although today, it is also grown in California, Spain, Italy, and many other areas of the Mediterranean.

Pistachios are rich in fiber, they counteract anemia and constipation, lower cholesterol, and promote a good mood. Pistachios are an extraordinary natural cure-all for our health.

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Now let’s see how to make these salted truffles with ricotta and pistachio!

Ingredients for 10 truffles:

1 slice soft sandwich bread
120 g ricotta
30 g Parmigiano Reggiano
50 g pistachio flour
salt
For the coating:
pistachio flour
chopped pistachios

How to do these Salted Truffles with Ricotta and Pistachio recipe step-by-step

To prepare the Salted Truffles with Ricotta and Pistachio, break the slice of bread with your hands and place it in a bowl.

Add the ricotta, parmesan, and salt.

Mix everything with your fingertips until you get a compact dough.

Add the pistachio flour to the bread and ricotta mixture and mix well.

Form the cheese balls with your hands, pass them in the pistachio flour and the chopped pistachios.

Put the truffles in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving.

Enjoy them!

Substitutions

You can replace the ricotta with mascarpone, robiola, or Philadelphia.

You can add chopped mortadella that goes great with pistachios.

You can enrich them with the spices you prefer.

Storage

Salted Truffles with Ricotta and Pistachio can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days. Freezing is not recommended.