I Made That! Ricotta Cheese

Homemade ricotta on toasted bread with basil and balsamic drizzle

I know you won't believe this, but it is super easy to make ricotta cheese at home. Can you boil a pot of milk? You can make ricotta cheese. I made ricotta cheese today in the time it took to make Kraft Dinner.

No seriously, I was making Kraft Dinner for lunch and decided to make ricotta with some extra milk I had (I know, who ever has "extra" milk? Well 2-litres and 3-litres of 2% milk was the exact same price so obviously I bought the 3L). The KD and the ricotta were done at the same time. I know there is a paradox at play here, but such is my life of a mother and lover of good food.

I did make this with 2% milk, but usually I make it with whole milk. You get a richer cheese that is, frankly, better. But lean ricotta is better than no ricotta, right?

I have a few recipes for ricotta bookmarked that I've referenced when making it before, but at the most basic level all you do is this:

1. Bring a litre (quart if you are outside of Canada) to a boil with 1/2 tsp kosher salt.

2. Turn off the heat and stir in the juice of 1 lemon or 3 tbsp of white vinegar

3. Milk will immediately separate into curds and whey. Line a colander with a few layers of cheesecloth, or alternatively use a clean piece of linen or cotton. If have a very fine mesh sieve you can use this rather than a lined colander (this is what I use). 

4. Pour contents of pot into colander or sieve, letting the curds drain briefly but don't let them drain completely dry- you want a creamy ricotta. Taste the cheese and add more salt if desired. If you find you have drained off too much whey some milk can be stirred in to moisten the ricotta.

Save the whey if you are super thrifty like me- it is high in protein and can be used in smoothies or whatnot.

Here are some actual recipes from my bookmarks on making ricotta for your perusal. Apparently I'm a little obsessed with homemade ricotta judging by how many recipes I have collected.

DIY Ricotta from The Kitchn
Fresh Ricotta Cheese from Bon Appetit
Jennie's Homemade Ricotta from Too Many Cooks This recipe uses milk and cream, and buttermilk for the acid rather than lemon or vinegar
Rich Homemade Ricotta from Smitten Kitchen
Homemade Mascarpone from Vegetarian Ventures Have you seen what a tub of mascarpone costs?!? Making it at home is the same as making ricotta only using all cream rather than milk

And finally, here are some recipes from my bookmarks in which to use your fantastic ricotta. Aside from eating it with a spoon with the fridge open. That's never happened.

Ricotta Gnocchi from Four Seasons Kitchen If you plan in advance to make ricotta and use it for gnocchi let your ricotta drain more and you can skip right to mixing it with the other ingredients.
Vegetable Fusilli Bake with Ricotta Topping from LCBO Food and Drink
Roasted Squash and Ricotta Ravioli from Dinner with Julie
Roasted Fall Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza from Martha Stewart
Ricotta Blintzes with Lingonberry Syrup from Food and Wine
Whole Wheat Ricotta Blackberry Scones from 101 Cookbooks

My Go To Recipes

We all have them. No matter how many blogs, magazines, cookbooks I read, I have recipes that I keep coming back to. They are the first ones that come to mind when I am out of ideas on what to make, or I need something I know will turn out great. Here's my list. What are your go-to's?

Mains:
Pasta with Pea Pesto
Pizza (have you noticed how many pizza recipes I've posted here? When in doubt, throw some veg and cheese on some dough)
Stir Fry

Sides:
Roasted Root Vegetables
Creamy Orzo
Popovers
Quinoa Salad

Desserts:
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lemon Yogurt Pound Cake
Molly's Chocolate Cake
Chaussons Aux Pommes

Snacks:
Pea Pesto on toasted bread
Bruscetta on toasted bread
Bran Flax Muffins
Gougeres

Mystery Box Dinner

Ok, this wasn't really a "mystery" as I bought all the ingredients, but it felt that way.

My best friend and I went to the St Jacobs Market on Saturday morning to pick out stuff for dinner later that night. I could never do my grocery shopping for the week at the market because as I walk around I see something that looks delicious and impulse buy. All thoughts of meals, or what goes with what, go flying out the window. So Saturday's dinner felt like a mystery ingredient show- you know like Chopped or a quick fire challenge on Top Chef- except there was nothing really crazy like honey buckwheat cough drops in the box (yeah, I saw that on Chopped. Nuts).

Of course, I did manage to make a delicious meal (if I do say so myself) out of these ingredients, but before I post that I want to know- what would you make from these things? Here's the twist though: no potatoes, pasta, bread, or rice as my friend's boyfriend can't eat those things. Post in the comments your meal from these ingredients, and stay tuned later in the week for mine!

PS You don't have to use all the ingredients below, but I tried to use as much of the stuff I from the market as I could.

From the market (clockwise in photo above):
Chicken
Eggs
Maple Syrup
Carrots
Aged Honey Goat Cheese
Parsnips
Bacon
Prosciutto

Other things from the pantry/fridge:
Kale
Chickpeas
Quinoa
Green Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar
Canned Tomatoes
Onions
Celery
Milk
Ricotta
Oil
Butter
Dried Herbs and Spices
Fresh Basil
Flat Leaf Parsley
Garlic

Homemade Chicken Stock

Photo credit The Art of Doing Stuff

I was going to write a post about making chicken stock. But somebody else did it for me. Karen over at The Art of Doing Stuff makes stock exactly the way I do- up to and including measuring it into baggies and freezing it flat. So... read her post but remember I am also a genius cause I do it the same way.

Why would you make your own stock? Because it tastes better, you can use up scraps that would normally go in the garbage, and it's cheaper. Do you need any more reasons? How about it's easy and healthier because you control the salt and ingredients. And you will impress your friends because making homemade stock sounds chef-y but it's a matter of bringing some kitchen scraps to a boil, simmering for a while, then letting it cool. Easy.


Homemade Chicken Stock at The Art of Doing Stuff

One Year Ago: Korean Style Pork Tenderloin 

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes  

Two Years Ago: Hawai'i 

  Tomato Bruschetta + Fresh Pea and Feta Spread

Chinese Five Spice Powder

I have been using Chinese five spice powder in place of other spices in all kinds of recipes lately. I've had this jar in my cupboard for a few years (I know, spices should be replaced sooner but it still smells ok); I probably bought it for one recipe and haven't used it since. Now that I have been putting it into my regular rotation of spices, I am even going to recommend that you get yourself a jar.

Chinese five spice powder is a blend of (you guessed it) five spices, the most common being star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel. It is a warm blend of spices- think pumpkin pie spice with an Asian flair. Here are some recipes and quick ideas:

• Replace cinnamon with 5-spice powder in Bran Flax Muffins 
• Use 5-spice powder instead of other spices in my Olive Oil Granola
• Asian BBQ Pork: Sprinkle pork tenderloin with 5-spice powder and grill, basting with hoisin sauce in the last 5 minutes of cooking (can also substitute chicken)
• Pumpkin Pie: I am going to try this in the next few weeks- replace the regular pumpkin pie spices with 5-spice. I think it will be epic
• Exotic Cinnamon Toast: Spread toast with butter, sprinkle with a little 5-spice powder and sugar
• Roast Chicken: sprinkle a whole chicken with 5-spice, salt and pepper, roast as you normally would 
• Smoothie: I just had this for breakfast as I was writing this post and it was delicious. Blend an apple, 1/2 a banana, handful baby spinach, small handful rolled oats, 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/4 cup apple cider, a sprinkle of 5-spice powder.

And from around the web:

• Five Spice Stir Fried Pork from The Calgary Herald
• Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Chiffon Cake from Leite's Culinria
• Chinese Five Spice Noodles with Broccoli from Serious Eats
• Chinese Five Spice Roast Duck from A Table for Two
• Five Spice Almond Cooks from Whole Foods

One Year Ago: Death Boats to Hades (aka Jalapeno Poppers)

Two Years Ago: Halloween Food

Quick Tip: Tex-Mex Shredded Cheese

We were having nachos for dinner on Friday night and I was tempted by this Southwest Shredded Cheese at the store. However, it was almost $7. Plus tax! I figured I could do it at home for cheaper and I was right.

Shake shredded cheese in a bag, or container with a lid, with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and a little cayenne if you want some heat. If you have chipotle chili power that would be even better.

I'm glad there are no more tortilla chips left or else I would be eating nachos for lunch and snacks too.

Organizing Your Life

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Okay, well just your recipes. But for me, having my recipes organized on my computer means I don't have piles of magazines with recipes I want to save piled up around the house, or pages that I've ripped out lying around, and this makes me more sane. Or feel that way anyway.

So I wanted to share how I save recipes with you. I have tried many different systems over the years. I say "over the years" as if I am middle aged or something, but I've been cutting recipes out of magazines for probably 15 years*. I recently flipped through my journals from when I was backpacking through Australia when I was 18, and there were recipe cut outs pasted in there. I was living in a tent and cooking over an open fire at the time for god sakes (and yes, buying magazines that cost a third of a weeks "rent" at the campsite, because I am addicted).

I've tried pasting recipes them into journals, putting them in file folders, albums, writing them onto recipe cards, but all of these were time consuming or made it hard for find the recipe I wanted. Thank goodness for the Internet. 99% of recipes in magazines, on TV, etc, can be found online (no, that's not a scientific fact or anything). Now I only save as many magazines as will fit in one magazine file and when it's full I spend some time going through what I've dog eared and saving them to Internet bookmarks that I have organized into folders. Sometimes I save the same recipe to multiple folders, like "Cakes" and "Chocolate"- sort of cross referencing them. I you have the same problem as I had with "recipe clutter", hopefully this will help. Now I just need to find a good system for saving stuff I find in design magazines... 

*I also remember watching Yan Can Cook on sick days when I was probably only 8 years old. That and the Flintstones which was always on at noon.

One Year Ago: Roasted Vegetables with Lemon Aioli