Category Archives: Recipes – Meat – Preserves

Real Ricotta – made from Whey

2014-04-15 - Montasio and Ricotta

As we all know Ricotta is suppose to made from whey and not milk. Even though the whole milk version is not bad, nothing comes close to the real deal. I make milk Ricotta every time I fetch milk, which is about once every ten days. but only can make real Ricotta after I made a hard cheese, which is not every week. Last night the Montasio went well and after it was in the press, I made some Ricotta with the whey.  Following breakfast and lunch, I had to be quick, otherwise there would have been no product left to photograph. Even though the yield from whey coming off ten liters of milk is not a huge quantity, but it made up in quality.

RECIPE

Fresh whey – less than two hours old

50 ml Apple Cider Vinegar

100 G Mesophillic Starter (I propagate my own cultures)

3 g Salt (Non iodised)

50 g Heavy cream – I made my own milk separator – simple and cheap – and will blog about it soon.

Put whey in a large non corrosive pot and heat over direct heat to 94 C.  Stir continuously to prevent the whey from burning to the hot bottom of the pot, but do not boil

Turn the heat off and slowly ad the vinegar whilst stirring continuously. Small white particles will commence to form which is the precipitated protein (curds)

Ladle the curds carefully into a ricotta colander lined with fine muslin cloth.  When all the curd is in the colander, allow to drain for about ten minutes and when no more visible moisture is present in the curds, then mix in the starter.

Tie the corners of the muslin and hang over a container to drain for about three hours. When the ricotta does not release moisture any more, untie the muslin and mix in the salt and cream

Store in refrigerator for up to ten days (It never lasts that long in any case).

One of the most common cheese products used in Italian cuisine

BUON APPETITO !!

 

 

The Curse of the Cookbooks

2014-03-06 09.22.32

I had to photograph the result of a cooking discussion or, cooking bickering, if you must.

The great thing about being self sufficient and eating from the vegetable patch is the joy of harvesting something one grew oneself. It is organic and fresh even if, at time whatever is harvested is gnarled and puny it still tastes wonderful. The bad thing is that one is held hostage by the blackbird that eats all the seedlings the chickens overlooked when they were free ranging last time. The seasons and climate, especially here in Dunedin , dictate whether things grow or not and the person in control of the garden constantly suffers arched inquiries as to why in the world so much (or so little) of something was planted

Sometimes there is a glut of something and then the search for a great recipe, or, often many great recipes of one particular vegetable or fruit depending on the amount harvested. The frantic paging through the cookbooks begin, and since my 200 plus books are all about regional Italian cooking the search can not be narrowed down to, say, Indian or Chinese, and mutterings of  ‘ it was always in this book, where has it gone’ are commonplace. A lot of time is spent getting side tracked when I see something fondly remembered or something I always wanted to try. Once the recipe is selected sudden resistance from the household to the ingredients could flare up, prompting the beginning of a new search and the hauling out of more books!