Since moving to Williamsburg I’ve really missed the pillowy homemade ricotta from Caputos Deli in Carroll Gardens. The stuff is like edible clouds – light, sweet, moist, fresh. I swore off of grocery store ricotta forever once I’d had a taste of its delicate flavor.

I haven’t been able to find anything like it in Williamsburg yet. I’m certain though that somewhere,  hidden among the Italian markets and delis along Graham Avenue perhaps, it exists.

So I determined last weekend to begin a quest for the best ricotta in the neighborhood.  I needed some to help me use up a bunch of good farmers’ market spinach in my fridge. The spinach, stemmed, steamed, squeezed dry, and chopped, gets stirred into the ricotta along with some freshly-grated parmesan and salt to make a great bread spread – when the ricotta is fresh, no other ingredients are needed (though some chopped fresh herbs can add a nice touch). The ricotta-spinach-parmesan spread is perfect ‘fridge food’ for times when I want something that’s homemade and healthy but quick –  just pull it out of the fridge and spread it onto a slice of good Italian bread.

The first stop on my quest was Mario and Sons Meat Market, at 662 Metropolitan. I picked this shop simply because it’s closest to my apartment and because I’d been there once before. The proprietor, conversing in Italian when I entered, needed a couple of tries before he understood my bland, American, schwa-laced request for “riCODda.”

“Oh ree COTE ta,” he said, and motioned to his man behind the counter to fetch me some. “It’s very good,” he said. “If you mix it with a little salt, it’s very good.”

What he sold me indeed was very good, though it wasn’t really ricotta – it was something called “Basket Cheese” from a place called Liuzzi Cheese, which according to Google is in North Haven CT. This cheese, in it’s little white plastic basket, was cool. It had a mild, crisp flavor, and tasted very fresh. I quickly found though that it wasn’t going to work for my quick ricotta spread. It was a drier, crumbly cheese, with all of its whey obviously pressed out through that cool little basket. I puzzled for a while how I could make this cheese spreadable – add milk? Melt it into a béchamel?

Finally though I gave up and happily took this cheese for what it was. I crumbled it up and mixed it with the chopped spinach and Parmesan. Then I pressed this onto slices of bread and ran them under the broiler. They came out toasty and browned on top — a departure from my usual ricotta spread, though absolutely a delicious one.

But the rest of the basket cheese / spinach mixture went into a lasagna, which I rightly decided would be a more suitable home for it. Soon I’ll venture out again on another journey in my quest for the Best Ricotta in Williamsburg.

And somewhere along the line, I’m going to solve a mystery. Near my apartment, at the corner of Leonard and Metropolitan, there’s a sign above a door claiming that something called “Pecoraro Dairy” is inside, and that mozzarella and ricotta are made there. So far, though, I’ve seen no evidence to support this – no Pecoraro cheese in any of the neighborhood shops I’ve visited. Does this very local ricotta exist? The plot thickens, and the hunt is on.

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