Homemade Ricotta Cheese

A number of months ago I attended a Simple Cheese Making class at Formaggio Kitchen's Teaching Annex.  I'm not sure why it took me so long to finally test my simple cheese making skills at home but now that I have I may never use store bought ricotta again.

ingredients: 

6 cups Whole Milk

2 cups Heavy Cream

1 tsp Sea Salt

6 TBS Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

preparation:

Place milk, heavy cream, and salt in a non-reactive pot and heat to 190 degrees over medium heat.  Stir occasionally so the milk does not scorch.  Once the mixture reaches 190 degrees take the pot off of the heat and add lemon juice.  Stir a couple times to mix in the lemon juice and then let the pot stand undisturbed for about 5 minutes.  While waiting for the mixture to curdle line a colander with cheese cloth and set the colander over a large bowl.  After 5 minutes pour the mixture into the colander and let it drain for 1-2 hours until it reaches your desired consistency. This recipe makes approximately 2 cups of ricotta.

serving suggestions:
I made this for a cheese plate and paired it with bourbon cherries (see recipe here) served on a french baguette.

The ricotta recipe was sourced from Smitten Kitchen.