Ambition, 2.1

One of the reasons I got so het up about the idea of making homemade ricotta was I found a recipe for ricotta gnocchi. Said recipe was part of an article about using homemade ricotta and sure, I could have just bought a tub of cheese at the store and called it a day, but I got ambitious.

Ricotta recipe one failed miserably. Ricotta recipe two turned out splendidly, and now that I had the main ingredient, I could turn it into gnocchi. The actual recipe was for ricotta gnocchi with some kind of mushroom sauce (serves six), but I skipped the mushroom part and figured on substituting my own tomato sauce.

Per the instructions, I weighed out a pound of ricotta and dutifully drained it until it had the texture of wet clay. I mixed in a half cup of flour, an egg, a tablespoon each of olive oil and melted butter, a 1/4 c. of Parmesan
and some salt and pepper. It felt very sticky, so I added another tablespoon of flour. After the fourth (do not add more than four! the recipe said) it was still pretty sticky, not slighty sticky, but, do not add more than four tablespoons!

I did pause a moment to consider that this was the same guy who wrote ricotta recipe one, and maybe, just maybe, he was wrong. Then I decided to follow what was written and play around another time, if necessary.

I covered and chilled the dough. A half hour later, I took the dough out again and tried to divide it into four parts, but it was awfully sticky. I ended up with three. Using copious amounts of flour, I rolled the dough into 3/4-inch-wide logs. Here, the recipe said to cut them into 1-inch pieces, but I thought they would look more, well, gnocchi-like if I pinched off pieces instead. They were still remarkably sticky, so I rolled them in flour before placing them on a baking sheet to chill some more.

At this point, I had to turn the operation over to Will while I took Keith to soccer practice. Shortly before we were due home, he put the gnocchi on to cook. They boiled in water for a few minutes, floated to the top, and he cooked them about two minutes longer and drained them. Keith and I weren't home yet, so Will kept the gnocchi warm by tossing them with some melted butter in a saute pan over low heat. When we finally got home, he served the gnocchi with tomato sauce.

THE VERDICT: Reaction one -- Serves six? I don't think so. We didn't have enough for four servings, with two of them kid-sized. Granted, I didn't do the mushroom sauce business, which might have had something to do with it, but we still should have had enough for four bowls.
Reaction two -- WOW. Wow, wow, wow. These were really good. The gnocchi were extremely light, with a nice texture and flavor. They also went well with the homemade tomato sauce. So next time, I double the recipe.

Ambition, 2.0

I now have four different methods of making ricotta at home. My new ambition is to not just succeed at making this stuff, but to figure out which one is the best.

The version I tried this time is from Cook's Illustrated. Heat a gallon of whole milk to 185 degrees, remove from the heat, gently stir in 1/3 c. lemon juice, leave it alone for five minutes and then check to see if it separated into solid white curds and translucent whey. If not, add another tablespoon of lemon juice and wait; repeat until it separates. Drain in the fridge overnight. Result: About 3 1/2 cups of ricotta

Simple enough, right?

I heated the milk, with occasional stirring to keep the bottom from scorching (it did anyway). I poured in the lemon juice and let it sit for five minutes.

Some curds formed, maybe 3/4 c., but the liquid portion was still pretty opaque, so I added some more lemon juice and let it sit.

Then I repeated the process. And again. And one more time.


This time, I could see the whey becoming more translucent as I stirred in the juice. Five minutes later, I had a lot of curds and whey.

I let it drain in the fridge for a couple of hours -- it was the middle of the day, and we needed the colander. The texture was good, the flavor was good -- surprisingly less lemony than the last (failed) batch, despite having about five times as much juice.

Later I'll test it in the ricotta gnocchi I've had my eye on.

Ambition, 1.0

While sorting recipes Sunday afternoon, I came across one for homemade ricotta. It was ridiculously easy: Heat a lot of milk, add some lemon juice, heat some more, skim out and drain the curds, voila!

Then, while trying to recall what I did with a particular homemade yogurt recipe, I found a different set of directions for homemade ricotta, this time using buttermilk. And I found another one in a back issue of another cooking magazine.They all promised simplicity and better-than-storebought taste. And the first recipe was linked to one for ricotta gnocchi, and what could be more inspiring than homemade gnocchi from homemade ricotta?

That first recipe said I would need to make a double-batch to have enough ricotta for the gnocchi. So I poured a gallon of whole milk and some salt into a stockpot, and set it over medium-high heat. It took forever to come to a simmer, but finally I was able to pour in the lemon juice.

Curds started to form almost immediately, and I was duly impressed. That is, until I realized that even simmering for the full two minutes wasn't going to produce quite as many curds as I expected. I skimmed them all out and drained them, and had maybe a cup of ricotta, not the 3 cups the recipe promised.

Where did I go wrong? Did I use too much milk to start with? Was the milk hot enough? Was it too hot?
I decided to jog back to the grocery store and try again, this time with a single batch. The same results -- I got only one-third of what I was supposed to.

Now, don't get me wrong. The little bit I got was pretty tasty, although somewhat more lemony than I'm used to. (Maybe the problem is my bottled lemon juice shortcut?) However, this method seems to be a colossal waste of milk for such a small yield.

That is, unless you plan to use the leftover milk in your tub...