A Cheese-y post

 

I’ve been feeling very cheese-y this weekend.

The Rusholme Family... a big part of this week's cheesiness

Last week was the one-year anniversary of my moving to Toronto. It’s been an eventful year, and looking back, it’s easy to remember all the hard moments. But then there are weekends like this one – filled with good friends, beautiful conversations, sharing food, playing music, being outdoors – and it reminds me that throughout it all, a beautiful home and community has evolved around me. It’s amazing…

Alongside all the cheese-y feelings that have  been pouring out of me has been a lot of actual cheese. Homemade cheese! Enter this week’s project.

When I originally saw the “make cheese” idea go into the hat, I thought that perhaps I could take a course or get my friend Ruth at Monforte Dairy to show me the real deal for making hard, aged cheese. But when I pulled it from the hat this week, neither of those options were possible. I’m still hoping that before the end of the year, the perfect cheese making opportunity will arise, but this time I decided to take an easier route and learn to make ricotta cheese, to be served at today’s Bluegrass Brunch. Here’s how it happened…

Materials

• 8 cups (2 litres) organic whole milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp white vinegar
• A large saucepan
• A slotted spoon
• A sieve
• Cheese cloth
• Candy Thermometer

How it’s Done!

1. In a large sauce pan, slowly heat the milk and salt over low-to-medium heat, stirring often until the milk reaches 203F / 95C. This takes a really long time. 1.3 episodes of Doctor Who to be exact (or for you non-Doctor-Who people, 55 minutes). I highly recommend having someone or something to entertain you during this process!
2. Add the vinegar, and slowly stir the mixture 3-4 times.
3. Remove from the heat and let the mixture stand for about 20 minutes. You’ll be able to see the curds (the cheese) separating from the whey (the yellow-green liquid left over)
   

   Look at those curds and whey!

4. Line your sieve with 2 layers of cheese cloth and place it over a bowl. Using your slotted spoon, skim off the curds and place them into the cheese-cloth-lined sieve.
5. Let the cheese drain for about 30 minutes.
6. Transfer to an airtight container and chill. Then serve! The cheese should be good for about 2-3 days.

Other than the hour spent standing over a hot stove trying to constantly check the temperature of the milk, while stirring, this was a totally easy and fun project! And even better was putting home-made ricotta on top of beautiful blueberry waffles, made by the wonderful waffle-maker Nico at today’s Bluegrass Brunch! 

 

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