I Can Make What?! - Ricotta Cheese

A close up of the beautiful, delicious and addictive ricotta cheese. 

Yesterday I had an OMG moment that was amazing party in my mouth with my taste buds doing the happy dance. And it was all because of RICOTTA cheese. SAY WHAT?! I know! I was eating it out of the bowl with a spoon!

I have never craved ricotta once in my life. In fact, I only buy it at the grocery store when I need it for lasagna. 

The game changer: making it myself! Words cannot describe how easy this is to make and ridiculously rewarding. I had originally made this a few years ago and was first of all shocked at how easy it was (why do people buy the bad tasting stuff at the grocery store?!) and it was delicious but then I never made it again because life got busy.

Fast forward to last week, I needed some ricotta but didn't want to go to the store (sometimes quick errands are not worth the hassle with a little one!). Randomly I had discussed making this with my neighbor a few days before and thought, huh, I bet I could make it today. I googled a recipe (of course, I didn't save the one I had used before) and found this gem from Ina Garten. 

Side note diatribe...Ina Garten is my new chef food crush. I used to not like her at all but recently I realized I misunderstood her & what she's about. The theme of her new book Make It Ahead (love!) and the press surrounding it's release totally changed my mind & she's amazing!!!

Back to the story...I found the recipe, had all of the ingredients & cheesecloth and voila! In less than 30 minutes I had this gorgeous ricotta ready to go! Flash forward to yesterday, I wanted to make lasagna. I was in a grocery store (won't name names of where) & I had this classic experience of: store, I want to hand you my money for this product but you are making it soooo difficult right now! I couldn't reach the large size (short-people problems), and the small sizes I picked up, they had busted (I even got store bought ricotta goo on my hands, yuck!) and that right there encouraged me to make my own, better tasting ricotta again, at home!

Once it was finished, I took a bite, then another, then another and I literally had to exercise my rarely used self-control to keep from eating the entire batch. I knew Cory would freak out about it too, so being the nice foodie wife that I am, I saved a bowl for him. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have taken these pics for you to see the yumminess!

What you need: cheesecloth & I recommend a Dutch oven

Recipe:

4 C milk (I used 1%, Ina recommends whole)

2 C whipping cream (yes!)

1 T kosher salt

3 T white wine vinegar

Mix milk & whipping cream together in the dutch oven. Then mix in the kosher salt. Bring to a full boil over medium heat.

While waiting for the mixture to boil, get out your cheesecloth. Wet your cheesecloth (wring it out) and then line a large strainer with the cheesecloth. Set the strainer over a bowl; this is where you will pour your milk mixture and your ricotta will form.

Once the milk mixture is boiling, turn off the heat and mix in the white wine vinegar. Ina says that this starts the separation process of the whey from the curds. Let this mixture sit for one minute.

Next, pour your milk mixture into the strainer with the cheesecloth and let sit about 20 - 25 minutes. You can let it sit longer and it will continue to thicken.

A few ways I like to use ricotta:

Lasagna

Toss the ricotta with some pesto and already cooked noodles in a skillet to heat for a moment or two and you have a luscious and filling quick dinner. Toss on some grilled chicken, perfection. 

Here is the link to the original recipe from Ina. She recommends using a high quality white wine vinegar, I just had the basic kind, so I can't wait to try the recipe with a really nice one! Ina's Ricotta Recipe