Homemade Ricotta -- Where Have You Been All My Life?
I'm sure you more seasoned chefs have been making ricotta for years. I've never even contemplated it. Long story short, ended up with whole milk rather than the usual 2% milk due to a little "miscommunication". Nothing was inspiring me, and I couldn't throw it away (my grandmother would have been perched on my shoulder whispering "isn't that a shame" the whole time it glugged down the drain:) Came upon Smitten Kitchen Ricotta. Had some lemons, so I went for it with visions of lasagna for dinner tonight.
Thermometer jerry-rig on stove (ultimate lazy) to reach 190 degrees/then cooling five minutes.
No cheesecloth -- towel will have to do.
After an hour.
then fluffed.
Even though I doubled the recipe, I was a bit under for the lasagna. Such a shame -- after tasting it, I had visions of putting it on just about everything:) Are there t-shirts like the ones on the altered food thread, proclaiming this distinct delicacy? I'd wear one:)
I'd show you the lasagna, but can I tell you I screwed it up? Just keeping it real. Not only did I forget to put the mozzarella in with the ricotta (had to add it as a layer), but then I screwed up the layers too. Oh, and then my son had a piece before it actually cooled so we had some flowing, kind of melding layers HA! Not too pretty.
Putting this one in the arsenal though.
Cathy in SWPA
ps Promise, I've tried to make these pictures smaller, but they never post that way:)
Comments (19)
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agooh yes! I only made it once a couple years ago and it was wonderful! I bought citric acid just to try a recipe I found on-line.... I may have even used 2% milk! If FB was easier to search, I could tell you exactly when and how I made it. lol! I need to make it again but BF is a big milk drinker, so I never have enough extra milk. :)
lindac, from what I've read you just shouldn't use ultra-pasturized milk. oops... misunderstood what you were saying, so deleting my blah blah blah. :)
ETA: I found the recipe I used as a basis... I remember now that I had a half-gallon of 1% milk for some odd reason and the recipe said 2% worked fine, so.... I went by the seat of my pants. I heated 1/2 gal of 1% milk over medium heat til 200F. Removed from heat and added 1/2 tsp citric acid powder and 1/2 tsp salt, stirred, then let sit for around 15 min. Lifted the cheese from the whey with a slotted spoon, then just poured the rest through a regular strainer. Came out great and no fussing with cheesecloth or anything. :) Here's my 1% version. Linda, you could easily split this and try a small batch w/ 1 qt of your lactaid milk.
:)
- 8 years ago
Ha! I can't take credit for the jerry-rig -- I had the "initiative" to look on line:), but I'll pretty much do anything to NOT stand at the stove. Yes, I tried to make this smaller; yes, I send thermometer pics to my kids so they'll try to cook more:) Poaching chicken breasts.
Lars, I'd love to see if you try cheese-making -- I know you're an adventurous cook:) I don't eat a lot of milk products cause I can never quite tell what the reaction is going to be, but I'll take a risk to a have just a bit of this.Going to watch Ina, Cindy Mac. She's usually my go-to as her recipes are pretty spot-on. Plus, she doesn't like cilantro and neither do I, so we have that in common --LOL!
And chloebud, oh my. That sounds delicious.
Annie! My grandmother said that too! HA! She's also the one that taught me to knead over the phone when she lived in Pittsburgh, and I lived in New Jersey. I loved when we moved back to the 'burgh -- this woman always had great food even when you dropped in unexpectedly. I digress, but I miss her:) So, I'm now probably going to go down the mozzarella rabbit hole some time this summer because your thread was pretty inspirational HA! Thank you so much for finding it. My goodness, what a fun and unique time! Is there a hint for this or will I know:
"The curd was cut into large chunks. If you cut it too soon,
it affects the texture and results in dray grainy cheese, so timing is crucial."And I love this encouragement: "Mozzarella takes between half an hour and an hour, I was surprised it went so well. Trust me, you could do it."
Have to look for rennet and citric acid too.
Linda, I googled lactose free ricotta and there are some sites. Can't verify this one, but it looked similar to the process I used Lactose Free Ricotta. There is also a you tube. You're such a seasoned cook, if you have some milk left over give it a whirl and make our grandmothers smile:)
Laceyvail, that's a good idea.
Cathy in SWPA
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