Making Ricotta Cheese Just Got Ridiculously Easy

STOP EVERYTHING AND MAKE CHEESE. Finals got you down? Looking for new and noteworthy methods of procrastination? Want to make your mom something nice for Mother's Day? Or maybe you're like me and you can just eat ricotta with a spoon out of the container.

Pesto Sandwich with Homemade Ricotta

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Witchcraft? I wish. It is ridiculously simple, though. Recipe below.

Ingredients

recipe adapted from here
Difficulty level: easy
Cook time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 cup and change

2 cups of half and half

1 cup of 1% milk

2 cups of skim milk.

1 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. white vinegar*

Colander

Cheesecloth

Patience

Note: That's a really weird combination of dairy, you're thinking. You're right. You can make ricotta with any kind of milk/cream, but since I had this combination of milks, this is what I went with. Just make sure you have 5 cups of liquid : 3 tbsp of acid, and you're golden. (Suggested proportion: 4 cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream. Trust me. It's amazing. Plus, the more fat in the liquid, the easier/faster the curdling and straining.)

Method

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Put the five cups of liquid in a pot and heat over medium heat. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon to make sure the bottom doesn't scorch and/or stick to the pan. Add salt and stir.

Heat for 10 minutes, or until you see froth forming up top (like so). Do not boil the milk. Just say no to the bubbles.

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That’s your cue to take the pot off the stove and put it on the counter. Then, add your vinegar. The milk will curdle immediately.

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Take the spoon out of the pot, and set a kitchen timer for 5 minutes. Let the whole business sit and breathe. Meanwhile, set up your colander with a container for draining and two layers of cheesecloth.

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After your 5 minutes are up, drain the mixture. Depending on how much fat was in the liquid, you should see the curds distinctly separated from the whey. Let the cheese sit in the cheesecloth for 30-45 minutes. You can even tie it to your faucet, but I only had cut pieces of cheesecloth so I opted out.

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Let it sit as long as you possibly can, and then take out the cheesecloth and transfer the ricotta to a container. Look at it, beam with pride. You just made cheese!

TA DA.

Serving suggestion: On a sandwich, with pesto and roasted red peppers. (pictured above.)

On a cracker, with red pepper flakes and olive oil. On pasta with garlic, fresh herbs and lemon zest, or even in your morning omelette. The possibilities are never-ending.

*- Some recipes recommend lemon juice, but I find that the curdling is much easier with vinegar. You don't taste the vinegar (fat helps with that) and sometimes a strong lemon flavor is something you don't really want in your ricotta.