Homemade Ricotta

I have a severe fear of needles.  Yesterday, I had four shots. It was a day.

Well in truth it ended up not being that bad, and all my angst on the drive to the doctor’s office was really for nothing. But I had no way of knowing that beforehand.  I have no specific memory of getting shots when I was little, yet in my mind, they all involved a huge needle that was jammed halfway into my arm causing intense pain. Clearly my memory does not capture any form of reality. Turns out shots are super tiny and just involve a little prick.  Even after having four you can do things like dance away on the elliptical and then come home and make ricotta cheese from scratch.

Making ricotta was the first item I crossed off my “to cook” summer list.  I wouldn’t say it’s particularly summery but it’s been popping up a lot on blogs lately and I wanted to have my hand at it.  Plus you’re making cheese- way way cool. I followed Deb’s recipe* and found the whole process so soothing.  Perhaps it seemed extra soothing in light of the earlier events in the day, but still, there was a simplicity and calmness to the whole thing that I liked.

If that’s not enough reason to make ricotta at home, then the fact that it requires only four ingredients should (milk, cream, salt, and lemon juice).  Ok, five if you count the cheese cloth.  Living at home means things like cheese cloth are just around. You know how that is?  Moms just have this stuff.  So thanks, mom!

*My ricotta was a bit runnier that I would have liked, likely due to the fact that I messed around with the proportions too much and didn’t use enough cream.  I plan I use my ricotta for homemade pizza, so the texture will be fine, but if you’d like a thicker version, I recommend using at least one cup of cream in the recipe.