Ricotta

Once again I am experimenting a bit, this time with cheese. I've tried making my own ricotta! When you think about cheese, or at least I,you think about a process that takes a lot of time and that includes lots of different elements, but the ricotta was really quite different than what I expected. It took a little bit longer for me than it should have done because I was unsure if ricotta had begun to curdle or not, but if you follow this recipe, it is possible to hvae your own, homemade ricotta in about 20 minutes and it was incredibly easy.

Ricotta

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup whole plain greek yogurt

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions:

In a medium saucepan, add whole milk, heavy cream, greek yogurt, lemon juice and kosher salt, whisking to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until the mixture begins to curdle.

While the mixture is warming up, line a colander with a kitchen towel. Set the lined colander over a tall bowl.

Once the mixture curdles, pour into the colander. Let drain for about 5 minutes for a creamier ricotta. Drain for about 15 minutes for a dry ricotta. Transfer the ricotta to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

I didn't think my ricotta curdled quite as I expected it to do so I cooked it for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I found that it still didn't curlde, so I took it off the stove and strained it anyway, and to my delight the runny white liquid became ricotta! And a really good one! Recipes using ricotta to come shortly.