Delicious warm as a desert or incredibly wonderful in Lasagna. Creamy, soft and delicious!
INGREDIENTS:
- Six Cups of Whole Milk
- Two Cups Heavy Cream
- Three Tablespoons Distilled White Vinegar
- One teaspoon Kosher Salt
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium size pan over medium heat and combine the milk, cream and salt and bring to a warm temperature. Gradually bring to 200 degrees using a quick read thermometer, stir occasionally just to make sure the milk doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Once it has reached 200 degrees add the Vinegar and stir gently to combine. Soon curds will appear, keep stirring as curds form. This will take just a few minutes. Have a strainer lined with layers of damp cheese cloth sitting in a bowl deep enough to hold the liquid. Gently pour the mixture into the strainer and let it drain for at least 15 minutes. Father the cheese cloth together and gently squeeze some of the excess liquid from the Ricotta. The ricotta is ready to enjoy warm on crackers or in a spoon. For cold firmer ricotta, fold the cheese cloth over the ricotta and continue to drain overnight in the fridge.
Let the milk simmer for a few minutes, but don’t wonder off too far.
The milk seems to just sit there and simmer and all of a sudden you see the smooth surface start to solidify and you will see curds begin to form…it’s amazing to watch!
Line a mesh strainer with several layers of damp cheese cloth.
Gently pour the curds and whey into the strainer and let drain for at least 15 minutes. I am using a ladle here to show you how it all looks, but you can just slowly pour the mixture into the cheesecloth. Just be careful to pour slowly enough to let the whey run through the cheese cloth and not over flow the strainer. You don’t want to waste any of the wonderful ricotta.
Gather the cheese cloth together and gently squeeze some of the excess liquid from the Ricotta.
That is all there is to it…can you believe how very easy this is to make?
Soooo easy and soooo good! Lovely creamy texture, melt in your mouth amazing…and you made it yourself!
Only four ingredients! How could I possibly not know that making cheese from scratch at home was even possible…let alone so very easy?
The first time you make this you are probably going to eat the whole batch right out of the cheese cloth warm…we did. Soft, pillow soft, almost like delicious air if that’s possible. If you want to save it for later use, like in lasagna or stuffed shells just to name a couple of things, just move the Ricotta from the cheese cloth to an airtight container and place in the refrigerator. It will last over a week.
You may want the Ricotta even more dry than it will be even after 30 minutes of draining in the cheese cloth. In that case, carefully remove the cheese cloth from the strainer, molding the Ricotta with your hands, suspend the ricotta in the cheese cloth inside a quart size mason jar. Secure the cheese cloth to the top of the jar with just the lid ring. Cover the jar with a small hand towel and place in the refrigerator and let it continue draining overnight. In the morning, transfer to an airtight container for later use.
You can plan to eat the fresh warm Ricotta, in a far more sophisticated manner than right out of the cheese cloth as yours truly, just place the Ricotta in a serving dish and drizzle with fine finishing olive oil. Serve on warm crusty bread, crackers, fresh fruit, what ever your imagination allows. It’s hard to beat no matter what you pair it with.
Served warm on grilled sourdough bread, with fig spread…one of my absolutely favorite ways to enjoy this.
Warm ricotta on squares of toasted bread is perfect served as an appetizer.
And… it is also excellent eaten as a desert. Top with cinnamon and sugar inside a crepe, or over fresh fruit drizzled with honey…and warm…it’s wonderfully amazing.
Another favorite is a spoon full of ricotta drizzled with a little honey…it is just so good.
*Don’t throw out the whey…plants love it, especially Azaleas.
