A Cultured Post

Yesterday I made my first ever batch of cheese, goats milk ricotta cheese to be precise. The recipe for the cheese came from a fabulous book The Home Creamery: Make Your Own Fresh Dairy Products, Easy Recipes for Butter, Yogurt, Sour Cream, Creme Fraiche, Cream Cheese, Ricotta, and More! by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley. Not only does this delightful book run through how to make all many of creams and soft cheeses but it gives plenty of recipe ideas for how to use them too, all of which sound mouth-watering.  The addition of some photo’s would have been lovely but he ho you can’t have everything now can you.

Ricotta literally means recooked and this refers to the fact that ricotta is traditionally made from the whey left over from cheese-making, however for those of us without access to cheese-making by products, delicious fresh ricotta can also be made by using readily available milk, cows, sheep and goats milk would all work well either on their own or as a combination.

I couldn’t believe how simple the process was, simply heating some milk and yogurt and then leaving it for a wee while to allow the curds and whey to separate out before passing it through a muslin lined sieve (or in my case a chinoise). The lack of requirement for any specific cheese-making ingredients such as rennet makes this cheese particularly suitable for cheese-making beginners or for those days when you don’t have (or want to make) all that much time for kitchen duties.

I used half a US gallon of milk to make the cheese and ended up with just short of 500g of cheese, not bad going at all especially considering that it worked out so much cheeper than buying the same quantity at the shop and it tasted so much better, really fresh and creamy without the watery, graininess that often comes with shop bought. The added bonus of course is that I can use the left over whey in place of buttermilk wherever it is required.

If stored in an airtight, clean jar the cheese will last up to one week, that is of course if you can resist eating it all on the day of making.

My initial plan was to simply use a small amount of the ricotta to top a Chicken Tetrazzini (referred to by Nigel Slater as Chicken Pasta Pie) for our dinner but I ended up making a sweet treat too by way of Berry & Ricotta Buns.

Chicken Tetrazzini was named in honour of the Italian opera singer Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1940) and consists of spaghetti and chicken baked in a creamy sauce. The Chicken Tetrazzini went down really well despite my initial concerns — my mum isn’t a pasta lover and my dad isn’t overly fond of creamy sauces, both of which are the key elements here. Despite that we all went back for second helpings.

Nigel Slater’s recipe called for the inclusion of spinach which I didn’t have to hand, so I used some wilted chard (the green leaves only) and a couple of shredded savoy cabbage leaves instead, both of which added a little bite and irony richness to the dish which cut through the rich cream sauce. The chicken mix was utterly gorgeous with nutty bites of mushroom too, I’d be more than happy to pop a pastry lid on this instead of pasta another evening; it would make a great pie. The other alteration I made was to use tagliatelle pasta instead of spaghetti, simply because, now no laughing please, I couldn’t reach to get the spaghetti out of the pantry so went for the easy option of fetching out what I could manage without having to climb around on the kitchen furniture

Adding the ricotta was another idea of mine, I love the way the cheese browns and firms up giving yet another creamy flavour but change in texture and mouth feel too. It was this ricotta topping that everyone was battling to get the most of and the bit we enjoyed the most.

We finished with the Berry & Ricotta Buns for pudding but really they’d have been better either as a sweet breakfast treat or mid morning snack with coffee as they were a little heavy after such a big, hearty supper.

The reason the buns are so heavy is that they’re not a convention bun, instead they’re made from a yeasted sweet dough which is studded with fresh berries (I used a combination of blackberries and raspberries whereas the original recipe suggests blueberries but the choice is really down to availability and personal preference); they hold a lovely surprise though a centre of sweet fruity ricotta (basically ricotta that has had vanilla sugar and fruit folded through).

Vanilla sugar is so easy to make and so delicious too, with the sweetness of sugar and the flavour of vanilla how could it not be good?  It is good on porridge, on fruit and is delicious in coffee. It is even better when substituted for plain sugar in baked goods, because almost every single one — —with the possible exception of some savory items — can benefit from the boost of flavour, either in the raw mix or sprinkled on top. To make it you simply put a chopped up vanilla bean in a jar of sugar and leave it for a week or two to let the flavour develop before using it.

I saved a little of the ricotta mixture for spooning over the cooked but still warm buns and then dusted the plate with more vanilla sugar too.

I have to say though that although they were lovely warm, especially with the extra ricotta melting gently over them, they’re even better cold – I had one for breakfast today and the flavours seemed even more pronounced and the creaminess of the ricotta seem even more prominent too

Even though the buns took rather a lengthy period of time to make because of the rising times and the additional process of making the cheese I urge you to give them a try, they really didn’t take a lot of effort, just a little more time than your everyday sponge buns, and they’re definitely worth it. As for the cheese — if you don’t make it you’re really missing out on a home kitchen masterpiece, just imagine the look on your family/friends/guests face when you tell them you made the cheese, go ahead and watch their jaw drop in utter surprise.

Just a note to mention I’m submitting this to YeastSpotting, a fabulous even hosted by Wild Yeast.

The Recipe:

• 1 gallon goats milk (or any other milk you prefer
• 2 cups of live (cultured) yogurt (or buttermilk)
• Salt to taste

1. Heat the milk and yogurt to 180F, then turn off the heat and leave for 30 minutes to allow the curds and whey to separate. 
2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve lined with muslin and leave to drip for 1-2 hours depending on how dry you want the ricotta. 
3. Transfer to a dish or jar and use within a week.