Posts tagged as:

ricotta

Goat’s Milk Ricotta

by Linda on February 5, 2011

Brydie over at cityhippyfarmgirl posted a post just recently about chevre, or goat’s cheese.  Serendipitously, I’d just finished making some – purely by accident – my sister in law had left a litre of goat’s milk in my fridge after a visit and it was in danger of being wasted. Super simple, and very yummy on sourdough with tomato and black pepper.

The Recipe:

Heat the goat’s milk until it just starts to froth, then turn it off and put the pot in a sink of cold water for a few minutes to cool back down to a temperature where you can comfortably hold your little finger in it, but only just.

Whisk in a good spoonful of plain yoghurt.  I used lowfat cow’s milk yoghurt just because that was what I had. Pour into a clean glass jar with a lid.

Keep the mixture warm for about 8 hours.  There are many ways to do this – put the jar on the dashboard of a car parked in the sun or in the warming oven in a wood stove or on top of the hot water system, or (my preferred method), put the jar in a wide mouthed thermos and fill around it with boiling water, wrap the lot in a towel and leave overnight.

The result should be a thick yoghurt.

Line a strainer with a loose-weave cloth like cheesecloth (where the name came from!) and put a bowl under it.  Pour the yoghurt into the strainer.  If it is cool you can just leave it out to drain, but in warm summer weather best to put the lot in the fridge to allow it to drain.  You will be left with thick, creamy, spreadable curds.  I like to add a little salt at this stage.  You could also add herbs if you like. If you would like it even thicker, to the point of crumbly, put a saucer on top, weigh it down, and allow it to continue draining.

A litre of milk yielded me this nice little pot of ricotta-style cheese, about 200 grams I guess, though I’d eaten it before I thought to weigh it!

{ 4 comments }

Blueberry and Lemon Ricotta Slice

by Linda on November 15, 2010


Our blueberry bushes are bearing and the farm up the road is selling bags of blueberry seconds so this is the  second in the   Muesli Bar Challenge series featuring blueberries.  Last week’s muffins are a hard act to follow.  This recipe is just as healthy, low in fat and sugar and featuring ricotta, yoghurt, eggs and wholemeal flour along with the blueberries. It takes a little longer to make but still within the Challenge rules of being easy enough for busy parents or kids themselves to make.

The Recipe:

This recipe makes lots – around 20 squares, depending on how small you slice them. I have a shallow baking tray 33 cm by 23 cm which is perfect for it.

Before you start, turn your oven on to heat up and grease the baking tray with butter.

The Crust:

In the food processor, mix together

  • 2 cups wholemeal plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3 good dessertspoons of brown sugar

Add 3 good dessertspoons of butter and continue processing for a minute until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Reserve 2/3 of a cup of crust mix, and press the rest into the base of your baking tray. Press down hard.

Pop it into the oven to bake for 15 minutes, while you make the filling.

Filling:

You don’t need to wash the food processor.

Blend together:

  • 250 gm ricotta
  • 100 gm low fat plain yoghurt
  • 3 dessertspoons of brown sugar
  • Juice and zest of a large lemon
  • 3 large eggs (or 4 small)

Assembling:

Pour the filling over the crust. Sprinkle in 2 cups of blueberries. They should be almost but not quite covered by filling.

Sprinkle the reserved 2/3 cup of crust over the top.

Bake in a medium oven for another 35 to 40 minutes until set. It will firm up a little more as it cools.

Cool in the tray, then slice up and remove with a cake slice.

{ 7 comments }

Strawberry Cheesecake Slice

by Linda on September 20, 2010

My strawberry patch is laden at the moment, but despite the netting many of the berries are pecked. It’s pretty hard to beat a strawberry just as is, but they don’t travel that well in a lunch box, and this recipe is a good way to use the less than perfect ones.   Strawberries are one of the best sources of folate which is important for cell division, so growing kids know what’s good for them!

This recipe also has decent levels of protein and calcium in the cottage cheese and yoghurt, and of course eggs are a super-food rich in a whole range of nutrients.

If you liked the Passionfruit Cheesecake Slice back in Term One, this is the same concept.

This is the last Muesli Bar Challenge recipe for Term 3 –  recipes for lunch box baking based on  in-season fresh ingredients that are  healthy (low in sugar and saturated fat, low GI, wholegrain),  easy, and that my school age reviewers rate as preferable to the overpackaged junk food marketed as lunch box food.

The Recipe

For this recipe you need a shallow cake pan that is 21 cm diameter, or (preferably) a similar area in a square or rectangular shape, eg 18.5 cm square, or 14cm by 25 cm rectangle. Grease it with butter and line with greaseproof paper.

The base:

In the food processor, blend together:

  • 60 gm of butter,
  • 1 ½ dessertspoons of brown sugar,
  • ½ cup wholemeal SR flour and
  • ½ cup shredded coconut.

Press into the base of a pan so that it is about 1 cm thick.

The filling:

Rinse out the food processor, and blend together:

  • A scant ½ cup low fat cottage cheese or ricotta
  • A scant ½ cup low fat plain yoghurt
  • 2  eggs
  • 1 good dessertspoon cornflour (or cornstarch in US)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
  • 1½ dessertspoons brown sugar.
  • 200 grams of ripe strawberries.

Pour the filling over the base and bake in a moderate over for about 45 minutes until set. It will firm up a little more as it cools. Cool before cutting into 8 squares.

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Mandarin, Ricotta and Honey Slice

August 16, 2010

I am on a bit of a roll with the mandarin, ricotta and honey flavours.  Plus mandarins are getting towards the end of their season so I’m eager to make the most of them.  This one is, like last week’s cake, super easy.  The flavours are similar -this one is a bit stronger flavoured – [...]

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Mandarin Honey Ricotta Cake

August 9, 2010

Wow.  I’m over half way through the school year, and I haven’t lost a Muesli Bar Challenge yet.  Even I’m surprised.  I expected at some stage to push the low-fat, low-sugar bar just a bit too low!  Maybe this is the time – it has no sugar in the cake, just a little in the [...]

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Lemon, Macadamia and Ricotta Blondies

August 2, 2010

I’ve already blogged on about the nutritional value of macadamias and lemons (especially lemon rind), so I won’t go there again.  These are blondies (as opposed to brownies), and as well as macas and lemons, they are a good source of protein with their eggs and low fat ricotta.  They have no butter and very [...]

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Lemon and Ricotta Tarts

June 29, 2010

The dessert version of these is easy, but the healthy lunchbox version is a little trickier.  It is still easy enough, though, to be within the bounds of the Muesli Bar Challenge rule:  easy enough for busy parents and even kids themselves to be bothered actually making, routinely, for daily school or work lunchboxes. The [...]

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Creamy Pumpkin Soup

June 9, 2010

Pumpkin soup is so simple, and everyone has their own version, that I hesitated to post this.  But pumpkins are so very much in season here that I thought it worth a reminder.  Soup in a thermos makes a great lunch or an afternoon snack. BBC ran an experiment last year that had the interesting [...]

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Jedda’s Vegetable Moussaka

April 30, 2010

I can’t say this is fast and easy.  It’s a long slow Sunday afternoon recipe, and it creates quite a bit of washing up!  But there’s a good return on investment – for an hour or so of Sunday afternoon baking, you can have several very healthy dinners and lunches made ready for the week. [...]

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