Homemade Ricotta Cheese with Red Wine Poached Cherries
Homemade ricotta cheese has changed my kitchen forever. I used goat milk to give extra flavor and served the cheese with poached cherries.
Servings: 1 cup
Equipment
- Strainer
- Cheese Cloth, rinsed
- Wooden Spoon or Dowel
- Rubber Band or String
Ingredients
Homemade Ricotta Cheese
- 1 quart goat milk
- 1 pint heavy cream or half and half
- 1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- pinch salt
Red Wine Poached Cherries
- 1 lb cherries pitted
- 1 bottle red wine see note
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- zest of one small orange, left in large pieces so it can be removed Use a potato peeler to remove the zest in large sheets.
- 12 peppercorns
Instructions
Homemade Ricotta Cheese
- Put all of the ingredients for the homemade ricotta cheese in a medium sauce pot with a candy thermometer attached to the side. Gently stir the mixture over medium-low heat until it reaches 175°F. It is very important that the mixture never goes above this temperature. I had to turn my stove off a couple of times when it seemed as though the milk might go above 175°F.
- Once your milk hits 175°F it will start to curdle and you want to scoop up the large curds off the top. It may take several minutes for all of the milk to do this. Just keep the temperature as constant as possible and keep scooping the curds off the top.
- Scoop the curds out into the cheesecloth that is laid over a strainer with a deep bowl under it. I used the bowl to my stand mixer. The trick is to have enough room under the strainer so the cheese is not sitting in the liquid as it drains. The cheese will be very soft and runny, until all the liquid drains out. Use a large spoon or rubber spatula to push the ricotta away from the bottom of cheesecloth so that it can drain more easily.
- Once the ricotta is as dry as cottage cheese use a rubber band or string to tie it into a bundle. Put a wooden spoon or dowel through the top.
- Find a large pitcher or vase to hang the bundle of cheese in so that it can finish draining. It takes about 3 hours to have a nice soft cheese. The longer you let it hang the firmer the ricotta will be. You can hang it in the refrigerator overnight for a firmer consistency. You can feel the cheese in the bundle to see if it is set up enough for your needs. I wanted mine to be set but still very soft, so I opened it up after only 3 hours.
Red Wine Poached Cherries
- Put all the ingredients in a non reactive sauce pan and simmer very gently for an hour or until the liquid is the consistency of thick maple syrup.
- Serve cherries with homemade ricotta cheese and a drizzle of honey.
Notes
Red wine: Anything you have laying around the house! The one we used was sweet so it didn't require too much sugar. If you use a dry wine, you may want to increase the sweetness.