{"id":7665,"date":"2020-03-25T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T15:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=7665"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:37","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:37","slug":"ricotta-fatta-in-casa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/25\/ricotta-fatta-in-casa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricotta Fatta in Casa (Home-Made Ricotta)"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 25, 2020<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been at home now for more than two weeks with just a weekly shopping trip to take me \u201coff the mountain\u201d as we say in our house.<\/p>\n

This has given me ample time to catch up on some projects and start others.\u00a0 It certainly gives me a lot more leeway to plan out a lot of cooking adventures.<\/p>\n

Three days ago, I made 19 pounds of \u2018ndjua.\u00a0 It was a great project for a Sunday.\u00a0 Well, these days, almost every day is like Sunday.<\/p>\n

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‘Nduja hanging in our wine room to age.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Making the \u2018nduja, which is roughly 25% red pepper, wiped me out of the supply of peperoncino piccante in polvere (ground hot red pepper) that I brought back from Calabria in September.\u00a0 In fact, I had to supplement with red pepper from India that I bought at an international food store in Las Vegas, NV a couple of months ago for just such an eventuality.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve used up half of my supply of nero di seppia (cuttlefish ink\u2026 what, in America, we call squid ink except that it\u2019s not from squid\u2026it\u2019s from cuttlefish), also brought back from Calabria.<\/p>\n

The same is true for my lievito madre, powdered mother yeast.\u00a0 It\u2019s a combination of commercial yeast and \u201cnatural\u201d yeast.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of like a sourdough starter except that it\u2019s not sour and you don\u2019t keep the culture going.\u00a0 You just use the powdered stuff as needed.<\/p>\n

These are all common supermarket or open-air market items in Italy.<\/p>\n

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A view from the villa where we hope to spend the month of September.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We have plans to spend a month in a villa in Calabria this fall.\u00a0 I have been honing my shopping list for months but I\u2019m now concerned that the trip might not happen as planned.\u00a0 It\u2019s still a bit too early to know for sure but I\u2019m getting myself mentally prepared for cancellation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I do what I love.\u00a0 I cook.\u00a0 Even if it means that I might use up precious supplies with the prospect that there may be no reasonable means of restocking in the near future.<\/p>\n

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Two days ago, I made stuffed and rolled flank steak.\u00a0 One day last week I made a batch of black pasta (with, ahem, cuttlefish ink) that I tossed with fresh scallops and mushrooms. I made a killer sous vide rib eye roast on Sunday.\u00a0 It bobbed along, all seasoned up, in a vacuum sealed bag with my sous vide doing all the hard work while I made \u2018nduja.<\/p>\n

The \u2018nduja was done, and hung, in time for me to pour a bourbon, take the roast out of the bag and sear it, and cook some veggies.<\/p>\n

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Rib eye cooked unattended sous vide while I made ‘nduja.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m comforted to know that in about two months there\u2019ll be lots of \u2018ndjua to enjoy.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re stuck at home, why not consider making something new\u2014like ricotta.\u00a0 All you need is milk, vinegar and salt (and, if you wish, a little cream).\u00a0 Once you\u2019ve made ricotta, you can drizzle it with honey and serve it for dessert or turn it into Sancarlin<\/a> and serve it with some garlicky crostini.

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Ricotta Fatta in Casa (Home-made Ricotta)<\/h2>\n
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You can replace the cream with an equal amount of whole milk but using cream improves the yield. Because the boiling point of water (and thus milk) is much lower where I live in Santa Fe, I target a temperature between 192\u00b0F and 195\u00b0F. At sea level, you can go up to 203\u00b0F. What you don\u2019t want to do is to have bubbles break the surface of the milk, though there will be some foaming around the edges.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>15 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>20 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span> 5 minutes<\/span><\/span> mins<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>2<\/span> pounds<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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