Ricotta-Style Cheese at Home? Creamy and Dreamy!

Writing this blog has been full of slap-upside-the-head, "D'oh!" moments over the years. There was the time someone mentioned making a vegetable stock out of corn cobs. And then when I discovered how simple it was, not to mention how much more delicious it tastes, to make your own peanut butter. (Got five minutes and a blender?)

Four cups milk? Check.

I'm constantly asking myself: How could it have taken me so long to figure this stuff out?

Currently it's my quest to duplicate the taste of the kimchi that I experienced eons ago as a college student in Korea, as well as to learn about fermentation. What a journey!

Add lemon juice and…magic!

So this last week, with friends coming for dinner, I decided to make a big tray of lasagne, something I've done a zillion times before. A few years ago I would have bought a container of ricotta and slathered it on the next-to-the-top layer to give a creamy, oozy richness to this Italian-American classic. But then my husband developed a problem with dairy, and with lactose-free commercial ricotta not readily available, I had to eschew that particular ingredient for several years.

Then I read somewhere that it was super easy to make your own at home. D'oh!

A layer in lasagne? Oh yeah!

While, according to my friend, cookbood author Nancy Harmon-Jenkins, traditional Italian ricotta is made from the recooked whey left over from cheesemaking (ri-cotta means "recooked"), this method makes a delicious fresh cheese that's as good or better than most major store-bought brands. With the availability of lactose-free whole milk (thank you, Organic Valley), all it took was some googling and I had the basic idea. My first attempt used white vinegar as the curdling agent, which some recipes said had a neutral flavor. It was the right texture but I thought it gave the final product a funny flavor. Talking with some other cooks, almost to a person they recommended lemon juice instead.

I tried it, fiddled with the timing a bit to get the texture I wanted and, like magic, the creamy softness was back in our lives. And it's so dang easy, I can guarantee that it's going to start showing up on crostini, mixed in pasta and dolloped on salads.

Homemade Ricotta-Style Cheese

4 c. whole milk
1/3 c. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp. salt

In a saucepan, heat milk over medium heat (you don’t want to heat it too quickly). Stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking and measuring often with an instant read thermometer, bring milk to 200°.  When it reaches 200°, remove from heat and add lemon juice and salt. Stir a couple of times to combine and let it sit for 5 minutes.

While it’s sitting, put cheesecloth in a fine mesh strainer over a bowl. Pour the contents of the pan into the lined strainer and drain, saving the watery whey. Depending on how dry you want your ricotta to be, let it sit for two to 20 minutes. A shorter time will give you creamier ricotta. Taste for salt and adjust.

Note: Save the whey (the watery liquid left after draining) and feed it to your chickens or pigs. If you don't have livestock, you can feed it to your family, as well. It's very nutritious and is great added to soups, stews and sauces that benefit from a slight milkiness. (Think chowders, or a potato-leek soup.) One reader said she used the leftover whey to cook pork loin in the crock pot for pulled pork, which confirms what I'd read about the acids in the whey helping to break down meat. So I used it for making carnitas, and it worked fabulously. Try it!

No-Boil Lasagne Noodles: Why, Exactly?

Sometimes I start jonesing for a particular food or flavor. Awhile ago it was curry, then beef braised in a chile rojo, both satisfied with a couple of simple dinners whipped out of ingredients in the pantry. I was wandering through our neighborhood Trader Joe's recently, thinking of pulling together a lasagne—just the mention of it makes me salivate—so when I saw the package of lasagne noodles on the shelf I threw them into my cart without a glance.

Letting the noodles "rest" for 30 min. Pffft!

Pulling them out of the bag when I got home, I noticed they were labeled "no boil." What? But having promised the family lasagne for dinner and kind of curious to see what the heck these might be, I decided to use them and see just how "oven ready" they really were.

With all my ingredients ready to go, I looked at the instructions. Basically it said to preheat the oven, layering the noodles with sauce and cheese in the pan as usual. But then the next line stopped me. After getting it all ready, it said to let it sit for 30 minutes, presumably to allow the noodles to absorb some of the moisture from the sauce and soften up a bit.

After baking? Just okay, and no time-saver.

Are you kidding me? I could have brought a pot of water to boil and parboiled my noodles—I don't cook lasagne noodles fully, just let them get a little bendy so they can soak up some lovely tomato flavor—in less time than that! And this is considered "convenience food"? Oh, please.

In any case, I did as instructed anyway, and it turned out okay. Not great or mind-blowing, mind you, but the noodles were al dente (a little more than I like) and tasted pretty good. I can only say they won't be making another appearance on our table, unless I need an excuse for a major eye-roll.

Guest Post: Tomato-Rama!

Listening to my friend Susana wax poetic about her tomatoes, I said, "Write that down and I'll post it on the blog." So she did, along with a few of her favorite recipes. Her musings follow:

Yes, it’s that time of year, kids; when the tomatoes are so abundant that, instead of bothering yourself with coring, you just cut the tops off to be thrown in the compost. Or when a couple fall to the ground, instead of jumping to the rescue, you just pick the other 12 you see still on the vine! Ah, behold the glorious tomato.

It is, in fact, my favorite time of year, as the late summer sun is at that gorgeous golden hue and the tomatoes are bursting with flavor. There is nothing like the taste of a ripe, homegrown tomato. It's sweet yet tart and juicy to the point where you have to assume the "tomato stance"…feet apart and bent at the waist as you bite into your favorite variety like an apple, juice dripping down your chin and onto your tanned little toes. So here we are in the last few weeks of summer with our counters, tables, chairs and card tables full of tomatoes.

What on earth to do with the abundant harvest? As much as I love tomatoes, after awhile things do get monotonous around my house. I have the standby, which I actually served last night (again). It’s a favorite around my house, but does get old. "Pasta ala I Have Too Many Tomatoes!" is just cooked pasta with olive oil, garlic, parmigiano reggiano cheese, fresh tomatoes and balsamic vinegar tossed in a bowl.

At a loss for ideas? How about these:

Bread and Tomato Soup
In a large pot combine 1 med. loaf of cubed, day old bread (something dense that isn’t sold sliced, like como); 1 head (yes head) of garlic; as many fresh tomatoes as you like. I generally dice up about 6 or 7 and about two quarts of chicken stock. First, sauté the garlic in about 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil, then add the cubed bread. Toss in the tomatoes, give a few stirs and add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, take off the heat and enjoy! This is a very quick soup and should be eaten immediately, as the bread will soak up too much of the stock if left for any longer than an hour or so.

Fresh Tomato "Lasagna"

"Lasagna" because this fabulous dish does contain layers of yummies, but untraditional in the true sense of what most of us think of as lasagna. I’m addicted to my pasta roller and have made a lot of fresh pasta this summer. So, if you like making your own fresh pasta sheets, go for it, or buy them at Pastaworks. I find that fresh pasta is much more delicate and works very well in this dish, but you can use dried lasagna noodles as well. As when building a lasagna, simply layer pasta, olive oil, lots of sliced fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, salt and pepper and some caramelized onions or chopped olives in any size baking dish you like. The beauty of this dish is that you can add all sorts of your favorite goodies: capers, artichoke hearts, whatever! The juice from the fresh tomatoes will be enough liquid for the pasta whether it’s fresh or dried.

Some other great ideas or classics you’ve forgotten in your tomato-induced high:

• Salsa: Are you still buying salsa? Shame on you!
• Oven-dry slices and layer them with olive oil and herbs in mason jars.
• I tried that chutney from Chef Dan Brophy on some grilled salmon and I about fell out of my chair!
• Classic tomato soup
• BLT’s: extra "T," of course!
• Panzanella salad (I like just tomatoes, bread, garlic, red onions, fresh mozzarella and basil)

There are, of course, a myriad of ideas, this being only the tip of the tomato iceberg. Bite in, wipe your chin and relish in the pomodoro because, before you know it, all you’ll get are those red-on-the-outside, white-on-the-inside yuckaroos in December.