For a baked bruschetta dip that’s very Sacramento, follow this local recipe

This is Cooking In Season, a biweekly series from local recipe developer Zoe B. Soderstrom using seasonal produce available at Sacramento-area farmers markets. 

The Abridged version:

• Seasonality matters when cooking. For maximum flavor, follow Zoe B. Soderstrom to local farmers markets.
• This baked bruschetta dip, modeled after the Italian appetizer, uses Sacramento’s ripe tomatoes without much manipulation.
• Soderstrom cooked in Bay Area restaurants before launching her popular Substack page, Restaurant Dropout.

Having started my career in the food industry as a cook at Flea Street, a beloved farm-to-table restaurant in Menlo Park, being asked to share seasonal, farm-focused recipes for Abridged felt like a full-circle moment.

For most of my life, I didn’t quite understand the “farm-to-table” movement, or seasonality for that matter. With the power of globalization giving us access to nearly any ingredient year-round, it wasn’t until I actually began cooking within-season, local produce at Flea Street that I learned a couple of simple, yet life-changing lessons:

1. Minimal manipulation is needed when you start with peak-season ingredients.
2. The fresher the harvest, the better the flavor.

These lessons apply almost always – it’s why the strawberries you buy from the local farm stand in June taste like candy, and why fresh-picked lettuce is crisp and vibrant in flavor. 

Since leaving the restaurant industry, it has become my mission to share just how easy it is to access restaurant-quality dishes at home, in your own kitchen.

For tips, prep lists and weekly dinner menus built around a single grocery haul, you can tune into my weekly newsletter, Restaurant Dropout, on Substack.

But for a deeper dive into seasonal cooking — because the best dishes always start with the best ingredients — tune into Cooking in Season right here on Abridged, where I’ll be sharing bi-weekly recipes inspired by what’s fresh in America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, Sacramento. Here’s the first one.

Baked Bruschetta Dip

Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Savory, sweet, and a touch rich (in the best way), this dip is the perfect vessel to showcase tomatoes at their prime. Inspired by the Italian appetizer bruschetta, the lightly seasoned tomatoes are served on top of creamy ricotta and accompanied by toasted bread (i.e., crostini). The ingredients remain simple because with in-season tomatoes, you don’t need to do much manipulation to make them taste great, nor do you want to.

Instead, we’re adding ingredients that merely harmonize with their craveable in-season taste. For added complexity, you can use a variety of tomatoes, including but not limited to Heirloom, Early Girl and Sungold tomatoes. If you’re wondering how much time you have until tomato season is behind us, I spoke with the representative of Esquivel Farm, from whom I sourced my tomatoes. He assured me that tomatoes would be available through September. So, enjoy them (and this dip) while they last.

Ingredients

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• 1 (8-ounce) baguette, for serving
• 16 ounces whole milk ricotta
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• Zest of 1 lemon
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 8-10 oz. mixed tomatoes (e.g., Heirloom, Early Girl, etc.), finely diced
• 10-12 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
• Balsamic glaze, for garnish
• Flaky sea salt, for garnish

Instructions

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1. Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
2. Thinly slice the baguette (½-inch thick) and place the slices on a large sheet tray. Lightly coat with a drizzle of olive oil and bake until golden brown and crispy, around 10 minutes.
3. In a food processor, combine ricotta, heavy cream, lemon zest, Parmesan cheese and salt. Pulse until smooth and creamy, about 45 seconds.
4. Transfer the whipped ricotta to a small ovenproof dish. Bake until warm and slightly golden on the edges, around 15-20 minutes.
5. In a mixing bowl, add the tomatoes, basil, garlic, olive oil and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine. Taste and season with additional salt, if needed. Set aside.
6. Top the baked ricotta with the tomato-basil mixture*. Garnish with balsamic glaze and flaky salt. Serve with the toasted crostini.

*Note: To ensure the dip isn’t watery, use a slotted spoon to spoon the tomato-basil mixture onto the ricotta.

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Zoe B. Soderstrom is the writer and recipe developer behind Cooking In Season, a biweekly column featuring recipes made from the Sacramento region’s seasonal produce. She runs the popular Substack page Restaurant Dropout, and previously worked in Bay Area restaurants after graduating from culinary school.