Homemade Ricotta

A while ago I was at a friend's house for dinner and she served an appetizer of Ricotta cheese with red pepper jelly, delicious of course. However I was surprised to learn that she had made the cheese herself! I never considered making cheese? She explained how simple it was to make and listed what was needed ..... milk, cream, salt, vinegar or lemon juice and cheese cloth. Huh! Cheesecloth? I always knew what "cheesecloth" was - I just never thought that it was actually used for making cheese!
Anyway, several months later I finally got up the gumption to try it ..... and guess what? It actually turned out!

Ricotta Cheese Recipe (from The Kitchen.com)

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the cheese is somewhat "curdy" as it is left to drain in the cheesecloth and colander. I then pressed it in a round dish with a flat bottom. The cheese is quite bland but great when paired with something with a little zip (like red pepper jelly). I found a hot dip recipe that included garlic, lemon and chives. It was very good but a bit crumbly. There are lots of recipes for ricotta cheese in dips, manicotti, lasagne, cheese cakes etc. All you have to do is check Google or You Tube!

 

Hmmmm .... now that I am a master cheese maker (thanks to You Tube) what new skill will I try next? bee keeping? furniture making? heart surgery?