Description

Jill Davie teaches you how to prepare pita based pizzas with a special cheese topping.

Transcript

When it comes to pizza, for me, it’s all about the topping. And one of my ultimate favorite toppings is fresh Ricotta cheese and I will show you how to make it. So to start making ricotta cheese, what I have here in the sauce pan is half a gallon of milk. I'm using whole milk. You can use non-fat or low fat. But the whole milk really gives it a rich full flavor. Once this comes to a light simmer, you’ll going to see little bubbles starting to form, some steam rising from the pot. I’m going to add some distilled light vinegar, a quarter cup for a half gallon. I’m going to start slowly introducing my vinegar into my milk. Now I don’t want to stir too much, because when I separate my curds and whey, I want my curds to be larger in size. If I continue to stir, I’m going to break down the size of the curds. So you can, right off the bat, see the curds starting to form. I’m just going to sit back and let this do its thing. As soon as my whey starts running clear, that’s when I know my ricotta is ready. Alright, this looks perfect. I’m ready to strain and season. Okay, now I’m just going to strain this out over a fine mesh strainer and a bowl. I’m separating the curds and whey here. You’re going to hold back the curds as much as possible. Until I get to the last finishing pour. Now, ricotta is naturally loaded fat, and it’s really healthy. But when you make it at home, you know that there’s no extra additives. Alright, now that I’ve strained out all the whey, the liquid part, I'm going to put this into a bowl. Now I’m going to add whatever kind of seasoning I want. Because I’m making pizza, I’m going to add some fresh basil. This fresh ricotta is great in manacatti, it’s wonderful for lasagna. I’ll even use it sometimes as a homemade dip. And some fresh ground black pepper. I’m going to add a pinch of salt. Right, then I’m going to add some extra virgin olive oil and stir that up. It’s naturally low in fat, big in flavor. Now I’m ready to start building some pizza. I have some whole wheat pita breads here which are the perfect size for little individual pizzas at home. Not only that, but they’re rich in fiber and they're really delicious. They crisp up really nicely. So I have some marinara sauce, just put this on. Spread it evenly over my whole wheat pita. Then I’m going to coat it with my homemade ricotta cheese. Well, it may not be ooey and gooey, it is rich in flavor and really creamy. So, on top of this, I’m going to put some sundried tomatoes. What I love to do at home is just put out a whole bunch of different ingredients and let everybody go at it, build your own pizza. We’re going to put some olives, sprinkle black olives. Then I’m going to put some mushrooms. I have some grated parmesan cheese, and that’s going to melt really nicely when I pop it in the oven. I have some fresh cherry tomatoes, put a few of these on top. Then let’s finish this off with little sprinkling of fresh ground black pepper. Now, these are ready to go in the oven. I’m going to put this in at 350 for about 10 minutes. And just like this that are ready to come out. So the next time you make pizza at home, try making homemade ricotta cheese. It’s healthy, it’s delicious, and you will not believe how easy it is to make.