Homemade ricotta salata
So
I'm in the middle of making a batch of fresh ricotta (that would be the
same fresh ricotta that was scheduled to wind up being my famous cheese
gnocchi) when the call comes in that scraps the entire evening's plans.
I
am not a vengeful man. And so rather than driving to the caller's house
after dark and plastering the front door with a good thick layer of formaggio, I decided to go in another direction and whip up a batch of ricotta salata, the
salted and dried version of my beloved cheese. (I arrived at this
decision after a long and painful discussion with an overly persistent
frequent traveler friend of mine who tried to browbeat me into frying
the ricotta as they do at Matricianella in Rome. It is a dish, he
insists, "that makes life worth living.")
To
make the ricotta, start out with a gallon of whole milk in a
non-reactive pot, then gently stir in six tablespoons of distilled white
vinegar. Turn the heat on very low; this means it will take a long time
for the milk to heat, but it's better that way. Stir occasionally and
gently until the temperature reaches around 190 degrees F.
Turn off the heat and start scooping.
A cheesecloth-lined colander does the trick.
At
this point you're all set if all you want is fresh ricotta; the only
thing left to do would be to salt it to taste and let it drain a little
while.
To make the ricotta salata, though, the cheese must be drained further. I tied the cheesecloth with string and hung it from the kitchen faucet.
After about an hour the cheese had sufficiently dried.
At this point you add about a tablespoon of kosher salt and mix with a spoon.
Then it's time to pack the cheese into a mold with drainage. I used these tins that I saved from fresh store-bought ricotta.
Weight it down for another hour, occasionally applying pressure to get out as much moisture as possible.
After
popping the cheese out of the mold, all that's left to do is apply more
salt. Very lightly sprinkle kosher salt all over the cheese once a day
for about a week, keeping it covered in the fridge the whole time. More
moisture will seep out of the cheese during this time, so keep draining
it off. After you're done salting, keep the cheese covered in the fridge
for another week or two and that ought to do it.
Just
one other thing. If the cheese winds up too salty (as this one did) I
place it in a bowl filled with water and allow the salt to leech out for
as long as it takes to suit my taste. This batch soaked for about 24
hours, and I changed the water three times.
Then my friend Gloede showed up and sprinkled some of the ricotta salata on a caramelized onion and prosciutto pizza he was making in my wood-fired oven.
And I forgot all about the guests who did not come for my gnocchi dinner.