I love to experiment in the kitchen. Last month I tried my hand at homemade buffalo mozzarella. It was a big failure. I don't give up, though, so when I found a recipe for homemade ricotta cheese I decided to give it a try. Like the buffalo mozzarella, the ricotta was easy to do and my results were much more successful. I ended up with the most delicious tasting riccota you can imagine. Right out of the strainer, it's warm, smoothe and ever so delicious. I used a little extra salt. Since it contains no preservatives it should be used within 2-3 days. Here's the recipe for ricotta cheese, and a quick and simple salad I made using this deliciousness.
Fresh Ricotta Cheese
9 cups whole milk
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
Combine milk and heat over medium heat to 185 degrees, and a foam covers the top of the milk. Add salt and vinegar, mix in and let mixture sit for 5-10 minutes. During this time do NOT stir. Curds will form and the cheese will do its magic. After 10 minutes, remove curds to a strainer. What's left is the whey, which you throw away. Let the ricotta drain for 10 minutes, then taste. Ohhhhh, it's delicious, warm and creamy. However, I coolded it an made the following salad for dinner.
Fresh Ricotta, Beet and Heirloom Tomato Salad
1 large beet(serve plain or pickled)
Fresh ricotta cheese
1 large heirloom tomato
Boil water, drop in beet, cook for 45 minutes, or until skin can be easily removed with your fingers and beet is cooked. Remove skin, slice beets, or dice if you prefer. At this point you may serve the beets, or I made pickled beets by adding a bit of vinegar and little sugar to sliced beets and refrigerating for an hour.
Take heirloom tomato and quarter, but do not remove completely. In other words, cut through tomato almost all the way so you can separate and stuff. Fill with homemade ricotta. Complete the dish by taking sliced or diced beets and spreading around the tomato. Add a touch of olive oil and some freshly ground salt to taste for a fabulous lunch entree. I just love this salad.
One final way to enjoy the fresh ricotta for breakfast or dessert is to top ricotta with a little honey, and few nuts. I hope you enjoy making your own ricotta and some of these unique ways of serving it.
Can't wait to try this, have thought about making fresh ricotta so you've spurred to action. Speaking of beets, I just harvested a few more yesterday and made a pot of Hungarian Borscht...beet and cabbage soup, served with dollops of sour cream on top...SO delicious...have you ever had this wonderfully good, and good for you, soup? It was a soup my mother often made when I was little, with fresh from the garden ingredients.
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