In my line of work you inevitably garner leftover ingredients that no one else wants that are not standard fare in your pantry. This recipe is one of those happy examples. As you well know, I abhor tossing food so I searched the net for a tasty way to use said ingredients, whole milk, buttermilk and sour cream and found that you can make ricotta! How exciting is that? We were invited to dear friends for dinner, so I made a delicious cheesecake out of the ricotta (recipe to come next week).
Buttermilk and Sour Cream Ricotta
Makes 235 g Ricotta
Ingredients:
- 500 mL whole milk
- 500 mL buttermilk
- 200 mL full fat sour cream
Directions:
- Heat the milk, buttermilk and sour cream over a medium heat in an enamel pot to about 82° C (180° F). Allow it to sit, undisturbed for 30 minutes.
- Pour into a cheesecloth-lined sieve and strain (covered) until relatively dry (overnight) in the refrigerator.
Make additional ricotta out of the whey:
Makes an additional 65 g ricotta!
Ingredients:
- 750 mL leftover whey from making ricotta above
- 250 mL milk (higher fat is better, I used 1% because that is what I had)
- 15 mL vinegar or lemon juice
Directions:
- Heat the whey and milk in a non-reactive pan over medium heat until it reaches 91° C (195° F). Remove from heat and stir in the vinegar or lemon juice. Allow it to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.
- Strain through a cheesecloth-lined sieve. Strain for several hours for a firm ricotta.
Notes:
- Use an unreactive pot like Le Creuset.
- I did not salt the ricotta because I had a sweet application planned for it.
- The buttermilk and sour cream curdle naturally when heated, so an acid is not required.
- Reserve the whey for recipes that call for cooking with stock or water, it is healthy and flavourful.
Dear friends, I have finally made a website of my work. Please feel free to visit evataylorfoodstyle.com. The blog will not change, it will always be my ever growing recipe book, the website is for work. If you know of anyone needing a food stylist in Toronto, please send them to my website. As always, your comments are appreciated more than you can know.
This is so cool that you made it! Now, I can try that too!
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Congrats on the new website! Now, about the ricotta … it’s funny, because as I write this, I have all three of those ingredients in my fridge. Sour cream is one of those things you need a quarter cup of, and then the tub sits in your fridge. Sometime, I’ll sweeten it and eat it with berries. Buttermilk, same kind of deal – I’ll buy it for pancakes, and some small portion of it will sit in the fridge forever. I might use it up on a ranch dressing or something like that. But I’ve never made ricotta! I’ve absolutely got to, so I’m going to keep this post in my back pocket for a while.
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Thank you for your kind words, Jeff. Once I got to work on the website, it really didn’t take me long to execute it, so, why on earth did it take me 5 years?!?!?
I hope you try making ricotta at home, it is so much tastier than the store bought version. I met a lady in the grocery store who said it can be frozen without decay but I haven’t tried that yet.
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Homemade ricotta is wonderful! I don’t make it, for some reason. I mean, I HAVE made it, but when I need it, I always just buy it. This looks great — gets me in the mood to make my own. Thanks!
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I made ricotta waaaaaayy back when for a cheesecake! Great to know I can use leftover sour cream and buttermilk to make a batch! Maybe a ricotta cheesecake is in order!
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This is fabulous, and I can see using it in both sweet and savory preparations… Love the new look of the blog – although I can’t figure out how to follow…
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Congratulations on your website! Very professional and beautiful! I hope it will attract many future customers!
Your cheese looks wonderful, though technically is the first cheese ricotta? Not cottage/fresh cheese? I thought ricotta is made from whey leftover from a cheese making process (hence the name and the difference in taste). Though of course the taste is most important than the name and I’m sure your cheese tasted excellent! I wonder…. was the second cheese as tangy as the first one? For me ricotta lacks this tanginess I love in fresh cheese (and which I suspect your beautiful first cheese had!).
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That is exciting! Who knew what delights could come of leftovers… and your ricotta looks so good too! (like puffy edible clouds 🙂 can’t wait to see your cheesecake. Your styling site looks wonderful Eva! Congratulations, so happy for you.
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What a wonderful use for those leftovers! I hate throwing things out too. I had a duck carcass that I turned into a soup yesterday. It feels oddly satisfying to use those bits up!
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Congratulations on your new website and the best of luck on your food stylist endeavour. I know it will be a great success.
I guess I never thought about sour cream curdling when heated but that makes sense since it’s tempered when adding to dishes ie Hungarian csirke paprikas etc and never added until after a dish is finished cooking/boiling. And I’ve never ‘boiled’ buttermilk.
That said, I like the look of your buttermilk/sour cream ricotta very much even if I’m unlikely to ever have the ‘leftovers’ to make it based on my situation. 🙂
I AM planning on making paneer though (8 cups of 2% milk brought JUST to the point of boiling and 1/4 cup of white vinegar) cause I want to do something similar to a cheese burek but with the box of phyllo pastry that’s been in my downstairs freezer since forever.
Thank you for letting me ramble.
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Homemade riccota is so easy! Love both ways. Thanks for sharing, Eva.
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