A sformato is similar to a soufflé, but not as airy, and therefore doesn't require the care in preparation its French cousin does -- there's no danger that it will deflate. But a sformato is quite elegant, and also quite tasty, and this is why Chef Alessio Pesucci, who cooks at the Locanda Del Gallo not far from Florence, showed how to make them in the course of a cooking lesson.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) fresh spinach
- 1 1/8 pounds (500 g) ricotta, well drained
- 5 eggs
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- A healthy pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 10 muffin molds, or a 10-inch ring mold
- 1/4 cup butter with which to butter the molds
- 1 cup breadcrumbs with which to coat the buttered molds
Preparation:
"I'm really illustrating a procedure more than a recipe," Alessio said, noting that while he used spinach, he could just as easily have used the same volume of cooked cauliflower, broccoli, wild mushrooms (porcini are heavenly), or even rice, and that while the ricotta is a requirement, he could easily have used a different cheese instead of Parmigiano, for example Fontina, Pecorino Romano, or even mild Gorgonzola. What's important is that the flavors of the various ingredients go together.
The other thing to note is that while Alessio made individual sformati about the size of a muffin, one could also make a single larger sformato, or even pour the sformato batter into a ring bold, at which point one will obtain a ring-shaped sformato that's a beautiful (and elegant) container for a stew. Sformato di riso, rice sformato, is especially well suited for this role.
To make 10 muffin-sized sformati, or fill a 10-inch (25 cm) ring mold, you'll the ingredients listed above.
Begin by washing the spinach well. Put it in a pot with just the water that is on the leaves, a pinch of salt, and cook it until it is well wilted, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook it, or it will begin to fall apart, and this is detrimental to the texture of the sformato. When it is done, let it cool, in a strainer so excess water can drain.
Coarsely chop the spinach and put it in a large bowl. Add the Ricotta.
Sprinkle the Parmigiano over the spinach, and then add a healthy pinch of freshly grated nutmeg -- it's worth the effort and expense of finding whole nutmegs and grating them, because ground nutmeg of the sort that's sold in a jar fades quickly. Mix well, and check seasoning.
Alessio called for 5 eggs when he drew up the recipe, but decided to use only 4 because they were quite large, and he finds that too much egg makes for a tougher sformato. Therefore he cracked in 4 eggs and mixed well.
At this point the batter is ready. Since sformati are at their best when they're hot, and don't take well to being reheated, set the batter aside, covered, in the refrigerator, unless the rest of the meal is close to being ready -- 15-20 minutes for muffin-sized sformati, and 40-45 for a single larger sformato.
At the appropriate time, preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Butter the molds and coat their interiors with breadcrumbs, holding them upside down and tapping them to dislodge excess crumbs. Fill the molds with the batter; after filling each one let it drop from an inch or so onto your work surface to dislodge air bubbles. Continue until all the molds are filled.
Obviously, if you're making one larger sformato, fill the mold.
Bake smaller sformati for 15-20 minutes. A larger sformato will require longer, 40-45.
When they are done they will be firm, slightly risen, and begin to pull away from the sides of the molds.
To unmold a small sformato, turn the sformato upside down and tap it sharply against the plate. It will come free. To unmold a larger sformato, cover the mold with a plate and invert the two while holding them pressed tightly together. Then tap the mold with a fork to dislodge the sformato. As I noted above, a sformato made in a ring mold makes a beautiful container for a stew.
The other thing to note is that while Alessio made individual sformati about the size of a muffin, one could also make a single larger sformato, or even pour the sformato batter into a ring bold, at which point one will obtain a ring-shaped sformato that's a beautiful (and elegant) container for a stew. Sformato di riso, rice sformato, is especially well suited for this role.
To make 10 muffin-sized sformati, or fill a 10-inch (25 cm) ring mold, you'll the ingredients listed above.
Begin by washing the spinach well. Put it in a pot with just the water that is on the leaves, a pinch of salt, and cook it until it is well wilted, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook it, or it will begin to fall apart, and this is detrimental to the texture of the sformato. When it is done, let it cool, in a strainer so excess water can drain.
Coarsely chop the spinach and put it in a large bowl. Add the Ricotta.
Sprinkle the Parmigiano over the spinach, and then add a healthy pinch of freshly grated nutmeg -- it's worth the effort and expense of finding whole nutmegs and grating them, because ground nutmeg of the sort that's sold in a jar fades quickly. Mix well, and check seasoning.
Alessio called for 5 eggs when he drew up the recipe, but decided to use only 4 because they were quite large, and he finds that too much egg makes for a tougher sformato. Therefore he cracked in 4 eggs and mixed well.
At this point the batter is ready. Since sformati are at their best when they're hot, and don't take well to being reheated, set the batter aside, covered, in the refrigerator, unless the rest of the meal is close to being ready -- 15-20 minutes for muffin-sized sformati, and 40-45 for a single larger sformato.
At the appropriate time, preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Butter the molds and coat their interiors with breadcrumbs, holding them upside down and tapping them to dislodge excess crumbs. Fill the molds with the batter; after filling each one let it drop from an inch or so onto your work surface to dislodge air bubbles. Continue until all the molds are filled.
Obviously, if you're making one larger sformato, fill the mold.
Bake smaller sformati for 15-20 minutes. A larger sformato will require longer, 40-45.
When they are done they will be firm, slightly risen, and begin to pull away from the sides of the molds.
To unmold a small sformato, turn the sformato upside down and tap it sharply against the plate. It will come free. To unmold a larger sformato, cover the mold with a plate and invert the two while holding them pressed tightly together. Then tap the mold with a fork to dislodge the sformato. As I noted above, a sformato made in a ring mold makes a beautiful container for a stew.
