no, not speed with respect to the homemade ricotta, but rather, with dinner made from the ricotta. however, despite the lengthy instructions, the actual production of the ricotta is very easy and short. most of the work is prep work. the best ricotta i have ever had was in a salad at chez panisse (the restaurant, not the cafe) – it was light, creamy yet with definitely definable curd, pressed into a triangular slice. i think it was drizzled with olive oil, which is, i have to say, a really excellent way to eat ricotta. but if my memory is failing me, then i definitely had ricotta drizzled with olive oil on bread at some restaurant in the past.

i was thus particularly excited about homemade ricotta because it looked so easy to make. i shouldn’t have been surprised, as jessica and i made paneer in much the same way in our cooking class (paneer is a slightly different mix of milk and yogurty ingredients, and is pressed and weighted instead of allowed to drain). this ricotta is richer than supermarket whole-milk ricotta, even though it’s also made with whole milk, but is a bit hard in the curd – i wonder if letting it drain less would have been more ideal. (more…)