Recipe: homemade ricotta in 15 min

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If you can boil water you can make your own ricotta, or so I've been told! I'm all for making and baking as much as I can in my kitchen. I have these precious memories of my grandmother chopping her homegrown veggies, proudly serving homemade pastries and breads and roasting organic (from the source) meats, and I wouldn't dream of my kitchen being any different. I'd say my prayers were answered when I met my boy - the hunter-gatherer of the two of us - who brings home clean, lean game meats and seafood to be baked and of course, accompanied by a (my) freshly home-baked loaf of bread. Call us old-school but it's the way we roll. Now, thanks to this find, the latest addition to our love of an a-la-natural table will be cheese. I'll be giving this 15 minute recipe a shot asap. I'm guessing I won't be looking at the supermarket tub-stuff again! I found the recipe here, but I'm spelling it out for us below too. Here's what you do...

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk

One cup buttermilk

1/3 cup heavy cream

Coarse salt

 

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Make it:

1. Line a fine mesh strainer with several folds of cheesecloth and set it in your sink (there's two minutes gone)

 

2. Combine milk, buttermilk and cream in medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil until cooking thermometer registers 185 degrees...if you don't have a thermometer, keep an eye on it to see when the curds (the solid white parts) are mostly separated from the whey (the cloudy liquid). This will take about 10 minutes...stir a couple of times during the boiling process.

 

3. Remove from heat and using a slotted spot, scoop spoonfuls of the curd into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, sprinkling with a little salt every few spoonfuls or so.

 

4. Let the ricotta drain for about 5 minutes and then taste to check the consistency. If you like it drier, then let it drain a little more. If you like it moister, stir in a tablespoon or two of milk. This ricotta is best used right away, but will keep for a day or two in the fridge.