Ricotta

It’s been a while, I know.  But when Lauren of Recipes to Rivals decided to make Ricotta this month, something I’ve been meaning to try since I learned how easy it was this summer, well, I couldn’t resist.  And boy, it hardly takes any time at all.

I picked up a gallon of the freshest organic milk I could at the local grocery store.  I was hoping to buy the local Pittsford Dairy brand, but it was not available.  That and a quart of butter milk and I was set.  I dug out our biggest pot, poured it all in, and set the burner on medium high (there was a lot of liquid to heat).

I had other things to do that evening, mainly, make myself dinner.  So I slung the meat thermometer over the side, securing it with a rubber band on the handle of the pot, and just left a big spoon in the pot for easy stirring every time I strolled by.  It took a while, but as the temperature approached 85, magic started to happen.  Curds formed in the foam on top.  I stirred them in, but they kept forming and forming, and before I knew it, I had translucent whey (sorry, I forgot to snap a picture).

Next, the curds had to be strained.  The challenge called for fine cheesecloth.  I had some natural cheescloth that didn’t look too fine to me, so I folded the whole thing up to make 4 layers and straining was prefect!

I let the curds drain for a while, and also tried to squeeze some of the moisture out.  That wasn’t such a good idea.  I ended up with a few large curds that didn’t mix very easily in next days dinner.  Next time, I’ll just leave everything to drain for half-an-hour and then package it away.

I ended up making Ricotta and spinach filled Cannelloni, and my roommate used a little bit to make some cannoli, like in some earlier posts.

Very tasty, very easy, and well worth a second try… hopefully with super fresh milk!