Sunday, March 1, 2009

Homemade Ricotta & Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

You might remember about a month ago we made homemade mozzarella & we were really surprised with how easy it was. Well, when I saw that this month's Recipe to Rival Challenge was to make homemade ricotta I was thrilled because I knew I could easily do it.
Making Ricotta
The nice thing about making homemade ricotta is that you don't need any special chemical & the only special equipment is a thermometer & a bit of patience.

Fresh Ricotta
(per Lauren at I'll Eat You, who hosted this month's event)

1 gallon milk, you can use 1 percent on up, remember that the more fat in the milk, the more cheese it will yield
1 quart buttermilk
-cheesecloth,a good, tightly woven one, not the kind you buy at the supermarket - If you don't have one of these, you can get by with a slotted spoon, but you may lose some of the cheese. ( I used supermarket cheesecloth & just doubled it. That worked just fine.)
-a thermometer
- A collander

Place buttermilk and milk in a pot, heat on med-low heat until it reaches 185 F.
Making Ricotta Making Ricotta
It will begin to separate into curds and whey. Be sure to stir occasionally to make sure no curds stick to the bottom and burn. You will see that as the temperature approaches 185, the whey becomes clearer as the curds coagulate more.
Making Ricotta
Pour the curds into a cheesecloth lined collander. Tie the ends of the chesecloth together and hang for 10-15 minutes. Remove from cheesecloth and place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week..
Making Ricotta
This recipe will give you about a pound of cheese. I made 1/4 of it & got 6 oz.

We then had to make something with the ricotta. I had some fabulous Lemon Ricotta Pancakes at Hell's Kitchen a few weeks ago so I decided to try them at home.
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
They had a wonderful light texture but Matt felt the ricotta should have been broken up finer. I added 1 T more sugar than the recipe called for because a lot of people commented it was too tart. We felt like they actually needed to either be more lemony or sweeter. We served them with thawed frozen raspberries & they wouldn't have been as good without them.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
(from Bobby Flay)

3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t salt
2 T sugar (we used 3)
1 c ricotta cheese (1/4 the above cheese recipe made exactly 1 cup cheese)
2 eggs
1/2 c milk
1 lemon, zested & juiced
raspberries
powdered sugar
butter for the griddle

Whisk together the cheese, eggs, milk, lemon zest & juice. Stir in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt & sugar just until combined. Melt a little butter on a hot griddle. Pour 1/4 c of batter on the griddle for each pancake. Cook until brown on both sides, flipping once.

Top pancakes with raspberries & a little powdered sugar.

Makes 10 pancakes.

37 comments:

Stacey Snacks said...

Terrific!
I love ricotta, and homemade is the best!

Karen Brown Letarte said...

Yum, yum!! Making cheese at home is a lot of fun, and these pancakes look to die for! Thanks for sharing! :)

Alicia Foodycat said...

The ricotta looks wonderful - but those pancakes are something else again! Yum!

MrOrph said...

Great looking ricotta! Can you tell a big difference from store bought?

Heather B said...

Great job! Those lemon ricotta pancakes sound heavenly!

PG said...

I didn't get this done in time...but I still want to try making the ricotta. Glad to hear that doubling the regular cheesecloth works - I was thinking of doing that myself.

Jess said...

Those pancakes look great!! Yum! I doubled the cheesecloth too!

Dewi said...

Oh my, is it something a bout homemade cheese. I bet that give you the filling of satisfaction, and of corse nothing taste better then home made ricotta.
Cheers,
Elra

toontz said...

Wow, the cheese and pancakes look wonderful! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Nice job with the cheese and pancakes. We also made some homemade mozzarella along with this ricotta cheese.

Lori said...

I KNOW I will be making these! I still ahve quite a bit of ricotta left.

Jen said...

So many things I want to try when I'm done with school... the lemon ricotta pancakes at Hell's Kitchen were amazing-- valiant effort at making them at home. Maybe with a bit of tweaking they'll come out more to your liking?

Maggie said...

Yum! I've been intimidated by this process but maybe I'll try it!

Peter M said...

Anyone who takes the time to make cheese at home is A-OK in my books...that's slow food.

Tangled Noodle said...

I've had these at Hell's Kitchen but now I can enjoy them anytime I want at home. Many, many thanks!

grace said...

awesome job, kat! i'm impressed, mostly because i'm too lazy to even attempt this...
i especially love how you used the stuff--more pancakes make the world a better place. :)

Anonymous said...

What a great choice for your ricotta! Your pancakes sound yummy.

Temperance said...

Those pancakes look awesome. I am going to try making ricotta in my crock pot and this is definitly the recipe I am going to use. The Ricotta looks awesome too. :)

Lauren said...

i have a similar recipe I am dying to try- thanks for reminding me!

Lori said...

I love your step by step cheese making posts. They are so helpful. I can't wait to try my own ricotta!

Anonymous said...

Those pancake looks great. I loved making ricotta and they are just the reason for me to make it again.

Deborah said...

I love ricotta - I bet it is amazing fresh like that!

Anonymous said...

I love the flavor combination of lemon and ricotta. I just made these lemon ricotta cookies (and linked to your pancakes!) You must try them! :)

Scribbit said...

OH I'll be making this for sure--how fun!

Anonymous said...

My gosh, I can't believe it's this easy! I can't wait to try it, and the pancakes too, thanks so much!

Unknown said...

Mmmm ricotta cheese is delish and I didn't know you can make pancakes out of it!!

Liz said...

Who knew it was that easy! I am going to have to try this. I never seem to have any in the fridge when I need it. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your great tutorial. I will try making ricotta in one of the next days.
Best wishes from Austria

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great recipe! I gave it a try last week and posted in my blog about it today. Linked to your post as well. :)

http://www.thehipstersguide.com/2009/03/09/make-it-from-scratch-monday-ricotta-cheese/

Cheers!
-Corey Marie

Ronda Kisner said...

Okay, I am going to have to try these. I love the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes at Hell's Kitchen. I live out in Coon Rapids, so I don't get them nearly as often as I would like. No excuses now!

J Miller | Remembering.com said...

| When do you add the milk (: I'm assuming that goes in with the other wet stuff. Thanks for a great recipe!

kat said...

J Miller - Funny after 5 months you are the first person to notice that! Yes, it goes in with the rest of the wet good & I've fixed it in the recipe.

Umi said...

I found your blog when searching for some guidance on lemon ricotta pancakes, and I love your site. You've inspired me to make my own ricotta and mozzarella cheese!

Lucinda said...

I just made these pancakes for breakfast in an effort to use leftover ricotta (sorry it wasn't homemade). In the words of my husband, "one of his top 5 pancakes". Will definitely use recipe again, maybe making ricotta from scratch next time.

Mike said...

Just made these. They were pretty good. I agree with the extra sugar addition. Some orange zest also makes a welcome addition to this recipe.

Cucee Sprouts said...

Mmmm, gotto try making pancakes out of my home-made Ricotta. Btw, I usually make mine with buttermilk but I have decided to experiment with various souring agents (lemon juice, vinegar, etc...) I posted pictures from my experiment on my blog: http://cuceesprouts.com/2011/04/homemade-farmers-cheese/

Marie said said...

I just had the lemon and ricotta pancakes at Hell's Kitchen.They were excellent! They were light and crispy around the edges. I will definitely try to make them at home.

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