Over the summer, D, his younger sister M, his mother M Sr. and I took a cheese class at a dairy outside of Indianapolis. We learned to make all sorts of fabulous milk-based products, but I left more glum than ever: With no access to raw milk locally, how would I make such wonderful goods? [I would like to note this is M and M Sr.’s first appearance in this blog. I heard Jr. trolls diligently for a mention instead of studying.]
Maybe I’ll say those rawless days are over. Maybe I won’t. But I will say I happily made some homemade ricotta and lived to tell the tale– and how easy it was!
With a 1/2 gallon of milk I produced just over 2 cups of ricotta to sprinkle on the lovely pizza above. There may have been more, but I had to…er… test… the cheese as the curds were nice and warm and forming.
Dust off those nursery rhyme days. Remember Ms. Muffet? Eating her curds and whey? In truly simplified terms, one way to get curds is to treat milk with an acid (like vinegar or lemon juice) or rennet, letting milk sour will also form curds. The leftover liquid is whey.
Traditional ricotta is made with the leftover whey of cheese production (it means “recooked” in Italian). In this instance, I made whole milk ricotta (made from well, whole milk). Unfortunately, when you make ricotta using whole milk, you cannot use the leftover whey to make more ricotta as all the proteins have bound together into curds. The leftover whey can be used to take a milk bath, in a shake, in bread, to feed your chickens or, in my instance, I added the leftover whey to a roasted tomato soup. It has so many great minerals and vitamins in it you don’t want to waste it.
Ricotta is so simple to make and you will be surprised at how delicious the results are. It might even cause you to get your cannoli dough ring out! I have heard from someone that everyone should have one homemade cheese recipe up their sleeve. With ricotta being possibly the easiest cheese to make (shall we say it’s a gateway cheese?), why not give it a try?
Use a high quality milk. If you do not have access to raw milk, try to acquire minimally pasteurized organic milk or other good quality organic milk.
In the class I took it was suggested to make the ricotta in the morning before you go to work, let it sit undisturbed for the day and then drain it at night.
This is the recipe I received from the Indiana farm.
Homemade Ricotta
Makes 2 cups
Active time: 30 minutes. Inactive time 4 hours
1/2 gallon good quality milk (raw is best)
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
salt to taste
1) Pour milk into a heavy bottom, non-aluminum pot, and warm over medium heat. Stir the milk occasionally as it warms. As the milk heats, stir occasionally. Steam will rise and small bubbles will begin to form around the edge. Measure the temperature with a thermometer.
2) When the milk reaches 180-185 F remove from heat, add vinegar and stir gently for one minute (curds should begin to form immediately). Add salt and cover with a clean dry kitchen towel. Let sit for at least 2 hours, undisturbed.
3) Once rested, assemble a double layer of damp cheese cloth in a colander set over a large bowl (enough to hold a 1/2 gallon of liquid. Slowly and gently pour the ricotta into the cheesecloth. Let drain for 2 hours.
4) Lift the cheesecloth by the four corners, twisting gently. When dripping has stopped, transfer to an airtight container and consume withing 7 days. For a more firm ricotta, let drain longer.
Oh, and what about that glowing pizza, right? It’s a whole wheat, millet flour and thyme crust with pureed beets mixed into tomato paste as the sauce. Topped with local pastured spicy sausage, crimini mushrooms, homemade ricotta and fresh basil. A healthy option for pizza does exist!