Lidia Bastianich often says that the best recipes aren’t written—they’re remembered. And for her, no dessert brought back more vivid memories than the Torta di Ricotta e Cioccolato from her childhood in Istria.
Julia took a bite and closed her eyes.
It wasn’t a towering, glossy New York cheesecake. It was humble, rustic, and deeply Italian. The ricotta came from a local farm, the chocolate was a precious chunk broken from a larger block, and the eggs were still warm from the henhouse. This cake was what you made on Saturday so the family could enjoy it after Sunday supper—a gentle, bittersweet end to a meal of pasta and roast chicken. lidia bastianich recipes chocolate ricotta cheesecake