Ride The Wave, Not The Board. And a Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake!

Somewhere recently, I'm not quite sure where, I read this about surfing: "ride the wave, not the board." I don't know why, but this little sentence struck a note with me the more I turned it over in my mind. I think a lot of times when I'm out in the water, I am way too conscious of what my board is doing -- or is supposed to be doing, or where it is exactly when I'm not on it, and stuff like that. What I should be doing is just focusing on the wave. Go with the wave, and the board will go with you, I guess. Anyway, I like the way that sounds, and I'm going to try to incorporate it into my surfing life.

Last Sunday I had a nice session in some mellow waves out in Santa Monica. I was surfing near this other dude who was far better than me, but later, in the parking lot, he flashed me a shaka sign!  So that was cool.  I think he saw how hard I was trying, even if I was wiping out all over the place.

Back at home, in the garden it's zucchini time again. In a big way. If you have ever grown zucchini you know what I mean -- suddenly you become inundated with them. Also, they are always the first thing to start producing in a garden, at least here in California. Plus, if you don't keep an eye on the plants and keep harvesting, the zucchini can turn into baseball bats overnight. So in the last week or so we've been eating tons of zucchini. One night I made The Smitten Kitchen recipe for a Zucchini Ricotta Galette. This meant I had leftover ricotta. Also I picked a bunch of ripe lemons from the tree in our front yard. So I figured why not look for a way to combine lemons and Ricotta. A little research turned up a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis for an Orange Ricotta Pound Cake. This one called for a lot of orange zest and Orange liqueur but just as I was wondering whether or not I could substitute lemon zest and lemon juice for the liquid, I spotted another writer who did just that. So the recipe, adapted from Giada, is also adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen, which can be found at www.alexandracooks.com.

I added a lemon glaze because I still had some lemon juice to use. This glaze is used on an Ina Garten Lemon Yogurt Cake recipe, so I figured it would work here too. it did. The cake turned out really excellent -- tart, sweet, and very very moist. Take a look:

So if you find you have leftover Ricotta around, and maybe you have some lemons, why not try this pound cake? You won't regret it!

Lemon Ricotta Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze
(Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and Alexandra Cooks)

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
plus more butter for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting pan
2 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk Ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
zest of 1 large, or 2 small lemons
2 tbsps. lemon juice
Lemon Glaze (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan generously, then toss in some flour and turn and shake the pan so it's even coated. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, cream together butter, sugar and ricotta until light, about 3 minutes. With mixer running add eggs, one at a time, then add vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice. In small amounts, add in flour and mix, slowly, until just combined. Don't over mix.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan*. Bake in preheated oven, 45-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
4. Let cake cool ten minutes in pan, set on a rack. Then remove and set cake back on rack. Drizzle with lemon glaze.

* I suggest placing the pan on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet before going in oven. I've found that, depending on the size of the eggs used, the batter really can inflate and sometimes drip over the sides of the pan so you'll want to catch them before they hit your oven floor! They are tasty, though, and can be considered cook's treats.

Lemon Glaze

(Adapted from Ina Garten)

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. In a bowl stir together confectioner's sugar and lemon juice until smooth.