Recipe: Tuscan Chicken, Lemon Ricotta Cake

We're cooking dinner *and* dessert, as we take a trip to Tuscany then Sicily for two delicious dishes you'll want to try! These were shared by Andrea Messina. She learned Italian cooking from her Grandmother and preserved her handwritten recipes in a book titled 'At The Table: Healthy & Easy Recipes Using Infused Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegars’, which she somehow found time to put together while reinventing her great-grandfather’s family business ‘Joe and Sons’ as a gourmet grocery. 

Click here for a printer-friendly version of the recipe below. If you make either, let us know how they turn out! 

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Creamy Tuscan Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Spinach 

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Tuscan Herb Olive Oil, divided
• 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 1 lb chicken breasts, boneless and skinless, halved lengthwise
• sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• ¾ cup white wine
• 1 x 8 oz jar sun-dried tomato strips in oil, drained
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 3 cups baby spinach leaves, washed
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• pasta of choice, for serving

Directions

1. Heat half the Tuscan Herb Olive Oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then brown in batches. Transfer chicken to plate and set aside. Chicken may still be raw in middle but will finish cooking in sauce.
3. In same skillet, add remaining Tuscan Herb Olive Oil. Sauté garlic and onion until tender, 4–5 minutes.
4. Pour in white wine and bring to simmer. Reduce by half, scraping any bits from bottom of pan.
5. Lower heat to medium-low. Return chicken to pan and add sun-dried tomatoes and cream. Gently simmer, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, cook for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in spinach leaves until they wilt in sauce.
7. Garnish with chopped parsley.
8. Serve over prepared pasta.

Nana’s Lemon Olive Oil Ricotta Cake

Andrea says: "My Sicilian grandmother made this cake often when I was growing up. I always thought it was so complicated until I was older, and she taught me how to make it. It starts with a yellow cake mix and gets its flavor simply by substituting Lemon Olive Oil in place of the vegetable oil that the cake mix calls for. The fun in this cake comes during the baking. You pour the cake batter on the bottom and put the ricotta mixture on top. During the baking process, they swap places and when you pull it out of the oven, the ricotta will be at the bottom and the extra moist cake moves to the top."

Ingredients

• 1 x 15 ¼ oz box yellow cake mix
• Lemon Olive Oil (as required by cake mix & for greasing)
• eggs (as required by cake mix & 4 additional eggs)
• 1 x 32 oz container ricotta cheese
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Prepare yellow cake mix according to package instructions, using as many eggs as cake mix indicates. Substitute Lemon Olive Oil for standard oil in recipe.
3. Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan with Lemon Olive Oil.
4. Pour prepared cake batter into greased pan, spreading evenly.
5. In separate bowl, using wire whisk, combine ricotta cheese, 4 additional eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed.
6. Pour ricotta mixture gently over cake batter in baking pan without stirring.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 40–45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean.
8. While cake is still hot, sprinkle cinnamon sugar over top.
9. Allow cake to cool, then refrigerate.
10. Serve cake cold or at room temperature.

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