A Special Dinner at Home: Part II

Homemade ricotta. Sounds intimidating, right? Nope. Not so much. Can you dump into a pot? Can you open and measure milk? Then you can make ricotta. And you will not be sorry--it is SO GOOD.

I used this recipe from Ina Garten. 

• 4 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons good white wine vinegar

Ok, so we start with the milk.

Measure out the milk and pour into a pot. Add salt and bring to a boil. I stirred the mixture a lot so it wouldn't burn. After it comes to a boil, add the vinegar and turn off the heat. I didn't have white wine vinegar, so I used red.

 

 The acid in the vinegar will cause the milk to curdle. It will separate into curds and whey. Next, dump the whole shebang into a strainer lined with cheesecloth that's been placed over a bowl. See? Here we have the curds.

All the whey will drain off, and the curds will thicken. I let mine sit for a good hour at least, so when I finally served it, it was pretty thick, like cream cheese.

I even thickened more after this photo. I served the ricotta on my homemade pasta (coming soon! Next post) and it was Top 5 Things I Have Ever Made.
With the remaining ricotta, I even used it like cream cheese--on a bagel with cranberry sauce, it was epic. And on a pizza with roasted garlic and prosciutto, it was transcendent.
So don't let the name intimidate you--it's really easy. Give it a whirl!