Almond ricotta with toasted almonds, lavender and coconut syrup

Instructions

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1 To toast the nuts, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet under a moderately hot grill for 5–8 minutes, watching them the entire time so they don’t burn.

2 In a small bowl, mix the almond ricotta with the vanilla paste and half the coconut syrup.

3 Spoon into a shallow bowl and drizzle with remaining coconut syrup. Top with the toasted nuts and lavender flowers. Serve immediately.

ALMOND RICOTTA:

1 To make the almond ricotta, in a high-speed blender, place the almonds, water, coconut cream and salt. Carefully prise the probiotic capsules open and pour the powder into the blender (discard the actual capsules — you don’t want those in the ricotta!) Blend until very smooth and silken, using an agitator to continually move the mixture down towards the blade, if your blender has one; this might take 3–5 minutes. Rest your blender if it gets too hot.

2 Scoop the blended paste into a clean, dry porcelain or glass bowl and cover with muslin (cheesecloth) to allow it to breathe. Leave at room temperature overnight to ferment.

3 Next morning, you should smell a lovely ‘cheesy’ aroma, telling you the probiotics have worked. There may even be some air bubbles in the mixture, depending on how warm the room was overnight. Taste the ricotta and, if it’s to your liking, seal in sterilised jars and store in the fridge. For a stronger flavour, you can leave it for up to 4 more hours and taste again, but the total fermentation time shouldn’t exceed 24 hours, or it will start getting too funky.