Do it yourself Ricotta!

Whenever I go to a restaurant and I see ricotta made in house on the menu I am mind blown. I think its amazing when a restaurant cures their own sausages or barrels their own wine or even their own cheese. Little did I know you could make your own ricotta at home without needing any fancy equipment! For those of you who don't really know what ricotta is, ricotta is a soft crumbly creamy cheese that you can add to pasta or a burger or salad or like I did on a charchuterie plate with mixed cured meats and condiments and fresh bread.

Simple Homemade Ricotta

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Amount of time it will take: 2 hours

Equipment: 1 pot, 1 wooden spoon to stir, cheese cloth, fine sieve

Ingredients:

• 1 Litre of Homogenized Milk
• 473 milliliters of Heavy Cream
• 1 lemon
• salt
• fresh thyme (optional)

Steps:
1. Layer the sieve with about 5 layers of cheesecloth and set aside

2. Place the milk, cream, and salt into the pot and place it on medium-high heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure its not burning on the bottom of the pot.

3. Take it off the heat and stir in 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. The milk will start to curdle. If it doesn't start to curdle place the pot back on the stove over a low heat and after you see it curdling then take it off the heat and let it get to room temperature.

4. After the milk mixture seems to be done curdling pour in the cheese cloth lined collander and leave for an hour. This will give time for the ricotta to drain... After the hour finishes squeeze the ricotta to make sure most of it is drained. You don't want the ricotta dry... this isn't parmesan cheese. 
 




5. Place the strained ricotta in a bowl. If you tasted it you'll notice the ricotta really tastes of nothing so at that point I added fresh lemon zest from the lemon you just used and add in some thyme and a bit more salt so you can taste salt in it. 






After you make your own ricotta I guarantee you won't want to buy store bought ricotta anymore. A quick snack you can make with  your homemade ricotta is toast some baguette, spread some ricotta on, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top, slice a tomato, place it on top of the ricotta, salt and pepper on top and add some basil....DONE  easy peasy lemon squeezy. Now you can tell your friends you made your own cheese and they will be amazed! This could be your little secret!


Enjoy! Eat well! 


KMW