Last week I was in Italy visiting cheese companies. I learned more than you can ever imagine about cheese and how it’s produced. The quality of the cheeses was so amazing that I don’t think I will ever be able to eat a mainstream, mass-produced cheese again. The first thing I did when I came home was make homemade ricotta cheese. I can’t believe I’ve never made it before… from beginning to end it took about 20-25 minutes. Unlike the ricotta-in-a-tub dry stuff that you purchase in the market, the homemade version turned out rich and creamy. I can’t wait to use it tonight in an authentic ravioli recipe that I managed to wrangle from one of the cheese company gals that I dined with in Italy. I’ll be sharing that one with you too 🙂 There are a whole lot of homemade ricotta recipes on the internet… all seem to be slightly different. I went with a recipe that I found on Jennifer Perillo’s blog: In Jennie’s Kitchen. I’ve met Jennifer, and I know she’s a talented food writer and recipe developer. Her method for making ricotta was just perfect.
My instructions can be printed out here: Fresh Ricotta Cheese.
And my adventures in Italy… visiting all of those cheese companies… you can expect some posts sharing my experiences coming up soon!
