QUICK HOMEMADE RICOTTA + A LEMONY GARDEN PASTA

I hear the old lock click as the gate to our backyard squeaks open. Footsteps cross the gravel. The garage door springs open wide as Otis tucks his bike away for the afternoon. Backpack strapped on, my thirteen year old marches through the back door chittering and chattering about his life. I especially love it when the first words from his mouth spill out stories about what they cooked in Kitchen that day.

Otis's after-school tales seem to begin mid sentence, as if he is simply continuing our conversation left dangling that morning. It usually takes me a minute of two before I get the gist of what he's telling me, "...food science...heat and acid...so easy..." When I finally realize that Otis and his classmates had made ricotta that day and that he wanted to make it with me, "Of course, I'd love to!" I answer and we make ricotta right then and there.

Otis and I first made ricotta together a month or so ago and he was right - it is ridiculously easy to make and totally empowering for any do-it-yourselfer. Have you made your own ricotta? I'm guessing a lot of you have, but for those of you who haven't...you must give it a go!

QUICK RICOTTA inspired by the Edible Schoolyard
printable recipe

• 2 cups whole milk
• generous pinch of sea salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Pour milk into a non-reactive saucepan. Add a pinch of sea salt. Bring milk to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scalding. When the milk comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat, add the lemon juice, and stir very gently until curdles begin to separate (this should take less than a minute). Let the milk mixture sit in the pan for 5 minutes.

Finally, pour your milky mixture (curds and whey) through a cheesecloth stretched over the top of a bowl. Discard the excess liquid. (Save the liquid (whey) to use in your next batch of porridge, smoothie, biscuits, pancakes, etc... or if you're like my friend Margi, you can take a bath in the stuff;))

You can serve the ricotta immediately or let it continue to strain for up to an hour depending on how dry you like your ricotta.

That's it. Ricotta done!

There are all sort of wonderful resources for making ricotta.  If you want to read more, check here, here and here...

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LEMONY GARDEN PASTA WITH FRESH RICOTTA
printable recipe

We were in Bolinas staying at my mom's over the long weekend and Otis and I made another batch of ricotta yesterday morning. I decided to make an early lunch putting our fresh cheese to good use. Mom had broccoli sprouting in her garden, lemons finally ripening on her tree, and we had ricotta.... a bright, lemony veggie pasta seemed the thing.

• 6 loosely packed cups broccoli florets (I think asparagus could be wonderful in this pasta in the spring time)
• 1/3 cup good olive oil + a drizzle for serving
• sea salt
• 1 package dry pasta of your choice {GF folks: I used Bionaturae spaghetti}
• zest and juice of 2 lemons
• handful toasted pine nuts
• ground black pepper
• red pepper flakes 
• fresh ricotta (see recipe above)
• optional: broccoli blossoms

Heat pasta water in a large stockpot. Add plenty of salt until it tastes like sea water.

Blanch your broccoli florets in the hot pasta water. Use a slotted spoon to remove the vibrant, tender veg and transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Toss broccoli with 1/3 cup olive oil and salt generously to taste. Set aside.

Return the water to a boil and cook the pasta until tender. While pasta is cooking, zest and juice lemons and set aside.

Add pasta to the broccoli florets, toss and immediately add pine nuts, lemon zest and juice to the mix. Season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. If you think it needs it, add a little more lemon juice. Give the whole thing a sprinkling of red pepper flakes, if you like a little spice. Finally scatter fresh ricotta onto the pasta and give the whole dish another drizzling of olive oil. Add a few broccoli blossoms if you've got them.

Serve pasta warm or at room temp.

Feeds 4.

TARRAGON CHICKEN SALAD

It's summer time, though you wouldn't know it with this wintry weather we are having here in Berkeley. Regardless of the temperature outside, during the summer season I cannot seem to eat enough salad. Around noon, I peer into the fridge and start to imagine a meal based on what we've got on-hand. Fresh cherries marinated in balsamic with toasted hazelnuts and goat cheese has been a new discovery. Or arugula, hard-boiled egg, and thinly sliced fennel is a standby. And almost any salad with avocado makes me happy.

We often have leftover roast chicken, a prime candidate for salad-making, and this tarragon chicken is one of our favorites. There are a few unexpected ingredients - fennel, shallots, and pine nuts - but otherwise the salad is a classic that always seems to be a crowd pleaser, working as a simple lunch or a great picnic.

Serve salad on a bed of butter lettuce or eat on a sandwich. We devoured ours on homemade gougeres. I'll have that recipe for you next week.


INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound leftover roasted chicken, or chicken breast (with skin and bone removed)
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise (please try homemade... it will make you smile)
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fennel bulb
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced shallot (you could also use red onion)
• 1/3 cup crisp green apple, julienned
• 3 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• butter lettuce
• fresh bread or gougere

If you are going to make your own mayo, do so now and set aside.

Lightly toast pine nuts on the stove top. Of course you can roast nuts in the oven, but my mother-in-law converted me to using the stove top. You can keep an eye on the nuts, giving them a shake every few minutes to insure even toasting. When done, set aside.

If you don't have any leftover chicken and are going to cook chicken for this salad, here's what you do. Preheat oven to 350. Take chicken from the fridge. Generously salt meat. Heat an oven-proof skillet on the stove top at medium to medium high heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of butter to the hot pan. Place chicken in the bubbling butter. You don't want the chicken to get really browned, so check that the heat isn't too high. Very lightly sear each side of the chicken. Place the skillet in the oven to finish cooking.  It should come out nice and tender.

While the chicken is cooking, prep the other ingredients. Peel apple and cut into julienne. Mince shallot. Finely chop fennel. Chop tarragon.

Lazy Pesto

Usually I don't have luck growing basil - it regularly goes to seed before I can harvest much. But this year I have a really good crop and all I can think is - Pesto! Far from innovative, pesto is still such a classic and a crowd pleaser. I make mine in a blender and the whole thing is done in minutes.
Put about 2 cups loose basil leaves in blender. Add 2 cloves pressed garlic, 3/4 cup pine nuts, 3/4 cup grated Parmesan, 1 cup olive oil, and salt to taste. Blend all ingredients and it is ready to go.
I keep a jar of pesto in the fridge for a quick pasta dinner, but the sauce is also great on a sandwich, or grilled halibut.