Ricotta Cheese

This youtube video is almost exactly what I have done.  I got my recipe from a Williams-Sonoma cookbook called Family Meals by Maria Helm Sinskey.  She's my new favorite cookbook writer.  The cookbook was a mother's day present to myself (although I wrapped it so the kids could see me open it).  What an awesome find.  The pictures are lovely, the pages are nice and heavy, and so far we've had great results with the recipes.

So Sinskey's ricotta recipe is:

1 gallon whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tsp. salt

So just do as the video demonstrates.  Heat milk and cream to just shy of 185 F (according to Sinskey and I've had great results), remove from heat, add vinegar, stir.  The curds form immediately--the first time we used the recipe I made it to show a chemical reaction for science.  Now I'm addicted.

Sinskey has you cover the pan and let cool down for 2 hours, then line a strainer with cheesecloth and drain.  It works best, as I've learned from experience, to put the curds in the strainer using a spoon rather than dumping it all in.

Drain for about 30 minutes. Try not to eat it all during the draining process.  After the 30 minutes, gather the cheesecloth by the corners and twist together to force more liquid out.  "When the liquid turns from clear to milky and the cheese starts to push through the cheesecloth, it has drained enough."

I saved the whey (leftover liquid) to put in my smoothies and bread and anything else that occurs to me.  You can freeze it and it's super healthy.  

I highly recommend the cook book too.  I bought it for $8 at Seagull Book.  It is worth waaayyyy more.

I let the kids each pick a recipe to try.  Eli picked blueberry pancakes.  SO YUMMY!!  Miriam picked overnight cinnamon rolls.  They were okay but my mom's recipe is in a totally different league, so skip that one.  Emeline picked yogurt parfaits and they were yummy.  Cowen picked sourdough ham and gruyere cheese paninis.  More on that later.  So good!  The great thing is that lots of interesting things are explained, like how to make ricotta cheese, in an accessible way.

Now that we've tried everyone's first pick, we're starting on round two tomorrow with Miriam's selection: lemony lemon bread.  Cowen picked crispy shrimp with real lemony mayo (I LOVE HIS PICKS!!!), Eli and Emeline are still deciding.  I'll let you know how they turn out.  In the meantime, make ricotta.  It is so so so so so so so so yummy!