Homemade Ricotta Cheese Recipe

Today, for the first time, I made ricotta cheese. That’s right, from scratch. Sounds a little fancy for a Wednesday afternoon activity doesn’t it? But as it turns out, making ricotta is about as simple as making porridge. It involves stirring two ingredients, followed by straining. Et voila! No more. A monkey could probably do it. 

The inspiration for making ricotta was derived from my recently purchased copy of Mark Bittman’s book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It’s a book I came into contact with when staying with my friend Alice in Munich. At first I was slightly disturbed – it doesn’t include any pictures. I’m a visual creature and most of my cookbooks are filled with mouth-watering images of dishes. I soon realised however that Bittman’s tome is akin to an encyclopaedia covering everything from making bread, to pasta, and (to my surprise) cheese. I bought a copy as soon as I could, and have been reading it for the last couple of weeks.    

Ricotta is a huge part of Italian cuisine, and Italian cuisine is very influential in Australia. Partly because of this, and partly because at the age of thirteen I promptly announced I was a vegetarian, spinach and ricotta cannelloni was on weekly rotation at my house. We used store bought ricotta, and until I read Bittman’s book, I had not actually considered making fresh cheese.  

Traditionally ricotta can be made with sheep, goat, cow, or buffalo milk, but most store bought varieties are made of cow’s milk. It’s also technically a curd, as opposed to a cheese, as it’s made from whey. In Segur le Chateau, our petit epcierie sells local fresh goat’s cheese, which I now realise may be made in a similar way to ricotta. I need to look into that!

Ricotta takes on the taste of the milk that it is made with, so it’s wise to source milk that is as fresh as possible. I asked Kristoph if he’d consider buying me a cow and milking it. He declined. We agreed we’d keep our ear out for fresh milk sources from nearby farms. In the meantime I settled with an organic, whole, cow’s milk.  

Here’s the very simple recipe:

Recipe:

Note – you will need some muslin or cheesecloth to use for straining.

2L whole milk

2 cups buttermilk

Sea salt

Step 1: On a medium to high setting, heat the milk in a heavy bottom pot for 10-15 minutes until the milk bubbles up the sides. Stir it occasionally to prevent the milk from scorching.  

Step 2: Add the buttermilk to the boiling milk and stir. Like magic the curds will separate from the whey. Once separated remove from the heat and stir in a pinch of sea salt.

  

Step 3: Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth over a strainer. The curds will collect at the bottom and the whey will drain off. Leave for between 30 and 60 minutes depending on how dry you would like the ricotta. The longer you leave it the drier it will become. 

Step 4: Eat right away, or scoop into a sealed container and refrigerate. Use wthin 3-4 days. 

 

So this week I am focusing on developing my ricotta making skills, and experimenting with ricotta-based recipes. In  the next couple of days I’ll be posting on my take on ricotta gnudi with sage and brown butter, and then moving on to baked ricotta.

Do you have any favourite ricotta-based dishes? If so, please do let me know in the comments box below. I’d love to read your ideas, and to try more savoury and sweet ricotta dishes.

Tangy Pink Grapefruit Curd

Curd is somewhat of a new concept to me. Growing up in a small town in Victoria, Australia, it wasn’t something we ate. Our toast was smeared with vegemite. A cliché? Yes. An accurate one? Yes, also. Being a slightly contrary child, I declared at a young age my preference for promite, to vegemite. 

I was imitating my maternal grandfather, also contrary by nature, and of whom I was very fond. Like him, I mixed my tomato sauce, with Worcester sauce, making a fairly tart concoction, affectionately termed (and also labelled) Pa’s Sauce. We ate it with ham that my grandfather cut in thing slices from the bone.

But alas, I digress. The point is: my childhood toast was smeared with a dark brown, salty, yeasty paste. Not curd. It wasn’t until I landed in London in 2005, and discovered excellent British yoghurts, that I was introduced to lemon curd. Full fat Greek style yoghurt infused with lemon curd quickly became one of my favourite breakfasts. I was informed by my British friends that lemon curd was also excellent on toast, scones, waffles, crumpets and pancakes, as well as for flavouring tarts or cakes. It’s an institution.    

For Christmas this year, Kristoph’s mother, keen to nurture my interest in foraging, preserving and cooking, gave me Catherine Atkinson and Maggie Mayhew’s book titled: Preserves. Inside there’s over 150 jam, pickles, relishes, chutney and curd recipes.  

Drawn immediately to the grapefruit curd recipe, I was amazed at its apparent simplicity. Trecipe came at an opportune time, given I’ve been recently waxing lyrical to Kristoph about the beauty of cut grapefruit, and just how photogenic the fruit is. He hinted he thinks I’m slightly off kilter. Ho hum.

And so I made my first batch of grapefruit curd. It’s sweet, tangy, and as predicted delicious swirled into Greek yoghurt. If I were to make scones and invite you around to tea, I’d likely serve it. Admittedly it may not fit into my recent – completely healthy January - ethos, it is sugar based. But, in defence of curd, it’s almost a garnish, a little goes a long way. So January remains fairly healthy, with the occasional treat thrown in.    

Here’s the Preserves recipe, the only change I made was to use pink grapefruit, as opposed to yellow ones. I hope you like it.

Recipe:

(Make 650 grams of curd)

Finely grated rind of 1 pink grapefruit

Juice of 1 pink grapefruit

200 grams caster sugar

4 large eggs (lightly beaten)

115 grams unsalted butter (cut in cubes)

Sterilised jars

Step 1: Heat the grapefruit juice, rind, butter, and sugar in a heatproof bowl, over simmering water. Heat until the sugar has dissolved and the butter melted. 

Step 2: Strain the lightly beaten eggs through a sieve. Whisk together, and heat until the mixture thickens. You will know it is done, when the mixture lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon.

Step 3: Place the mixture in warmed sterilized jars. Cover and seal. Use the curb within three months. 

Enjoy! Have you made any other curd flavors? I’m keen to make more. Also, please let me know if you make this and how it turns out.