Involtini di bresaola con ricotta.

Bresaola is air-dried, salted beef that has been aged two or three months. It originates in Lombardy in Valtellina, an Alpine valley running east-west from the northern end of Lago di Como to the Swiss border. Bresaola is dark red to purple, lean and tender, with a sweet, musty smell.

Involtini simply means "rolls", and rolls of bresaola present a starting point for countless variations on this theme: with gorgonzola cheese, with rucuola, with Philadelphia cream cheese, with goat cheese, with mascarpone cheese and smoked trout, etc... Here is an interesting one with pears, ricotta cheese and walnuts.

Ingredients:

• 200 g of ricotta cheese
• 8 slices bresaola
• 2 small pears
• 8 walnuts, chopped
• Chives, chopped, plus 8 whole
• Lemon juice
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepperm, to taste
• YIELD: Serves 4

Preparation:

1. Peel the pears. Slice one of them into 4 slices and moisten each with lemon juice. Dice the remaining pear.
2. Chop the walnuts.
3. Place the ricotta in a bowl. Mix in the chopped walnuts, chopped chives, the diced pear. Add a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir to mix the ingredients well.
4. Lay out the bresaola slices on the work surface. Spread the filling evenly onto each, then roll them up. Tie each one elegantly with a chive
5. On each plate, arrange two pear slices and place a bresaola roll onto each one. Serve immediately.