Making Ricotta - easy and delicious!

It may seem mad to be making Ricotta when you can buy it so cheaply, but this tasted so good and was a cinch to make. Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.

3 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

You will also need a large saucepan/dutch oven. A candy thermometer. A colander, a bowl and some cheesecloth - all things I conveniently had lying around the kitchen.

Put the milk, cream and salt in the saucepan and heat the mixture to 190F stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. 190F is just below boiling.

When it reaches 190F take it off the heat, add the lemon juice and give it a couple of slow stirs and then DO NOT TOUCH IT for 5 minutes.

Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth lined colander that you have placed over a large bowl to catch the whey. After about 2 hours it will look something like this.

Keep the Ricotta in the cheesecloth (the curds) and dispose of the stuff in the bowl (throw the whey away LOL)

You can eat the Ricotta immediately, but if you have any left put it in an airtight container in the fridge. It will firm up the colder it gets.

The recipe makes about 1 1/4 cups of Ricotta, and it tastes fantastic just lightly spread on some good bread.

You can make the Ricotta with 3 1/2 cups of milk and only 1/2 cup of cream. It will not taste quite so indulgent but still very yummy.

Thank you smitten kitchen!