Mangia! Mangia! Homemade Fresh Ricotta!

Dear Reader,

I've mentioned in past stories of dinner parties where I tried my hand at making homemade Ricotta. If you haven't tried making cheese at home, please do! And then tell me all about it because Ricotta is the only one I've made so far. I've heard that Mozzarella is also fairly easy to make, but the added ingredient of rennet always deters me (gotta find it, then go get it, you know, first world problems). One day I'll make Mozzarella, and lay freshly grown tomatoes and basil leaves on it from my organic garden, the garden that I hope will one day exist in my reality instead of just in my food fantasies. In the meantime, Ricotta will do because it's very very simple to make and is sure to wow any dinner party. I use the Ina Garten recipe, which only requires 4 simple ingredients. You can dress up the cheese however you like - my favorite is to use fresh herbs like dill, chives or even rosemary.

For my last dinner party I made this cheese plain and turned it into a delicious bruschetta with heirloom cherry tomatoes and reduced balsamic vinaigrette on top of a crusty baguette buttered to the nines. Simple, affordable, and made with a lot of love.

Homemade Ricotta - adapted from Ina Garten

Curds and Whey

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
4 cups of whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (white vinegar is fine)


Pour the milk and cream into a pot, preferably stainless steel or enameled and add the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat (so as not to burn the liquid) and stir occasionally. Once the liquids have come to a boil, add the vinegar and stir. Leave the liquid to stand for about 1-2 minutes. You will start to see the liquid curdle, eventually separating into two parts, the curds and the whey (yellowish liquid). During this time, take out a cheese cloth and put it over a sieve or a tall bowl to allow the water to drip down. Pour the liquid into the bowl and let it drain for about 30 minutes. The longer you allow it to drain, the thicker the cheese will be. Make sure the liquid does not touch the cheese cloth. Once you are done, transfer the ricotta into a bowl and discard everything else (unless you want to keep the whey - that's for another recipe). You can serve the cheese immediately or you can cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

Mcgyver'd Cheese Drainer

I didn't have a cheese cloth and used a nut milk bag instead, it worked fine. And since I didn't have a sieve big enough I Macgyver'd my way into hanging my nut milk bag onto a wooden ladle, which then hung over a stock pot. I also ended up draining my cheese for about 2 hours which made for extra thick ricotta. Very yummy.

What's for Dinner Tonight?

Dear Reader,

There are some days spent in Brooklyn where everything seems to just make sense. Work. All is well. Like putting that last piece of a puzzle together and looking with sudden clarity at the “big picture” – ohhh, so that’s what I spent hours upon hours sifting through cardboard cutouts for! All the good and bad had and to be had makes sense on this very day. 

I’m so very thankful for such days because it’s when I feel most grateful for my life and I certainly do count my blessings. This week, E and I went for a long walk through our neighborhood, hobbling through cobblestone streets and maneuvering through tourists admiring the NYC skyline (a picture never does it justice, does it?) and our conversations tend to always center around the same vibe. We are so blessed. Even when facing the worst of circumstances, I am so thankful to E for keeping my mind in a high spirited place filled with gratitude instead of resentment or disturbances of my peace. It’s in these moments where we are often overwhelmed with joy and with a real need to celebrate life.

And I have a tendency of celebrating such said life by throwing dinner parties.

Cheese of the Month Part II

y, this has been a very rough past few weeks! And it looks like things are only going to get busier. But! I didn't forget Cheese # 2 of the Cheese of the Month. I present to you, the Crottin de Champcol, a pasteurized goat cheese from Loire, France. This little cheese comes in a cylindrical form and has a very strong and spicy bite. Almost shockingly so! In French, Crottin means "road-apple" (as in dung, trailed along the road), which describes the moldy, dark coloring that covers a well aged Crottin. When young, the Crottin's interior is creamy and nutty, with the goat flavor becoming more pronounced as it ages. Honestly, I was not a fan of this one. There was a very strong spiciness to this cheese, making it difficult to enjoy. I'm hoping that I just picked up a bad one, especially considering that it's gotten great reviews. But I'm not inclined to buy this cheese again, there are just too many others to try!

Pairs well with a Sancerre.

Cheese of the Month

have a love of cheese and my thought on this has always been, the stinkier the better. That may not always be true, but cheese is a great passion of mine and I thought it'd be a fun idea to start a Cheese of the Month Club on this blog. My hope is to expand my knowledge on cheeses - how they are made, stored, taste, and what they pair well with. You can join me by stopping by your local cheese counter and trying the same ones as I do. Your comments are greatly appreciated and hopefully we can learn together. I'll start small with 1 cheese every 2-3 weeks for 3 months and see how it goes. Most of my info will come from various cheese sites, books, and of course my personal opinion.

To start, I've chosen the Langres from the high plans of Champagne-Ardenne, France, dating back to the 18th century. This cheese comes uncooked, unpressed, and has a dense, creamy texture. As you can see from the picture below, the skin is a bit wrinkly with a slight depression on top called the "fontaine". The French have traditionally poured champagne into the dip, which is intended to draw out its fruit and pepper flavors.

The Langres is brine washed and colored with roucou, a red coloring derived from the Annatto tree. To make the Langres, the French use a traditional method of ripening for about 5-6 weeks, keeping the cheese in a humid cellar (explains the wrinkly skin). It has a subtle but powerful scent and what I consider to be a pronounced odor. Very similar to the Epoisse, a favorite of mine, but much milder.

Pairs well with a full bodied red wine, such as Burgundy or even a Pinot Noir. And of course, champagne.

Introducing...the Jam & Tea Cheese of the Month Club!

I have had this idea floating around my head for a bit and wanted to get it to paper and announce the Jam & Tea Cheese of the Month Club! I am a cheese fanatic...I have had a love affair with cheese for quite some time now, thanks to my father who exposed me very early on to Brie and Muenster. I know, Muenster is not really gourmet, but when you're about 7 and your cheese knowledge is as wide as the "yellow stuff", Muenster is pretty earth shattering. That and I thought it was called Monster -- you can see why my interest kicked in.

So I thought I'd try this little cheese club in the hopes of expanding my knowledge about cheeses --how they are made, the regions they come from, the history, the pairings, etc. It's all just for fun but now I can actually put my cheese books to use!

The plan is to pick 2 cheeses every month and to spend that month posting about my discoveries. You can join by taking a trip to your local store and picking out the same cheese as I do, or you can just read along. I want to start with 3 months, 6 cheeses. Should be interesting. For the next club, I'm thinking butters...I have heard amazing things about French butter!

Here are two of my favorite cheeses to start:

1) Monte Veronese, Italian

2) Epoisses de Bourgogne, French

I have some cheese in mind that I am eager to try and will let you know as soon as I do!