Pistachio Ricotta Pudding

Last winter I brought an egg-less pudding of Ricotta and crushed almonds to a carry-in (potluck) at work. Many people liked it, including Mitch, our maintenance man extraordinaire. The people who did not care for it had a built in bias against anything that did not come from McDonald's or their meemaw's kitchen. I never expect to please them. I will leave that to Miss Connie, who is a specialist in french fried onions and green bean casseroles.

Yesterday I made a variation on the original. I mixed 7 oz of ricotta with just over half a cup of pulverized pistachios. I added 2 heaping tablespoons of fig preserves for sweetness and 1 1/2 tablespoons of crumbled feta for saltiness. I had a tablespoon of greek yogurt left in a carton, and I put that in as well. I spun it into a pudding in the bowl of my mixer, then topped it with pomegranate seeds.

All these ingredients were from the Mediterranean and the Middle East. And I wondered where, and in whose cuisine, might a pudding such as this be found? What country or island might change hands over and over through the centuries, a prey to any neighbor who could put a fleet into the water?

Sicily, of course. Ricotta, figs, feta, pistachios. Fusion food.
How I would love to travel to that island one day!