Ricotta Pie with Candied Tangerines

Ingredients:

For this, we’re gonna make some ricotta. Yeah, make some. Come to find out, it’s wicked easy.

How to make Ricotta Cheese

You’ll need:
1/2 gallon whole milk
1 pint buttermilk
cheesecloth, a colander or large sieve, a heatproof bowl to rest the colander in, and a meat thermometer would be handy.

Note that I had made 2 versions of homemade ricotta – 1 with milk, cream and lemon juice, which gave me a very low yield. This method, with buttermilk, was much easier and yielded more ricotta. However, this recipe on its own did not give me enough to make the pie later (this will yield about a pound), so you’ll probably want to increase this by half if you want to make enough ricotta for the pie.

Here’s a picture of the milks, seems unnecessary but meh.

Step 1:

Heat milk and buttermilk in a 6 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring/scraping occasionally. Ready your bowl – place the colander in/over the large bowl, and place the cheesecloth in the colander, folded several times over to make multiple layers. When the mixture hits around 180 degrees, it will start to separate into curds and whey. Stop stirring.

Step 2:

Once it looks like everything is well separated, remove from heat. Gently scoop out the whey into the cheesecloth-lined colander. Be gentle with the curds, and let them drain for an hour. Dump out the whey as needed, and you can pick up and gently tilt the curds in the cheesecloth, but do not press to drain.

Refrigerate until ready to use. This will keep for 2 days in the fridge.

Now onto making the rest of the pie:

Step 3:

For the pie:
1.5 lbs fresh ricotta
1 recipe pie crust (you can use store-bought in the refrigerator section, this is extra pie dough I had in my freezer)
5 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of cardamom (optional – you could also use anise or nutmeg)
1/4 cup minced candied citrus (recipe follows)

For the candied tangerines:
Sugar (2 cups)
2 tangerines (or oranges, or lemons)

Bring 1 cup water and 2 cups sugar to a low simmer in a medium saucepan over low heat. DO NOT let it turn amber, you are not making caramel.

Step 4:

Thinly slice your tangerines however you like. The rounds are hard to keep their shape once they simmer – the slices keep their shape better.

Step 5:

Simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Step 6:

Then let drain on a wire rack to cool (put foil underneath to catch the sugar drippings). Continue to simmer the sugar solution for another 10 minutes until syrupy and reduced. Set aside to cool and use for later, and other uses (would be good in mixed drinks).

Step 7:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Ready your pie crust by rolling out and placing in a 9" pie plate.

Step 8:

After putting on the pie crust, weigh the pie down. Place foil shiny-side down on your pie in 2 layers, and place inside pie weights, dry rice, or dried beans.

Step 9:

Blind bake (it means to pre-bake) for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and brush a beaten egg yolk onto the bottom of the crust.

Step 10:

Bake for an additional 2 minutes.Remove and let cool. Now make the pie filling.

Beat the ricotta with the sugar and honey until smooth.

Step 11:

Add in the eggs one at a time, beating in on a low speed until fully incorporated before adding the next.

Step 12:

Mix in vanilla, cardamom, and candied tangerines. Pour into the cooled pie crust, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until center is set. Now at 45 minutes mine was not set, in fact it didn’t even look close. So I let it go another 10 minutes.

Whoops. It got a little brown. Oh well. I would maybe suggest a water bath, or covering with foil the last 10 minutes of baking. Or maybe not using a deep-dish pie tin, like I did.

Glaze the top with the tangerine syrup and arrange tangerine slices however you see fit.

Step 13:

It tastes like the best cheesecake you never had, and the batter is TO DIE FOR.