Roasted vegetables on top of a swoosh of ricotta is my summer solo dinner of choice.
To make it, you take a vegetable or an assortment of vegetables (asparagus; broccolini and radicchio with leeks; summer squash and garlic; cherry tomato and onion; etc.) and you roast them with olive oil and salt in the oven until they're crispy, and kind of charred in some places. Meanwhile, you spread a thin layer (or, let's be honest, a massive glob) of ricotta on a plate. When your vegetables are done, you plop them on top of the ricotta and top it all off with a hearty squeeze of lemon juice or, if you're fancy, the good balsamic vinegar. Maybe you drizzle on some olive oil. You definitely give the whole thing a sprinkle of flaky salt.
Here's why I love it:
First, this kind of dish highlights one of the central beauties of making dinner for one—when you eat alone you get to eat vegetables as a meal. No one's there to demand a balanced protein + carb + vegetable on the side plate. No longer does the vegetable have to be always-a-bridesmaid, the Kelly Rowland to the protein's Beyonce or Garfunkel to the carbs' Simon. They can exist smack dab in the center of the plate like it's the center of the stage.
But, if eating vegetables doesn't sound like something you get to do, in the way that say, you get to eat french fries or macaroni and cheese, I understand. A cucumber, while delicious and refreshing, is never going to flood your brain with dopamine the way a doughnut does. That's why the ricotta's there. That's why there's a lot of olive oil involved. You're eating a dinner that consists primarily of vegetables, but you are most definitely not eating a salad. You are not a monk who has deprived himself of all pleasure. The veg-on-ricotta dinner makes things exciting, elegant, and a little decadent—which happens to be a second requirement I have for solo dinners. They have to feel special.
It's also easy. This isn't always something I want. Since no one else is there to nag you about when dinner will be ready, making dinner for yourself can be a great excuse to luxuriate over cooking. But, most of the time, dinner for yourself and only yourself needs to exist exactly at the intersection of very little effort and maximum reward. Roasted vegetables on ricotta is that. You feel fancy, but all you've done is doused an assortment of vegetables in oil and salt, roasted them, and placed them on a bed of ricotta.
There's plenty of room to freewheel here. This is a dinner with just the right lack of structure. Obviously, you can use whatever vegetables you have around or are on their way to wilting in your fridge, and you can experiment with your favorite combos. You can also add piles of fresh herbs on top to finish the dish if you're so inclined. You can roast your vegetables in spices, or add nice chile flakes or a spice blend at the end. The dish is good served warm, with the hot vegetables dipped in the cooling ricotta. But it's also great at room temp if you can't bear the idea of a hot meal in the sweltering heat. You can add toasted bread, flatbread, or a grain to bulk the meal up.
And—of course—you don't have to eat this dinner alone. Once a year, when I come out of hibernation and beg strangers on the street to eat dinner with me, I'll make this as an appetizer. If you serve it with toasts on the side, guests can scoop up the cheese and vegetables and put them on bread (or you could serve the toasts preassembled.) It also works as a dinner party side dish alongside a protein.
But, for me, a ricotta-and-vegetables dinner never tastes better than when I'm eating it standing alone at the bar in my kitchen with a glass of wine. Or while watching a stranger do her makeup on YouTube. Or, when I'm sitting in front of my air conditioning unit solo, letting the cool air blast in my face and the warm vegetables soothe my soul. Try it with me—alone—sometime.
