Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake - with Homemade Ricotta


I've been fascinated with homemade everything lately. I think going to the farm in Quilisascut kinda inspires that. It's pretty amazing to look in a fridge and pantry and see cheese you made, preserves you've made, oil you've infused and other such delectable things.

So on that note I decided to make ricotta cheese. I knew it was easy I'd seen it made on the farm. All you need to do to make ricotta is add an acid to your milk (unpasteurized or pasteurized, ultra pasteurized won't work). I added citric acid, but I've seen it done with lemon juice as well as vinegar.

I've used the ricotta in a few applications, mainly pasta, but I wanted to make something sweet using it, so I made this cake; a lemon ricotta cheesecake using the ricotta I made the day before. Apparently this is a very Italian type of cake. I'm not quite sure what that means, but it was pretty tasty - so the Italians must be onto something! Beware thpough, as there is a bunch of fat in the crust it does burn easily so pay attention to the smells your oven is emitting...unlike me..

2 comments:

Lisa Turner said...

And you made your own ricotta for this beautiful dessert. I have been meaning to make paneer and now I want to try making ricotta. If only there was more time in a day ...

Amara said...

Delicious! A friend turned me onto making lemon ricotta a few months ago. So tasty. I used it as a veggie cracker dip, but cheesecake is ALWAYS a good idea.