066 / 75 · Smaller Meals and Sweet Finishes
Apricot Almond Ricotta Toasts
4 loaded toasts; 2 toasts per serving · Active 15 min · Cook 5 min · Total 20 min
Print recipe · PDFCool ricotta, ripe apricots and toasted almonds turn a few slices of bread into a smaller meal with a proper contrast of textures. There is no need to cook good apricots: thin wedges sit neatly on the cheese and keep their fresh edge. Toast the almonds first, then the bread, and build only when you are ready to sit down. Two slices make one portion in this recipe.
Choose fruit that can be sliced
An apricot should yield a little when pressed but still hold a clean wedge. Very soft fruit tastes good but tends to collapse into the ricotta, while hard fruit brings a sharpness that the small amount of honey cannot hide. Remove the stones before weighing the fruit so the stated quantity means edible flesh. Cut each half into three or four narrow wedges. Arranging those wedges across the toast, rather than lining them up lengthways, makes the topping easier to bite through.
Toast is the last warm element
Almond flakes darken quickly once a pan is hot. Shake them over medium-low heat until they are fragrant and lightly gold, then tip them onto a cool plate immediately. Leaving them in the pan while you toast the bread can take them from nutty to bitter. The bread should be crisp at the edges but still have a little give in the center. A very thin, hard slice can shatter under the ricotta; ordinary sturdy whole-grain slices work better than crispbread here.
Keep the assembly flexible
If training or another commitment delays your meal, keep the components separate. The cheese and cut fruit belong in the refrigerator, while dry almonds are happiest in their own container. The finished toast is best eaten promptly, before fruit juice softens the surface. This is also an easy recipe to halve: use half of every ingredient and make two toasts for one person. That gives a more reliable portion than scraping an unspecified amount of ricotta onto whatever bread happens to be nearby. A broad plate catches any almond flakes that fall while eating.
Ingredients
- About 3 1/2 tablespoons sliced almonds (20 g)
- 4 sturdy slices whole-grain wheat bread (160 g total)
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta (250 g)
- 4–5 ripe apricots, pitted and cut into wedges (200 g edible weight)
- 2 teaspoons honey (14 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (1 g)
Set out
Small dry frying pan, Toaster or oven grill, Kitchen scale, Knife and cutting board, Small bowl, Clean cooling plate for toasted almonds
Allergens
Wheat, Milk, Almond. Check labels and substitutions.
Make it
- Put almonds in a dry frying pan over medium-low heat. Toast for 2–3 minutes, shaking frequently, until lightly golden, then transfer to a plate.
- Stir ricotta with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Toast the bread until crisp at the edges.
- Spread each toast with one-quarter of the ricotta. Divide the apricot wedges equally over the four slices.
- Drizzle the measured honey across all four toasts and scatter on all the toasted almonds. Serve immediately, 2 toasts per person.
Useful after a session without a cooking project
The short method suits days when you want something assembled quickly. The estimate includes both loaded slices; adding another slice or a drink changes the meal total. There is no required window in which this particular dish must be eaten.
A useful detail
Part-skim ricotta is the base dairy. If liquid has collected in its tub, stir it back into the cheese before weighing rather than draining away an unknown amount.
Another way
- Replace apricots with the same edible weight of ripe nectarine, sliced thinly.
- Use 20 g chopped toasted pistachios instead of almonds, changing the tree-nut allergen accordingly.
Keep it well
Keep ricotta and cut apricots covered separately at 40°F/4°C or below for up to 1 day; follow an earlier dairy use-by date. Keep toasted almonds in a dry sealed container. Assemble fresh rather than storing loaded toast.