Whipped Ricotta
Homemade ricotta is 1) much easier than you expect, 2) never not delicious. The key is to have cheesecloth on hand (a muslin-like fabric for cooking that allows you to drain things through a very fine sieve) however I’ve successfully made ricotta multiple times using, drumroll please: your everyday kitchen coffee filter. Assuming you don’t have cheesecloth on hand, we’ll go with the MacGyver invention for our recipe below.
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1 quart (1L) whole milk
1/2 cup (1.2 dl) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Optional drizzle of olive oil, coarse salt, chopped herbs, or grated citrus for flavor
Fine sieve, plus fine mesh cheesecloth or several coffee filters
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Heat your milk, cream, and salt in a heavy bottomed pot (a dutch oven is good for this) over medium heat until a rolling boil. Stir occasionally to make sure the milk at the bottom of the pot isn’t burning.
Meanwhile, place your sieve over a large bowl and line it with your cheesecloth or your coffee filters. If using the filter method, I make sure to strain in small batches and swap out to a new filter when each gets too saturated so the liquid can drain effectively.
Once your dairy is at a heavy boil, add lemon juice, reduce the heat to a simmer, and stir constantly about 2 minutes until the milk curdles and the milk curds separate, leaving a watery milk liquid behind.
Pour the mixture through your draining setup, letting all of the liquid slowly drain out of the curds which should now be sitting in your sieve for about an hour, pressing down on it every now and then to really make sure the all liquid drains out. You want the resulting curds at the end to be moist but not wet or liquidy.
Cover and let chill in the refrigerator until cold. At this point, I like to run an electric mixer or a quick whisk through it to whip the curds into a whipped ricotta, adding in some olive oil, coarse salt, and fresh herbs. Serve with bread, crackers, or even fruits for breakfast. Whipped ricotta will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
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