Recipe: Lisa's Home Made Ricotta Cheese

5/23/2016

Yes, that's it in the photo above. Lisa's wonderful, home-made ricotta cheese tucked on top of Seckel pears with honey drizzled on top. There is nothing like the taste of home made ricotta, and Lisa discovered how simple it is to make.... Here's how:

First, heat up one gallon of whole milk in a stock pot to 200 F.

Next, measure out 2/3 cup of lemon juice (if using fresh, strain well) and 3-4 tablespoons of salt (depending on how mild or salty you want the ricotta) and set aside. Lisa tells me you can substitute the lemon juice for 1 teaspoon of citric acid if it's available.

Once the milk is up to temperature, add the salt and lemon juice and stir well for 1-2 minutes. You will see the curds start forming within a minute or so. Turn off the flame and set the pot on a cool burner and let sit for 10 minutes.

Curds form immediately after adding the salt and lemon juice.

After the ten minutes is up, it's time to strain the curds from the whey (the liquid left behind) and place the cheese into a mold of some sort. Lisa uses professional cheese molds she purchased on Amazon, but you can also place your curds into a large mesh strainer over a bowl, or into a fine weave cheesecloth lining a small bowl or measuring cup. (If using cheesecloth, you need to tie it into a sort of sack using twist ties, then hang it somewhere to drain). You should get about 4 cups of ricotta from this recipe.

Fully formed curds after a 10 minute rest.

Placing the curds into cheese molds

Alternate method: Cheesecloth mold hung from a faucet

Lisa placed the curds into her cheese molds and left them on the edge of our stainless steel sink's draining ramp. She also uses a small meat pounder on top to help gently press the whey out.

The cheese molds draining

After several hours of drying (or overnight if you prefer), you will have a delicious, creamy, luscious ricotta to enjoy in recipes, on pizza, with fruit or on a bagel for breakfast. The taste is amazing--and this is coming from someone who never liked ricotta--that is, until Lisa starting making it fresh.

Boun appetito.

--Jerry Finzi

If you decide to try making your own ricotta, please check back and tell us how it tasted. Ciao!

Cheese molds on Amazon

5 Comments

ANGELA NAVARRA

11/4/2015 03:07:30 pm

is that 3 too 4 tablespoon of salt.

Jerry Finzi

11/5/2015 06:32:57 am

Lisa was a little vague about the amount of salt.... I would start with 2 tablespoons and see how you like it. If you like it a bit saltier, another tablespoon the next time you make it. You can also add it directly to the curds afterwards if you put them in a bowl before draining.... then taste... and then add salt little by little to taste. Mix the curds gently after adding more salt, then mold and drain. Let us know how it turns out.

Mary Thomas

4/7/2020 03:53:43 pm

I followed this to the letter. Although it’s good, it’s much thicker than I thought it would be. I checked other recipes and they called for heavy cream. Was that left out of this recipe??

4/12/2020 01:46:22 pm

Ciao, Mary...

There was nothing left out. Lisa uses whole milk which is enough fat to make ricotta. Of course, if you can get local fresh milk from a farmer, the results would taste even better and might contain a bit more fat.

In general, I don't agree with recipes I've seen that use heavy cream. These add too much fat for my taste (besides, I try to stick to heart healthy as much as possible... tough to do with some Italian recipes, I know). I have even researched ancient Roman recipes for varied cheese that use simply "fresh milk" (translated from Latin).

All heavy cream will do is add fat and give an overly rich taste, in my opinion. Fresh made ricotta, as made in traditional ways in Italy, tastes light... not heavy. Personally, I think our recipe achieves this. If you want an even lighter ricotta, try using skim milk. It will make ricotta--just without fat.

If you want a lighter, more fresh tasting ricotta with our recipe, use it fresh, as soon as it's made and cooled down. Don't hang to dry or place in a basket. Remember, by drying it out it is starting to age... in fact, add more salt to this recipe and you can dry it out for longer periods to become ricotta salata, a very firm salty cheese similar to feta.

By the way, you might consider this... the dryer the ricotta, the better it is to use in recipes, like fillings for manicotti, lasagna or ravioli.

So... to eat drizzled with honey and figs, make a batch to eat sooner. Don't dry or age it. For recipes, make a batch just to use in recipes by drying and aging more.

Buona Pasqua!

--Jerry Finzi

Debbie

11/5/2021 10:23:51 am

Do you have a recipe for making ricotta for someone that is lactose intolerant?
Thank you
Debbie

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Recipe: Lisa's Home Made Ricotta Cheese

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