Homemade Ricotta

This is dangerous. I'm slowly learning to make the one thing I love the most. If things start moving any faster down this road you will soon have to direct all my mail to:

Miss Sophie McComas:

Number 1, Died-of-Cheese-Overdose Lane, Heaven. 2000

Oh, wait! I'm already in heaven. Cheese heaven. You can join me! It's seriously easy. All you need is some beautifully fresh, preferably organic whole milk, some citric acid and a medium-sized piece of muslin cloth. 

Voila, my lovers, FRESH RICOTTA CHEESE. 

Right at your fingertips and tonguetips.

This particular batch was whisked with some finely chopped mint, a shiver of chili flakes and a squeeze of lemon, was stuffed into a batch of zucchini flowers and baked until it was piping hot and oozing out the petals. A perfectly fitting Sunday night snack.

What's a girl to do when a vast chunk of her girlfriends are swanning around Argentina (jealous) and her boyfriend is playing with that thing called YouTube, engross herself in a bowl of perfectly fluffy, soft ricotta, that's what. 

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Recipe from Spicy Ice Cream

1 liter fresher than fresh organic whole milk

1/2 a teaspoon of citric acid 

Line a medium-sized sieve with muslin cloth and place over a bowl. Set aside.

Heat the milk over a medium flame in a large saucepan. When the milk is warm, turn off the heat and gently stir in the citric acid. The milk will separate and the curds will rise to the top. Leave for 10 minutes. When all the curds have risen, scoop them out with a slotted spoon and spoon into the muslin-lined sieve, that's the ricotta! Leave ricotta to drain for 10 minutes for a creamy texture, or 15 minutes for a drier ricotta (I like mine creamy and loose).  Place the drained ricotta in a container in the fridge and eat within two days.