Homemade ricotta cheese is so different in texture and flavor from the bland, gritty-textured stuff in the refrigerator case, it’s almost unrecognizable. It’s sweet and soft, with a consistency that more closely resembles whipped cream than cheese. It’s luxurious layered into lasagna, rolled into cannelloni, or stirred into sauces, but it’s good enough to enjoy on its own – try a dollop of ricotta for breakfast or dessert, drizzled with honey and scattered with fresh berries.
The process for making ricotta is simple. The only step that requires special care and attention is in the boiling of the milk mixture. Use a pot that you think is too large for the quantity of liquid – if you’ve ever boiled milk you know that milk takes its time coming to a simmer and then can go from a placid creamy pool to an exploding volcano of foam in the three seconds when you have your back turned. Using a larger pot will contain the situation if it does get out of hand, but paying attention at a key point in the process will avoid this problem altogether: when the surface of the milk starts to wrinkle and pucker you know it’s getting close, so don’t leave it unattended from that moment on.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- Ricotta cheese keeps for 5 days in the refrigerator, so can be made ahead, and is a good thing to get out of the way a day early if you’re making a big deal dish like cannelloni.
- Stir leftovers into sauces of all kinds to thicken them and add richness. Dollop some into an omelet, frittata, or scrambled eggs. Spread it on toast and drizzle with honey for a simple breakfast.
Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1½ cups heavy cream
- ¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or 3/8 teaspoon Morton's)
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
Directions
- Step 1 Pour the milk and cream into a large pot and stir in the salt. Heat the pot over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a full, foaming boil.
- Step 2 Line a sieve with cheesecloth and set it over a large bowl.
- Step 3 When the milk mixture has reached a full boil, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vinegar. Let the mixture sit until it starts to clump together into loose, liquid-y curds, about 3 minutes. Don’t stir while the curds are forming.
- Step 4 Pour the mixture through the cheesecloth-lined sieve. Allow it to drain at room temperature until it develops to your desired thickness. (I like mine extra thick, so I let it sit for about an hour in the cheesecloth, then dump it off the cheesecloth and onto the bare sieve for another hour or so. If you like it looser, 30 minutes on the cheesecloth should be about right.)
- Step 5 When the cheese is done draining, flip it out of the sieve into a bowl.
- Step 6 Discard the whey, or use it in recipes that call for buttermilk, or as a replacement for water and/or milk in bread dough.
