Cheese, Please

                                     (Image from Flickr)
A friend of mine was celebrating her birthday the other week and was craving a lasagna.  She shared her recipe with me and I saw it called for ricotta cheese - a typical ingredient you'd expect to see in a lasagna recipe.  I mentioned to my friend that her recipe would be 'over the top' good if she made her own ricotta cheese.  At first I think people are intimidated by the sound of making cheese...don't be.  If you can boil milk you can make ricotta cheese.  And once you do you'll never go back to buying the plastic-like cheese out of the plastic container at the supermarket.  Of course you can incorporate the ricotta into your favourite recipe or just smear it on some bread (preferrably grilled bread - YUM!) or crackers.  Here's how to do it.

Homemade Ricotta
4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Pour the milk and cream into a pot and add the salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Once brought to a boil, turn off the hear and stir in the vinegar.  Then the magic happens!  Within a minute the mixture will separate into curds (the thick clumps) and whey (the milky liquid).  Pour the entire mixture into a sieve that is lined with a thick layer of cheesecloth and suspend the sieve over a large bowl.  The whey will then drain out (which will drain into the bowl).  The longer you leave it to drain the thicker the ricotta will get, but you'll have something yummy after only 20 minutes or so.  Leave it longer if you prefer a thicker consistency.  If you don't use it right away it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.  And be sure not to throw out the whey.  There's lots of good protein here and you can add it to soups or smoothies.

See, I told you it would be easy!