Ricotta forte ... a forgotten ingredient

There are days when we really do not feel like or cannot spend time cooking. Yesterday was one of those days ... we wanted something simple but tasty. Normally for us, this means pasta with tomato sauce and ricotta forte. Ricotta forte ??? Well, this is a gem of ingredient which is really little known outside its original area (Puglia) ... and I mean not known even in Italy. We bring it along in good quantities every time we are back from my parents' place and got quite few friends to try and like it ... but what is it??
Well, it is a semi-hard creamy cheese based on the sheep ricotta paste ... but concentrated. It is made with the left over of the ricotta cheese, which are salted and stored until it does acidify. At that point, the acid cheese is worked with a special sieve in order to make it smooth and remove any possible hard granule. then, it is stored again for quite some time. The result is something that smells really strongly of sheep and, if eaten on its own, it extremely piquant ... much more than any pecorino. Too strong actually.
But here is the magic ... normally a tea spoon (or more) is used in things like tomato sauces or pulse soups (like a nice lentil soup) and ... wow ... the taste it gives is of delicate sheep cheese, slightly piquant and sweet ... and very creamy. We have tried a few ... from various industrial to a few artisan ones ... and (I have no affiliation with this company) the one produced by Marte is so far the best! Nice balance in taste and creaminess.
If you can find it, simply try it by adding one tea spoon (per portion) into a tomato sauce (the simple one). Do not add any additional cheese ... your pasta will taste as never before!!!