Mangia!

Photography by Kit Noble

Via Mare's stone fruit salad with crispy pepperoni, whipped ricotta and hot truffle honey

Italian cuisine is not just chicken parmesan and spaghetti with meatballs. That sentiment couldn’t be more true at Via Mare, Ventuno’s sister restaurant on Broad Street, where Venetian classics are the focus with some new twists that are helping redefine Italian food in America. For our winter issue, head chef Scott Fiore provides a recipe for the restaurant’s stone fruit salad, a sweet and savory assortment of rich cherries, plums and peaches, with light ricotta, hot honey and crispy pepperoni

INGREDIENTS

2 ripe peaches, thinly sliced

2 ripe plums, thinly sliced

1 cup cherries, pitted (fresh or dehydrated 12 hours, then rehydrated in olive oil for a more mellow, olive-like flavor)

¼ small red onion, julienned

12–15 slices pepperoni

Fresh basil leaves

Extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing

FOR THE RICOTTA

1 cup whole-milk ricotta

1 tablespoon honey (about 5% of ricotta’s weight)

Sea salt, to taste

FOR THE HOT HONEY

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon Calabrian chili purée (or to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the ricotta: In a bowl, mix ricotta with 1 tablespoon of honey and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
Crisp the pepperoni: Arrange pepperoni slices on a sheet pan. Bake at 350º until curled and crisp, about 8–10 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
Make the hot honey: In a small bowl, stir 2 tablespoons of honey with Calabrian chili purée and a few drops of water until slightly thinned. (Store-bought hot honey works too.)
Assemble the salad: Spoon ricotta onto a serving platter as the base. Scatter peaches, plums and cherries evenly over the ricotta. Sprinkle with the red onions and basil leaves. Add plenty of crispy pepperoni, and drizzle with hot honey and a light stream of olive oil.

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