Sometimes I get obsessed.
The beautiful rich smell and aroma of almonds, and almond biscotti, eaten quickly as the icing sugar dusts off onto your hands and the floor. Something little and sweet and easy to make while a child demands your attention and you stop and have a cup of tea.
I love ricotta. More than that, I love homemade ricotta. The kind which has come out of my kitchen, made by me, heated twisted drained and served....all by me. This has been on my To Do List for far too long. Years in fact. Ever since Charlotte wrote to me about making some, and made it sound like she just popped into the kitchen and voila! there it was before her and I was so sure she was making it all up how easy it is to make that I kept putting it off. So sure was I, that it would be so difficult to make. And then Gourmet Traveller - my bible of cooking inspiration - had a little inconspicuous recipe for vanilla ricotta and rhubard compote. I sat and read through the recipe. And re-read it. And went out and bought muslin. And milk. And an hour later I had fresh ricotta infused with vanilla beans sitting on my benchtop. Since then I have made it a few times, and it will surely become another staple in my cooking week. I've added it to spanakopita, eaten it with rhubarb compote as per the recipe in GT, and eaten it fresh out of the muslin while it's still warm. That there, that simple act, is joy in itself. It is ridiculously easy. And ridiculously satisfying.
Heat on high 2 litres of milk in a non-reactive pan [stainless steel, ceramic, glass] stirring constantly with a rubber spatula for the first 5 and a half minutes to make sure the milk doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan, let it continue heating without stirring for a further 4 and a half minutes, then take off heat and add 50ml of white vinegar. Let stand for an hour. Then drain through muslin. I've googled other recipes and they do it without adding the vinegar. Or they add lemon juice. Some use a combination of whole milk and buttermilk. I've done it with just whole milk, and also just with skim milk and both work equally well. The only downside is that for the amount of milk, I seem to get very little ricotta and so the cost effectiveness is not great. But honestly, that really doesn't matter. Because it tastes fantastic.
And my next obsession.....these beautiful pieces.
mmmm... looks fabulous!
http://minivanlife.wordpress.com
Posted by: brandy | September 30, 2009 at 10:30 PM
Those pencils are just dangerous. Less dangerous is the ricotta which I may try out soon.
Posted by: frog | October 01, 2009 at 08:37 AM
Hmmmm....if only I still lived around the corner - you do know I would be on your doorstep!
Posted by: Kate | October 01, 2009 at 08:52 AM
did you say ricotta??...well you know my background...so I know ricotta;))
and this sounds perfectly wonderful Al...and those pencils...why do you have to be such an enabler-LOL?!
Posted by: theresa/ t does wool | October 01, 2009 at 12:41 PM
thankyou so much - I am going to do this next weekend!!!
Posted by: missfee | October 01, 2009 at 03:18 PM
I thought we already had words about those pencils. Alison... move away from the computer.
Posted by: Kristen | October 02, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Sounds delicious and inviting- How how much ricotta do you get from 2l? I regularly make a pasta dish with ricotta, olives, garlic, tomato and spinach. Would be quite special to try it with home made ricotta..
Posted by: di | October 02, 2009 at 08:28 PM
I've used the left over liquid to make bread. Hmm I just thought you could spread the ricotta onto the bread and then drizzle with honey.mmmmm
Posted by: Cate | October 02, 2009 at 09:15 PM
Yum!
Posted by: Linda | October 07, 2009 at 03:20 AM
Oh man. Yum! I'm with Kate. This is another one of those posts where I wish so badly you were my neighbor. I would be so okay with 'coincidentally' dropping by around dinner time, you know, just to say "Hi!".....
You know what I ate for dinner tonight? An entire bag of corn chips. Just chips. Does ricotta go with corn chips? :)
Posted by: CreatureofHabit | October 07, 2009 at 10:22 AM
I've made paneer and the process is very similar. I had a feeling ricotta would also be a breeze. Thanks--I'll try it!
Posted by: chez danisse | October 08, 2009 at 04:59 AM
I would love to have you join us at http://nepenthe.ning.com,
namaste, laurie xo
Posted by: laurie knowley | October 11, 2009 at 08:02 PM
I'm now coveting those pencils and the display options, ay! A little too pricey for me. I'll have to make do with my books arranged by color.
Posted by: Katie | October 21, 2009 at 09:53 AM
Yes... it's looks fabulous and I'm obsessed to ;-)
Posted by: Plotki | November 03, 2009 at 06:46 PM
I made it and it was great - so rewarding to see a whole bowlful of my ricotta - thanks! 2L of milk made 450g of ricotta, although I probably didnt drain quite enough, so probably 400g.
How did the recipe turn it into vanilla ricotta?
Posted by: Shara | November 29, 2009 at 09:21 PM
looks delicious !!!!! I love it !!!!!!!!!!!
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