{"id":5745,"date":"2011-09-09T16:33:54","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T00:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=5745"},"modified":"2011-09-09T16:41:12","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T00:41:12","slug":"back-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=5745","title":{"rendered":"Back to School"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was going through a bunch of old photos and noticed that I had never created posts from the Homemade Ricotta<\/strong> cooking class I took several months back. Whoops!<\/p>\n

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Our Sacramento Co-op instructor for the evening was Chef Lucia Oliverio. My favorite part of her being our instructor was all of her family stories that she shared throughout the evening. She was in the family restaurant\/catering business, but switched to teaching, after being diagnosed with MS. She’s super down to earth and really connected with the students during the hands-on class. I had a great time.<\/p>\n

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We munched on black cured olives from Chef Lucia’s olive tree. She explained the curing process, but I can’t even read my scribbled notes to share. We also got to snack on homemade ricotta cheese.<\/p>\n

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The addition of eggplant spread (made with pickled eggplant) took the\u00a0cheese snack to the next level. Sea salt breadsticks, and jack and white cheddar cheeses were also served.<\/p>\n

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The wine was a Montevina Winery (Amador County) Pinot Grigio<\/a>. It was super tasty with it’s crisp pear flavoring and went well with all of the dishes for the evening.<\/p>\n

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Now let’s get back to the\u00a0main event…<\/p>\n

Homemade Ricotta Cheese
\n<\/strong><\/em>I had never made my own ricotta cheese (or any cheese for that matter) and wasn’t quite sure what would be involved. It turns out that it was much easier than I thought it would be, and the wonderful\/fresh taste sealed the deal for me. Homemade ricotta from here on out!\u00a0 Oh how I wish I always had the time to make things from scratch. Being the realist that I am, I will probably still be buying the small containers from time to time – but if I can, I will take the extra time and I’ll put forth the effort to make my own. It was that good!<\/p>\n

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The Ingredients:<\/strong>
\n1\/2 Gallon Whole Milk
\n1 Quart Buttermilk
\n1 Quart Half & Half
\n2 Pints Heavy Whipping Cream
\n2 Rennet Tablets
\n1 Tablespoon Warm Water
\n(Yields about 2 1\/2 lb. – 2 3\/4 lb.)<\/p>\n

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Chef Lucia used Junket brand rennet tablets. What are rennet tablets? Well, rennet tablets are small tablets made from powdered and packed rennet. They were basically designed for ease of use.\u00a0\u00a0Rennet is an enzymatic extract made from the lining of the stomachs of young ruminants, such as cows, goats, and sheep. These animals produce enzymes to help them digest the milk produced by their parents, breaking down the milk so that the maximum nutrition can be extracted from it in the stomach and intestinal tract. Yummy! \ud83d\ude09 These same enzymes can be used to curdle or thicken milk to make a variety of foods – including ricotta cheese.<\/p>\n

Directions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. Place all of the milk and cream in a large pot.<\/li>\n
  2. While liquid is heating, take the rennet tablet and crush to powder. Add 1 tablespoon of warm water to the crushed tablet and mix. Do not<\/strong> add milk <\/strong>to the tablet or it will curdle.<\/li>\n
  3. Heat the liquid until it is almost too hot to touch and then add the rennet mixture.<\/li>\n
  4. Continue to stir the milk and it will begin to curdle. This process should take about 2-3 minutes.<\/li>\n
  5. Once it starts to curdle, begin to scoop out the cheese with a slotted spoon into a strainer to drain the excess liquid (whey). The strainer can either be a fine net strainer or a colander lined with cheesecloth.<\/li>\n
  6. Let the ricotta drain for about 1\/2 hour – overnight if you are making cannoli.<\/li>\n
  7. Place into a container and refrigerate. (Regular milk will last up to 3 days – if using organic milk, it will last a little longer. You can also freeze the cheese, just let it thaw out overnight in the fridge before using.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Chef Lucia used the slotted spoon to place the ricotta into 3 different containers –\u00a0 so we could see that it really didn’t matter which one we used.<\/p>\n

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    I loved that one of the methods was to use a basket, mostly because I have some of those! The\u00a0finished\u00a0ricotta\u00a0was fresh and smooth, simple and versatile – it will forever change you. I promise.<\/p>\n

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    We spent the remainder of the evening broken into small groups, where we created dishes from the above chalk board menu. My group made the Deep Dish Pasta-Crusted Pan Pizza Linguini Frittata<\/strong> – topped with ricotta and mozzarella. <\/strong>Say that 10 x’s.
    \n<\/strong><\/p>\n

    I will create posts for each dish. Yay, something to blog about besides my diet – you know you’re all excited!
    \n    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I was going through a bunch of old photos and noticed that I had never created posts from the Homemade Ricotta cooking class I took several months back. Whoops! Our Sacramento Co-op instructor for the evening was Chef Lucia Oliverio. My favorite part of her being our instructor was all of her family stories that … <\/p>\n

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