Home made Ricotta

 Necessity is the mother of invention, it is said.  But laziness or inconvenience has got to factor in there somewhere. 

I was making my Microwave Lasagna the other day, realized I didn't have any Ricotta cheese and did not feel like driving 7 miles to the store, then paying the money for Ricotta cheese, especially when I only really needed 1/2 cup or so.  

So I made some.  Ricotta Cheese that is. 

Anyway,  you can make it as well.  All you need is milk and some lemon or lime juice or even vinegar.    

BTW, this doesn't work with UHT milk.  Something to do with how the milk proteins are stabilized in the process.  

It works best with whole milk, if you want to plan ahead, or do as I did, wing it.   I have 2 % milk and about a half cup of heavy cream.  So I combined them in a glass measuring cup, zapped it, and then added some lemon and some lime juice.

I tried to strain it using a coffee filter inside of a strainer, but that did not work, so I pulled out my handy, dandy, old flour sack dish towels and used that to strain the cheese.   

I got just over a half cup of Ricotta Cheese from 2 cups of 2 % milk and a scant half cup of heavy cream.  

You can add salt to it, if you wish, I don't cause I do try to limit my intake of salt.  And I think it tastes just fine without it.  

This is how it looks after being 'squeezed' a little. I use a rubber spatula to scrape the cheese from the cloth and place it in a container to use. 

As I said, I got just barely over a half cup of cheese, which was just about perfect for my recipe. 

The leftover whey, that's the liquid you strained out, was used for this loaf of No Knead Bread.   Which just so happened to be one of the better tasting breads I've ever made. 

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Home made Ricotta

Yield: 1 cup if using whole milk

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking -

Prep time: 2 MinCook time: 7 MinTotal time: 9 Min

This Ricotta cheese can be used cup for cup just like the Ricotta you buy in the store.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole milk
• juice from one lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt- totally optional

Instructions:

1. Juice on lemon and set juice aside.
2. Heat milk to almost boiling in the microwave, 200 degrees, or until a slight skim forms on top of the milk.
3. If heating on stove, medium heat and almost continual stirring to keep it from scorching.
4. As soon as milk is hot, add the lemon juice and salt if desired.  Stir to combine.  Pour the mixture into a sieve lined with either cheesecloth or a flour sack towel.  Drain, reserving the whey or liquid. 
5. Use as you would any ricotta. 
6. NOTE:  For a softer ricotta, do not drain as much, reserving some of the liquid.   You can also add some Ultra pasteurized  cream to the milk, which will also yield a softer ricotta. 

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