Food for thought: Impress your friends and yourself, Part 1!

Don't you hate it when you've been hoodwinked, foiled again? Well, you'd better be siting down, because every time you buy ricotta cheese, you've been robbed of dollars and flavor by the factories.

Ricotta cheese has only three ingredients: milk, salt and lemon. There are plenty of ways to mess it up, including failure to stir constantly, the wrong (non-wooden) spoon, a thin pot, a non-nonstick pot. Unfortunately, I can vouch for all these mistakes! Click on the title for the original recipe I tested.

Here is a method that prevents scalding of milk for ricotta cheese. 2%, whole or any combination in between will work great. I have not tested this recipe for a low-fat version. I love to use organic milk for this for obvious reasons and especially since organic ricotta would cost a small fortune.
Yield: 1/4 of the amount of milk used (8 cups milk yields 2 cups ricotta)

Use a wide saucepan filled 1/3 with water and put a stockpot or tall pot you would cook spaghetti inside it (8 quarts and at least 12" high.) In the tall stockpot, pour 1/2 to 3/4 gallon milk. More runs the risk of spilling over. The effect will be like a double boiler, boiling water in a wider pot surrounding ingredients in a pot that fits inside.

Let the water reach a rolling boil, but keep checking and replenishing the water. Stir the milk often using a wooden spoon. Add 1 teaspoon sea salt, if desired, at any time. This process will take 20-25 minutes. The milk may look foamy or boil depending on the setup you have. That's fine. The milk should steam and look very hot. Keeping the stove one, squeeze the juice of 1 to 2 lemons--I only recommend using fresh lemons; the taste is superb and the acidity, just right. You will see the milk react by separating into blobs and the milk will have lumps and get closer to transparent, lighter than skim milk. In a colander or sieve, strain with cheesecloth, a couple layers of sturdy paper towels like Viva or a white woven kitchen towel, the kind that is like an apron, not fluffy terry cloth.
Enjoy! This is especially good with fresh fruit like blueberries and peaches with honey or used in a recipe like tiramisu and lasagne.

Photo by Romulo Yanes