I cannot begin to express my level of excitement when I found out that Barefoot Contessa was releasing a new cookbook this Fall. I pre-ordered the book, How Easy is That?, on the spot, and literally kissed it when it arrived at my doorstep. I carefully flipped through the pages, stopping to devour every single recipe. How on earth would I choose which one to make first?
Luckily, the Queen Bee of all It Girl’s, Mrs. Gwyneth Paltrow Martin, chose for me. In a blog post titled “Brunch with The Barefoot Contessa,” Gwynnie detailed her morning with Ina Garten making Herbed Ricotta Bruchettes from the new book. Once my raging jealousy subsided, I decided that the elegant bruschettes would be the perfect sophisticated starter for my New Year’s Eve menu.
As I’ve never made cheese before, I was a bit skeptical about making ricotta from scratch. I enlisted the help of my friend Cameron, and charged her with picking up ingredients from the market. It turns out that Cameron was even less confident in our cheese-making ability, and bought premade ricotta “just in case…” Our fears were abated when we tasted our perfectly smooth and deliciously creamy ricotta. Even better - it took less than thirty minutes from start to finish. We turned to each other and proclaimed in our best Ina-esque voices, “how easy was that?!” xx tt
Recipes – adapted from Barefoot Contessa + GOOP
Homemade Ricotta
Ingredients
· 4 cups whole milk
· 2 cups heavy cream
· 1 teaspoon kosher salt
· 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
· Cheesecloth
Instructions
· Set a large sieve over a deep bowl
· Dampen cheesecloth with water and line the sieve with two layers (fold cloth in half)
· Pour milk and cream into stainless steel or enameled pot
· Stir in salt
· Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally
· Turn off heat, stir in vinegar
· Let sit for a few minutes – the cheese will separate and curdle (it won’t look like it separated, but if you stir it gently you will see that it has)
· Pour mixture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and allow it to drain into the bowl (if you aren’t using a really large bowl, empty the water from the bowl after a few minutes so that there is room for all of the liquid to drain)
· Let the cheese drain for 25 minutes
· Transfer from cheesecloth to a new bowl
· Congratulations! You just made CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Herbed Ricotta + Toasts
Ingredients
· 3 scallions/green onions – white and green parts
· 2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
· 1 tablespoon fresh or dried minced chives
· Kosher salt + pepper
· 1 round sourdough bread
· Olive oil
· 2 garlic cloves
Instructions
· Mince herbs
· Combine ricotta, herbs, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper
· Cut bread in half and then into six pieces each – resulting in 12 slices total
· Heat grill pan on high for five minutes
· Brush bread with olive oil, grill on each side for two minutes until browned
· Remove from grill
· Rub each slice of bread on one side with garlic clove
· Spread on herbed ricotta
· Serve!