Lemon Tart

Orange Ricotta Pound Cake

 As a follow up to the last post at Lemon Tart, where I told you my obsession with homemade ricotta, I thought you might like to know what exactly you should do with that beautiful cheese, should you find yourself with too much to eat by the spoonful.

When there's only 2 of us in the house, neither of whom love a tall glass of milk at dinner (sorry, Mom),  1/2 gallon of, albeit beautiful, milk a week eventually gets away from us. I make plenty of ice cream (especially with my new toy!) and any other custard based desserts are the puddings of dreams with this bovine elixer, but eventually something else needs to be done with that 2 litres of fresh, alive milk. 

Early on I learned to make yogurt, a beautiful breakfast treat that I think I might need to make easier and more fun with the addition of a yogurt maker.(If Rosa can justify it, perhaps I can). But then I discovered that my favourite use for excess milk was to make homemade ricotta, and now I have a  raw ingredient that means good things for weekly meal plans. Fluffy ricotta gnocchi, a partner with nettles for ravioli, a sprinkle on tacos.

And then there's this cake. A cake I don't recommend making  if you are hungry. I assure you this will spoil your dinner, and it makes me think I should rename the cake to "Dinner Spoiling Poundcake", although somehow that doesn't sound as mouthwatering. But once it comes out of the oven you are not going to be able to hold yourself back - so make it for breakfast.

This cake has ruined me for the classic. While some might see the replacement of some of the butter with ricotta cheese as a calorie adjustment, what's really going on is a pound cake on steroids! The ricotta adds a softness that the original just doesn't have.  And don't worry, you really don't need homemade ricotta to make this cake. Store bought works fine too, just has to be drained more.

 

It's nearing the end of the citrus season and my body must know that because its craving orange on everything short of scrambled eggs. A healthy does of tangerine or orange zest alongside the ricotta and butter make this cake almost creamsicle like, and so much lighter than the classic. A bright, easy to prepare marmalade glaze forces you to use your preserves for more than toast and adds a beautiful sheen. It also serves as preserving agent allowing this cake to last for days. But this one won't last long and is really so perfect with my afternoon tea.

 

Ricotta Cheese : Make it Yourself!

Lean in close.... I'm going to tell you a secret, something dairy manufacturers haven't wanted you to know in a least a couple generations:  You can. Make cheese. 

In less time than a Glee episode, you can have full flavoured, dreamy, ricotta cheese ready for so many great dishes. It doesn't take any special equipment, and the only ingredient you'll need other than good milk is citric acid.

Raw milk laws in Canada mean the milk I  buy must be labelled not for human consumption and as a cosmetic product. I'm happy to "drink" my body lotion!

 At some point in the prepared food production system, someone convinced us that basic fresh cheese wasn't anything those of us without a cow  should be making ourselves. I've been making my own soft cheeses for awhile now, like ricotta, mozzarella and mascarpone, but the ricotta is the one that's got my dance card. A batch of this ethereal, dairy magic is heated, coagulated and strained in my humble kitchen about  every other week. In fact I look forward to the day my milk supply gets away from me. What certainly began as a preservation technique centuries ago prolongs my milk's life as well. But don't worry, this can be made with any milk you can get, raw or not.
      
 A container of this in the fridge means the most beautiful topping for homemade pizza,  a picture perfect appetizer slathered on toasted baguette with pesto and a sun dried tomato and a pound cake I can't keep myself my sneaking each time I pass the kitchen (coming soon!). Not to mention these textbook perfect calzones that make you salivate upon first sight. This cheese is lacking in gums, stabilizers and preservatives, so that milk flavour shines through humbly and perfectly.

 In my enthusiasm for what seems incredibly exciting for this modern 21st century food lover, I told my 94 Grandmother that I'd been making cheese. She nodded with a reserved sense of interest that comes from living a life that long, having seen it all. Then she told me that her mother used to make cheese. I nodded with interest, assuming what she was talking about was a simple fresh farmers cheese. She continued her story, to explain the process of curds being scooped into drained baskets and put aside to drain. And then they were left in a root cellar to dry. She was indeed speaking of the real thing, a country Tomme style cheese. I hadn't heard any accounts of having a cheesemaker in the family. Well in fact there weren't, not as profession. She was a seamstress but she lived on a farm and at the turn of the 20th century if you had a cow you had to do something to preserve that milk, so cheese was made. Simple as that. In this age of rock star food producers, of reverence for cheesemakers and bread bakers and sausage makers, its an important reminder indeed these foods we hold in such esteem now, were all born out of necessity, there was nothing glamorous or impressive about making your own Tomme in 1905, it was simply a way to feed your family through winter.
 
Making this simple ricotta cheese will remind you that many of the convenience foods we buy are not so much work to make ourself. The trade off of a little time is worth it for something this good.