Salad with home made ricotta

I have a bucket list of recipes I want to try out. I want to find new favourites and broaden my cooking horizon. Making ricotta has been on my to do list for a long time but I read that unpasteurised milk would be the best to use and I kept it in mind but didn’t do anything about it.
The other day I found unpasteurised milk and I knew I had to buy it and make ricotta. A friend of mine does a similar cheese and it is delicious so I thought I have to give it a go.
As I got the ingredients out and realised I didn’t have any citric acid that the recipe calls for, I did have a think about it and decided to give it a go anyway. I have never made ricotta I wasn’t sure what the citric acid does but I had lemons to make the milk curdle.
Home made ricotta
preparation time 5 minutes
cooking time about 40 minutes
serves many
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 litre or 7 1/2 cups of full fat unpasteurised milk
- 1 tsp salt
- juice of 3 lemons
Place all of the ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil and quickly reduce the heat so that the milk mixture simmers. Gently stir every now and then until the milk curdles.
Once the milk splits completely strain for about 6 hours in a cool place. I strained it over night. Once it is strained I whipped it slightly and used it as a base for a salad.
There is no right or wrong way to make a salad and this went very well with the ricotta.
Ricotta and courgette flower salad
preparation time 10 minutes
cooking time 0 minutes
serves 2
Ingredients
- about 1 dl or 1/2 cup of ricotta
- blanched and double peeled broad beans
- 1 tomato, core and seeds removed, then sliced
- 2 spring onions
- 1 small handful of toasted cashew nuts
- 1 tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
- fresh peas
- basil leaves
- 1 small courgette,sliced
- a pinch of sea salt
Plate up the ingredients, sprinkle some salt over and serve. I didn’t think the salad needed anything more but a drizzle of olive oil might be nice as well.
The fresh ricotta has a very delicate flavour and I got approval from my neighbour who goes to Italy on a regular basis and loves Italian food. The ricotta was more runny than the shop bought one but who cares, it tasted great and made for a perfect summer salad.
What a beautiful plate 🙂 where did you find unpasteurised milk?
hi Elaine
thank you 🙂 You wouldn’t believe it, at Sainsburys! I have looked everywhere but haven’t seen, or noticed it before. I did taste it as well and it was delicious 🙂
Cool, I’ll check it out if I ever go into one x
It is my closest so not much to choose from if I need a supermarket but yes do! Besides that I think I would have to find a farm shop… 🙂 have a great week! x
Sounds like a good excuse for some exploring…!
And you, take care xx
Reblogged this on hocuspocus13 and commented:
jinxx💛xoxo
thank you so much for the re blog, I am glad you liked it 🙂
Great post
hi Ishan
thank you. I hope you have a great week ahead 🙂
Lovely idea! I love to make my own cheese but have never tried ricotta. Will most definitely give this a go. Beautiful pictures too!
hi Lis
I have never made my own cheese and this was supper easy (even if it turned out slightly runny) and the flavour was great! Well worth it 🙂
How beautiful is this presentation..love the homemade Ricotta…its quite similar to cottage cheese (paneer) that we make at home too…lovely share…
hello Shy
Thank you for stopping by! I have never made paneer but I can see the similarity in flavour. I am glad you like the dish. Have a great week 🙂