Dear Dairy...

How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways....  OK, not really, but I really love dairy.  I mean, is there anything nicer than a tall glass of ice cold milk?  I drink one as often as I can (not very grown up, but hey... it goes well with cookies) and of course I've used milk in desserts and in savoury dishes.  Dairy is in a remarkable number of things, in a variety of forms!  I believe I've mentioned my love of cheese before   :-)  After let's be serious here for a moment, there are few things that can't be improved by adding cheese, in some form or another.  Hell, they even made an entire cake devoted to cheese!  OK, they don't just plonk a pound of cheddar into a cake tin, but what you need to remember is that cheese doesn't need to be in an orangey coloured block.  OK, it comes in a creamy colour too. But you know what I mean.  Cream cheese, cottage cheese, mozzarella, ricotta... they're all cheese.  And they're used to enhance thousands of dishes.  So... I decided to try a skill that my Gran definitely had and recycle some milk into some ricotta cheese.

*Crash*

Hold on... I just need to pick up what's left of a wine glass.  Apparently Miss Twinset was totally unaware that you could make your own cheese!  No, it doesn't just "poof" into existence in the supermarket.  How did you think it got there?  The Amish?  You thought the Amish made all the cheese in the world?  Oh Saints preserve us...

OK.  I'm back with you.  I've given her a plastic beaker (in case) and filled it to the brim with wine and that should keep her busy for a while.  Where was I?  Oh yes, my Gran and the milk.  Yes, our ancestors were the ultimate in recyclers.  Where you and I would open a bottle of milk and - upon whiff of sour - dump it, they saw the opportunity to turn it into something else.  I remember that she would have muslin / cheese cloth handy and sour milk would miraculously go into the cloth and be hung above the sink off of the tap... and then "voila".  I was quite young at the time, so I'm a little vague on the details, but I remember thinking it was magic.

And in a way... it is!

So a week ago, I came across a simple recipe for making your own home-made ricotta cheese.  It sounded simple, idiot proof and like something that I could manage as a first foray into making my own cheese (and yes, I intend to try other kinds of cheese!).  It was so simple that it only needed 4 ingredients and 5 steps.  Trust me... this stuff is DELICIOUS and once you've done this, you won't buy ricotta in a store again!

This recipe makes about 1.5 - 2 cups of ricotta, so just adjust it as you need OK?

Ingredients:

1 litre of full cream milk
250ml of cream
1/2 teaspoon of salt flakes
75ml of lemon juice

Method

• Put the milk, cream and salt into a pot and heat.  Remember to stir continuously so that the milk doesn't burn on the bottom of the pot.  Don't be in too much of a hurry, as the higher the temperature, the more likely you are to burn the milk.
• As soon as the milk comes to the boil, add the lemon juice and turn the heat right down.
• Simmer gently for about 2 minutes and then remove the pot from the heat.

• Leave the mix to sit for about 20 - 30 minutes and then pour it into the muslin / cheese cloth lined sieve (or colander).
• Leave the mix to drain for about an hour and then store in a Tupperware in the fridge. Use within 2 - 3 days.

Before you panic... when you add the lemon juice it WILL look like vomit.  You haven't done anything wrong.  It's supposed to look like that.  Yes - it's not pretty... but it will all work out in the end :-)  I swear.

I had mine with honey on a cracker and it was delicious.  Soft, creamy and decadent.  In fairness, I could've used a little more salt in mine, but it's to taste and this was great.  It was really empowering to know that the next time my milk is starting to turn... I don't need to waste it.  Even though this recipe artificially sours the milk... you get the general idea :-)

I didn't tell the Other One that I made this myself and she raved about it.  She had hers with a bit of salmon, spring onion and just a touch of black pepper on itty bitty slices of toast and was absolutely stunned when I told her that I made it.  Yes, the cheese, not just the toast.  She knocked back her vodka and for a moment I thought she'd be mad (heaven knows she loves anything made by a famous chef and she eats for free in my kitchen often enough, but she assumes that I buy everything I combine and prepare), but she was surprisingly calm.  Asked for a refill and then asked if there was any more.  High praise indeed!

So... I have taken the first step towards "cheese maker".  Next step a goat... just kidding!!

Until next time...