Recipe: Brûléed Ricotta

Give creamy, rich ricotta the crême brûlée treatment and you’ve got the fastest, fanciest dessert for all your summertime entertaining needs. This is a four-ingredient situation that comes together in minutes. It requires so little of you that you’ll wonder what you did to deserve such goodness.

Mix ricotta with honey and lemon zest, pile it into ramekins, sprinkle each with sugar, and broil until golden and bubbling. You just created a versatile treat that’s as fit for Saturday night with friends as it is a Monday evening out on the porch.

Sweet and seasonal fresh raspberries add color and juiciness, but just about any summer fruit will do. Consider adapting the recipe as you work your way through all the fresh fruit that will hit the farmers market in the months ahead. Pitted and halved cherries, chopped peaches, and every kind of berry would be just as good here.

This quick dessert is meant to be as simple as it gets, but there’s one little secret that ensures it will be as delicious as possible. Since the recipe calls for just a few ingredients, the quality of those ingredients really does count. Here, it’s all about the ricotta, so now is not the time to reach for the subpar stuff found in cheap tubs at the grocery store (which is usually grainy and flavorless anyway).

Instead, splurge on rich and creamy high-quality whole-milk ricotta, and you’ll be greatly rewarded. If you can, head to your local Italian market, or look for ricotta at the farmers market. This may sound fussy, but trust me on this — it’s the move you want to make to achieve the tastiest results.