When entertaining at home, our approach is to look beyond Port Wine Cheese and Ritz Crackers. We also believe that the food you serve should be equally as important as your guest. So we created a recipe that is vibrant, easy to make, delicious, and aesthetically pleasing.

We paired fresh Ricotta Cheese with Donovan Cellar's Orange Cumin Carrots. Ricotta cheese is a versatile option that is low in sodium and fat, and adds a pillowy texture and natural sweetness to food pairings.

We suggest Italian style Ricotta rather than American. If you live in NYC, make the trip to Di Palo's in Little Italy, a family owned specialty food shop.

And what better to pair with than a nice wine to match? An Italian Prosecco is ideal; for this recipe, we used a 2010 Granbazan Albarino. Its balanced acidity, lemon freshness, and sea-influced minerality adds the perfect taste to this great hors d'oeuvre.

From my house to yours,
Brendan Donovan

With a cheese grader, shave 6 Donovan's Cellar Orange Cumin Carrots and set aside. Slice the bread along a slight diagonal angle (1/4" thick), place on a baking sheet, and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Set oven to 350 degrees and bake for 4 minutes on each side. Let cool.

In a small bowl, whip the fresh ricotta, 1 tbspn of olive oil, Donovan's Cellar Carrot brine, a pinch of fresh salt & pepper until you reach a light, fluffy texture.

When serving, spread the fresh ricotta on each piece of bread. Drizzle with olive oil and fresh pepper. Top with shaved Donovan's Cellar Carrots and thyme leaves.