Lately I’ve been finding some inspiring recipes about making cheese – ricotta, mozzarella, paneer and cottage. The best thing about these cheeses is that they can be made right in the comfort of your own kitchen! I’m really excited about trying all of them as they’re either something I love eating every now and again, or something I’ve always wanted to try. This ricotta was so easy to come together that I think I’ll try my hand at making a few more cheeses.
Do you ever have a craving for a dish, but you don’t have the ingredients in your fridge or pantry? I’ve been hanging to make my spinach & ricotta pie for a few weeks now – I keep forgetting to buy the ingredients I need when I head to the shops! Then I saw some fresh, bright green baby spinach the other day – $2 a bunch! Perfect timing if I do say so myself. When I got home I realised I forgot to buy ricotta! Or maybe I forgot it on purpose so I had a chance to make my own 😉
My first attempt at making my own ricotta was extremely rewarding – I loved the whole process. But please make sure you have no interruptions while making this – my husband got no conversation from me and when he asked me something I may have got a bit upset with him (I did apologise after the cheese was made). Try not to lose concentration with the bringing milk to temperature part – take your eyes off this for one minute and you could be having burnt milk instead!
The ricotta tasted creamy and light (I used 2% fat milk too) and it looked exactly like the ricotta you’d buy at your deli (but better). I thought making your own ricotta at home would be hard, but it wasn’t at all! The most important thing to remember is keeping a close eye on the milk temperature. This recipe explains it very clearly.
TIP 1: Invest in a thermometer. They aren’t very expensive and come in handy for lots of cooking needs.
TIP 2: Use a non-stick saucepan – makes the cleanup a lot easier!
TIP 3: If you don’t have cheesecloth or muslin to strain the curd, use a thin tea towel which works just as good.
Enjoy it by itself, in pasta or lasagne, on slices of fresh bread or to make spinach and ricotta triangles.
NOTE: Making ricotta for the first time took all my concentration so I didn’t have time to take step by step photos. Thank you to The kitchn for this easy to follow recipe and it’s great for first time ricotta makers.
Check out Miss Food Fairy’s Pinterest about recipe ideas for cheese making at home. Let me know how you make cheese. I’d love to hear from you about using ricotta too – love new inspiration 🙂
Miss Food Fairy 
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