What to do with the Ricotta?

Make Gnocchi !

Ingredients are assembled: 1 cup ricotta, 1 egg lightly beaten, 1/2 TBS melted butter (unsalted), 1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese, generous pinch of salt.

Altho the ricotta I made was very creamy and fine grained, I pressed it thru a sieve "just to make sure" all lumps were broken. I used a spatter screen placed over my mixing bowl and mashed the ricotta with the back of a spoon.


The remianing ingredients were dumped into the bowl then mixed into a "dough". No flour or potatoes in this mixture. Mix and mix and beat until the dough is thoroughly blended ... no steaks or variations of color




Using a teaspoon, scoop up about 2 tsp of dough then, with your finger, push the dough off the side of the spoon into a pan of flour.
Pushing off the side of the spoon lets the dough form into oval shapes. Gently roll the the ovals in flour, which will keep them from sticking together or to the pan.

Take an oval into you hand and rock and roll it back and forth to further shape them. I would give them a little flip with my fingers in the process. The shapes will not be perfect ... all those little wrinkles, nooks and crannies will help hold the sauce to the gnocchi dumpling. Also, the rocking, rolling and flipping help knock off excess flour.

So that I would have even more creases I pressed fork tines across each dumpling

The gnocchi dumplings were dropped into salted boiling water. I let them continue cooking another minute or so after they rose to the surface being careful not to over cook them. Overcooked gnocchi can get mushy ... and I freely admit, some of mine DID! But they tasted fine, all the same.


I sauced the gnocchi with olive oil & browned butter, fresh basil and nutmeg. They accompanied roated chicken and sauted summer squash.

These gnocchi are delicate, airy pillows ... perfect for summer!

Making Ricotta Cheese

My daughter, Luna, belongs to an online cooking group called Daring Cook. Each month they are given a cooking challenge, which they try, test, and post. Last month, May 2009, their challenge was making ricotta gnocchi. While they could use store bought ricotta (the challenge was making the gnocchi) they were encouraged to make their owm ricotta since the process is so easy. It sounded like fun and I thought I'd give it a try.


To be honest, I didn't make true ricotta. Ricotta translates as re-cooked. True Italian ricotta is cheese made from the whey after making Mozzarella cheese; the left-over whey is cooked (hence the re-cook) with more acid resulting in the last of any protein remaining in the whey is clotted into ricotta. My ricotta is made from fresh milk and cream. Well, as fresh as one can get from the dairy case at the grocery store (READ: pasturized). I followed the links on Luna's blog plus a little more research finally coming up with my proportion and procedure. Like so many recipes, there are as many variations as there are cooks and cheese makers. But, all-in-all, the procedure is much the same, the variations are what acids are used and when to add them.

This is how I made my ricotta:



Into a stainless steel pot I poured a half gallon (minus one cup) of whole milk plus one cup of heavy cream. This will give me a creamier ricotta.






Over medium flame I heated the milk to 180 degrees F, stirring occasionally so it wouldn't scortch on the bottom.







As the temperature nears 180 degrees F, I measure 3 TBS vinegar and less than 1/4 tsp salt into my measuring cup.






As soon as I stir in the vinegar & salt solution the milk seperates into curds and whey. Success!

Once the curds formed up I turned off the heat. I was also careful not to stir up the curd, which would break them up into pieces so tiny they might drain away with the whey in the next step.

The curd is soft and delicate. The whey is a clear liquid that is slightly yellow-green in color.

The curds and whey are poured into a sieve which I lined with layers of cheese cloth.

After most of the whey drained I gathered up the corners of the cheese cloth into a bag, of sorts. You can see more whey draining. I also gave the bag a gentle squeeze firming up the ball of ricotta.

I tied the bag onto the faucet so that it could finish draining for approximately 30 minutes. Once the whey is drained and any remaining liquid dripping is milky in color, the ricotta can be put in a container.

I prefer drier ricotta; so,I hung it in the refrigerator overnight.

The results was a one pound ball of fresh ricotta. The texture is creamy and smooth. Not as smooth as cream cheese, but much smoother and finer than store bought, which always reminds me of sand. The flavor is delicate.

This morning we (The Mister and I) had some on toast. The process is so easy that I can see myself making this regularly ... varying the recipe each time until I settle upon my favorite(s)

Home Again Safely

It occurred to me yesterday morning that I had not taken a single picture of a train, track, or station on our three day train trip. I have rectified this omission.

An interesting note about the Reno station is that the track has been reconstructed to a lower level so that the trains do not block streets and traffic above. The cross-over streets have guard fences as do all over-passes. The fences are bright blue with yellow and orange flames or trees at the corner. The concrete support wall from train platform up to street level have holes in it, probably needed during construction or installation.. Sparrows have made the holes their home. Watching the birds fly in and out of the holes was good enterrtainment while waiting for our train. That, and watching kids run up and down the platform.


The return trip was in two steps beginning with a ride westward on the California Zephyr to Sacramento, then changing to the San Joaquin traveling southward to Fresno. The Sacramento station was busy with three Amtrak trains (California Corridor, The San Joaquin, and the California Zephyr) and freight trains. Actually, all the stations had freight trains pass thru since the tracks are shared by both the freight line and Amtrak.

It was a fun three days with the bulk of the time spent riding the train. We put on many miles. I remember road trips where at the end of an 8 hour (or more) day of driving I was jittery and had trouble sleeping. At the end of each day on this adventure I felt raring to go for a wonderful evening and a good night's sleep. All that being said, I was glad to be home and in my own bed. I was tired at the end of the three days, but not exhausted.

I am thinking the next train trip should be overnight ON the train ... !

From The Bay Area to Reno on the California Zephyr

Woke up this morning to high fog ... except right over The City (across the bay) where the sun was shining brightly. Looking out our hotel window I felt s if I was looking at OZ all aglow ... albeit, a greenless version, but none-the-less, just as bright.


On such a perfect day for travel, and since I didn't have to drive, I started my morning with a cuppa joe san soucci. Ahhhhh ... life is grande! Then, off to the train station where we discovered that The Mister has left his boarding passes back at the hotel. A quick cab ride back to the hotel (thankfully we were early to the station and the hotel was near by) to retrieve them. I put them with my passes in my purse since we all know that ladies rarely forget their purses.

After we secured our seats and tix were collected by the conductor we made our way up to the lounge car (aka dome car) so that we would have a maximum view. And, a spendid view indeed. Once we made it past Sacto we began our climb into the foothills, then the trek over the Sierra thru DonnerPass. The Mister, who loves playing the navigator with maps, used our GPS. Actually, two GPS sources: Garmin and Blackberry. Occassional clearings revealed glances of canyons and vistas of mountains. We had fabulous views of the sky with big, grey, rainy-looking clouds, to the streams, rivers, and forests below.


Also in the lounge car was the Loud Family vacation ... the adult children and their spouses traveling all the way to Chicago (a two day trip). They were so loud that we could not hear the "tour guide" tell about the sights of the trip. But, considering his voice was lack luster and rather sing song-like, sounding as if he were reading a script for the first time, I don't think we missed much. When the Loud brothers and sisters went to the diner car for lunch we could hear the docent quite well ... yup, we didn't miss too much.

The evening's events included a fine dinner (I had swordfish cooked to perfection and The Mister had prime rib) at the JA Nugget Casino and a Los Lonely Boys concert. The food was excellent and the performance was better. The Boys travel with an enterauge of family and friends. Before the show they went around the room handing out souvenir bookmarks and swag ... 100's of dollars in swag!

Tomorrow ... we head back home ... a second trip over Donne Pass. Now, for a good night's sleep

San Joaquin Amtrak to Emeryville

It's thrilling. Thrilling like a child eagerly waiting for Santa Claus. I'm waiting for the train. I'm traveling with The Mister, my dear husband, Dennis. Our destination is Reno. I have desired a train trip over thee Sierra for several years, now, and we are finally taking it. If we were willing to ride the Amtrak bus part way (Stockton to Sacramento) we could have made it to Reno in one day. But, we did not want a bus ride ... train all the way. This means a two day trip: first leg of our trip is from Fresno, California to Emeryville, California.

Wylie picked us up at home and took us to the old Santa Fe Depot (recently refurbished by the city and declared a landmark) that is now the home of the Amtrak station. The weather was perfect, sunny yet cool. We sat outside near the tracks while waiting for our train. Hearing the train whistle off in the distance started that exciting anticipation. As the train pulled into the station I could feel the power of the engine in my chest ... a mighty powerful engine indeed, and loud.

a friendly volunteer at the old Santa Fe Depot in Fresno chats while we wait for our train

We boarded the train, headed straight up the stairs to the upper domed level. We found seats at a table, sharing the space with another passenger. The view was stellar. I have traveled up and down the Big Valley many times by car where the groves and orcchards of trees are above my head .... a bit like not seeing the forest for the trees. This time I am seeing the groves, orchards and vineyards from a birds eye view: the valley is indeed furtile and fruitful.

We were "entertained" by a gentleman two rows back who talked on his cell phone three hours straight. And, I mean straight. The young man on the other end (I deduced it was a young man from hearing this side of the talking) didn't say much because our side of the phone conversation was a loud, long running monologue. Cell yell at it's best. At least he had a pleasant voice, not some shrill scream-sounding voice. We were amused. He should have been a philosopher or a political pundit ... or a banker or broker ... but, he was being an advisor to a recently graduated young relative.

I called our hotel, the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge Hilton Garden Inn, as we approached the station. They sent a courtesy van to the station and we were soon checked into our room. After cocktails and dinner we have retired for the night to the Mirra chair (where I sit, now) and The Mister cozied into the "Garden Sleep System" bed ("a patented, self-adjusting technology to conform to your body" ... I am quoting, here). Soon, I will give it a try.

The Mister relaxes before we head downstairs to the lounge for cocktails and dinner

Tomorrow ... heading eastward to our state capitol, Sacramento, then up over the Sierra, and onto Reno. No, we're not gamblers or gamers ... we're going to a concert.

Testing my Netbook

I've had very painful back issues for a year, now. Recently I've had two steroid injections in my back. The first one was good for a few days (moderate pain). The second injection seems to be having a positive effect. Pain is dramatically reduced. I am thrilled!

But, what does this have to do with my new netbook? Travel, that's what. I don't have nearly as much travel planned for this year as I had last year. Much of my back issues were probably due to the intensity of my travels last year. But, I DO have a few trips planned for this summer ... and if all goes well, I will add a trip or two for the Fall. My laptop is somewhat large, fast, and for some one with a bad back, it's heavy ... probably over 8 pounds or so. By the time it's in a bag with the AC adapter it get's heavier than I should be lifting or carting around.

Several months ago I read an article about netbooks. It sounded like the answer to my prayers ... 2-3 pounds and little. Yes, it's slower and the smaller screen means more scrolling, but when I'm traveling most of my needs are keeping up with email and social networking.I did my research comparing the various machines out there and settled on the 2.2 pound ASUS Eee Netbook 901. It arrived today.

As you can see, my netbook is much smaller than my laptop. When it comes to travel convenience, it will be a dream.

I will test it for travel very soon, too. Wednesday we train to Reno. Finally, the train trip over the Sierra is coming true!