Homemade ricotta cheese - it's so easy!

You know when you pin some recipe on Pinterest and you think it's really cool, but in the back of your mind you know you're probably never gonna make it? Well, this was one of those things. I liked the idea of making ricotta cheese at home, but I didn't actually think I'd ever do it. Honestly, I probably don't even buy ricotta cheese more than once or twice a year, but something came over me and I just had the incredible urge to make cheese! 

I looked at the recipe I had saved on pinterest and realized I didn't have the ingredients needed. So, I did a little googling (yep, that's totally a verb) and found that the patron saint of cheese-making had a recipe I could get down with: Martha Stewart's Homemade Ricotta 

Since I really had no rhyme or reason for making this, I certainly didn't need to make a lot of it. So I halved Martha's recipe and it yielded a little less than a cup of ricotta cheese. 

I followed the instructions precisely and ended up with delicious and creamy cheese with just a hint of lemon flavor, and then I salted it more than suggested. 

Martha Stewart's Homemade Ricotta Recipe:

4 cups whole milk 

1 cup heavy cream 

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (optional) 

Juice of 1 lemon

1. Combine milk, heavy cream, and salt (if using) in a nonreactive heavy bottomed saucepan. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
2. Add lemon juice and continue to boil, stirring constantly until curds separate, about 1 minute. It may be necessary to adjust the heat to prevent cream from overflowing.
3. Pour into a very fine-mesh stainless steel strainer. Place strainer over a bowl that is deep enough for the strainer to sit over and not touch the liquid. Allow cheese to drain for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Discard liquid and transfer ricotta to a covered container. Refrigerate until ready to use, or up to 3 days.

Marissa's Homemade Bruschetta Recipe:

2 - 3 ripe vine or beefsteak tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 medium red onion, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 - 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan

1 teaspoons dried basil (or fresh if you've got it)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and let rest at least 10 minutes for flavors to combine. 
2. Serve over grilled toast or with crackers and garnish with fresh parsley. Heck, you can even throw some homemade ricotta on that toast first if you're feeling crazy! 

Tweet

Pin It