How to Make Fresh Ricotta
It’s easy and economical and tastes amazing. Melissa Clark shows how to make ricotta cheese at home.
By David Frank on Publish Date April 6, 2012.Melissa Clark is the author of the column “A Good Appetite” and a number of cookbooks, including the recent “Cook This Now.” She offers more recipes on her blog.
Why make homemade ricotta? Because you can. And because the results are so much better than most of the packaged stuff you can buy, especially at the supermarket. Making it yourself is also less expensive than buying fresh ricotta at a fancy gourmet market. You can watch this week’s video for some of the nuances of the process, but here’s the basic recipe, which is pretty straightforward.
And by the way, save the whey! It’s fantastic in soups and breads, or even as a poaching medium for chicken or fish.
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Ingredients
- 1 quart whole milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 cup plain whole yogurt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Method
- 1. Line a colander with a quadruple layer of cheesecloth and set it over a bowl.
- 2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, whisk together all ingredients until smooth. Bring to a simmer and heat until the mixture just begins to curdle. Pour mixture into colander. (For a drier ricotta with bigger curds, continue to simmer 1 to 2 minutes longer until mixture completely separates.)
- 3. Stop draining when mixture begins to look like ricotta, 5 to 15 minutes, depending on how dry you like it. Transfer to an airtight container and store for up to two weeks.
Source: The New York Times