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MMMMMMM... ricotta cheesecake...

Ricotta Cheesecake!

Sweet:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/honey-ricotta-cheesecake-recipe/index.html

-or-

Savory:
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/zucchini-ricotta-cheesecake-recipe.html

These are just two examples. Use them as a guide, and use the ingredients you have in the house already.

Ditto on the ricotta cheesecake! Giada's recipe is to die for. My fave cheesecake ever.

I love making calzone. I mix the ricotta with wilted spinach, garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and some romano and mozz cheese and fill fresh dough with it, then bake....yum.
any variation on the filling works too...with the ricotta. How about mushrooms, spinach and tomato? Or pepperoni, salami, hot cappy and some ricotta? Just about anything will be yummy baked into a pizza dough (brush olive oil over the outside, and make sure you slice the top to let steam out).

I've stuffed all manner of pasta with ricotta - shells, ravioli, you name it. I second the Giada recommendation - she uses that stuff a lot and in many interesting variations.

hammondcheese, I haven't had a chance to try this recipe yet; but it looks absolutely delicious *yum*. It also might be a nice little change from a heavy lasagna.

arugula and mint salad with oil-cured black olives,
oranges, and ricotta salata

ingredients
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup EVOO

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

4 large oranges

1 5-ounce package arugula (about 10 cups packed)
1 cup fresh mint leaves (from about 2 bunches)
1/2 cup thinly sliced pitted oil-cured black olives
1 5-ounce piece ricotta, cut into 1 1/2-inch-long, 1/4-inch-thick slices

Preparation
Whisk first 6 ingredients in small bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper. Do ahead Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature and rewhisk before using.

Place onion in large bowl. Add 1/3 of dressing; toss. Let marinate 20 minutes.

Cut off peel and pith from oranges. Cut each orange crosswise into slices.

Add arugula, mint, and olives to bowl with onion; sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss. Add remaining dressing; toss. Garnish by tucking the orange slices and ricotta slices into salads.

Note that the 'dicing' of the ricotta refers to a firm ricotta cheese. If your ricotta is moist, I would suggest mixing it into the dressing and then sprinkling over at the end :)

Ricotta brucetta

Well, since you did say it was only TWO TABLESPOONS, most of these wonderful uses for ricotta (one of the best cheeses ever discovered, truly), just ain't gonna work for you!

I'll second Kerosena's suggestion of incorporating it into a scrambled egg or frittata dish. Also, consider plopping a dollop on top of some creamy, pureed soup, such as tomato or squash or broccoli.

Mix it with yogurt for a richified dessert.

Eat with fresh fruit and honey.

Spread on bruschetta.

Food and Wine recently featured this article for spinach and ricotta gnudi:

INGREDIENTS:
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 small onion, halved
1 bay leaf
Pinch of crushed red pepper
One 28-ounce can diced Italian plum tomatoes, juices reserved
Salt
2 cups spinach, stems discarded
2 pounds fresh ricotta
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
In a large, deep skillet, melt the butter. Add the garlic, onion, bay leaf and red pepper and cook over moderate heat until the garlic is fragrant. Add the tomatoes and their juices and bring to a boil. Simmer the sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to 2 1/2 cups, about 1 1/2 hours. Discard the garlic, onion and bay leaf. Season the sauce with salt and keep warm.

Meanwhile, heat a medium skillet. Add the spinach, a handful at a time, and stir over moderately high heat until wilted; transfer to a colander; let cool slightly. Squeeze the spinach dry and finely chop it.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a food processor, combine the spinach with the ricotta, eggs, nutmeg, and the 1/4 cup of Parmesan and process until blended. Add the flour in 3 batches, pulsing between additions, until almost incorporated. Scrape the gnudi dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 5 to 10 times, until smooth.

Add one-fourth of the gnudi dough to a large, resealable plastic bag; with scissors, cut a 1/2-inch corner from the bag. Working over the boiling water, squeeze the dough through the corner opening and use a knife to cut it into 1-inch pieces. Cook the gnudi over moderately high heat until firm, about 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon or wire skimmer, transfer the gnudi to a baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Carefully transfer the gnudi to the tomato sauce and stir lightly to heat through. Spoon into shallow bowls and serve at once, passing more Parmesan at the table.

Also, I'm sure loads of people are suggesting stuffed pasta, which is always an excellent way to use up ricotta. You can make the dish more festive by using seasonal produce. For dinner tomorrow night I'm making manicotti stuffed with roasted pumpkin, fresh sage, ricotta and shallots slathered in a white wine bechamel- there's an idea for you!

OK, so what's Italian Love Cake?

by the way, the Italian Easter Pie (or, as some call it, Ricotta Pie) is terrific.

My local Italian delicatessen sells ready fried unfilled cannoli shells. You could do a filling for cannoli with your ricotta and fill premade shells!

Italian Love cake, is a Marble cake mix make like the box says, put in a 13 x 9 pan then 2 lbs of ricotta mixed with eggs and sugar poured overtop the cake batter, then baked. the ricotta layer ends up on the bottom. After cooling instant chocolate pudding and whip cream mixed together goes on top. When finished this cake weighs about 10 lbs, no joke!!!!

@joanpieroni: My mom only made that cake two or three times my whole life. I remember loving the cake and it taking her a while-probably because she used no shortcuts (prob did use the pudding though). I was much younger when she made it. And I remember her saying it's not the healthiest thing to make. :) I agree with you-ricotta pie overbaked is the worst. UHHHH.

I love to enjoy ricotta as is. Or as pure and fresh as possible. Of course this can be done in many ways - heaping a large spoonful onto your pasta (with or without tomato sauce), buying some great bread and just spreading the ricotta on it (with slices of tomato and/or basil and/or olive oil and/or honey - tons of things you can layer on ricotta).
ciao.