appetizers for supper

last night i decided the time was right to try out this recipe for a zucchini and ricotta galette from smitten kitchen.  it had these healthy looking slices of zucchini and a very intriguing description of the crust that made me just have to try it.  the only problem was that we were out of butter (luckily they sell it at the convenience store located — conveniently — at the end of my street) and the ricotta in the back of the fridge was semi-frozen and had a mysterious pink splotch that earned it a speedy trip into the garbage.  but we had the rest of the ingredients (oh, except for the basil, which i ended up just leaving out and it was fine).  i had a brilliant brainstorm and e-mailed mr. happy stuff and asked him to stop at the italian deli close to his workplace to see if they sold a good ricotta.  see, i generally don’t really like ricotta cheese.  it seems like such a good idea, but all of the ones i’ve eaten leave sort of this weird chalky sensation on the back of my teeth and it never really tastes like anything.  i was pretty sure this was because i haven’t had good ricotta.  when he came home, mr. happy stuff said they were sold out of the “homemade” ricotta in tubs (note to self:  should try to get this sometime)  but instead he found something called “ricotta salata” that i’m fairly certain was not what this recipe was asking for since i could shred it, but let me tell you that it was so very, very tasty and rich and let’s not talk about how much butter was in the crust, let’s instead just say that i very much enjoyed eating this, but i think that the richness does mean that in the future this may be relegated to the category called “party food” where you can share it with at least 5 other people and then eat a nice healthy salad or something.  but if you have a party in the near future and a zucchini waiting patiently in your fridge, this is the recipe for you.  i’ll let you decide on your own which type of ricotta you’re going to use.