Welcome
to the
official site
of the
Ricotta Container Support Group.
| The Charter Members are: | Legacy members include: |
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| Additional Members are: | |
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The Ricotta CSG went 'public' (perhaps unknowingly) at the 1999 Amato Family Reunion with the posting of the meeting announcement in the lobby of the hotel. So, having been impounded by creativity at the reunion, I had ideas to port the Ricotta Container Support Group to the Amato-Family Web Page. But first, I had to find out just what a Ricotta Container Support Group was.
It sounds like an inside joke for a bunch of people who cook with ricotta cheese and always seem to reuse the nice re-sealable containers for leftovers. And since you have to keep buying containers to keep cooking with ricotta, the containers keep growing. After time, this collection appears obsessive. That's got to be it, right? Wrong!
Origins
It all started out as a (grand)mother's generosity, and ended up as a (grand)child's thankful nurturing of said generosity...Picture a Rockwell style painting, you're looking through the doorway into a brightly colored kitchen sprinkled with hand painted tiles of flowers, herbs and spices. On one counter is a toaster, now asleep under a soft quilted covering; it is mid-day, and its chores are long since over. The curtains are pulled back, and the back door is open, showing you a glimpse of Grandfather working the terrace aside a basket of tomatoes, eggplant, and fresh basil. Around the table stand three delighted workers wearing aprons. One who stands at the table, chest high, would rather not wait to cook the morsels as a finger is being well polished to the delight of a palate. Another crouches thigh high to the table, hands in the air, seeming to want to dive into the dish, off of the pulled-up chair. Grandma beems. Her knuckles are encrusted with dough and her cheek is marked with a dash of flour that ran away -- probably from when she wiped away that tear of joy -- making it believable when she said 'No, honey, I just got some flour in my eye that's all.'
On the other counter, there they are, heaped up to the cupboards -- ricotta containers. Some full, sealed and stacked. Others on the drainboard drying. One still awaits its fill from the tray that is cooling, both being guarded by a swift wooden spoon.
This picture can only happen so many times before Grandma actually sees a dent in her ricotta container supply; and so the first by-law was spoken.
"You have to bring them back empty if you expect to leave with them full."Shortly after, the first Ricotta Container Support Group was formed -- the support of Grandma's ricotta conatiners. They came in bagsful. Grandma was happy. The children were happy. The grandchildren were ecstatic!
Ricotta Container Support Group
So where does that leave this web page? This is what we have for starters:- How to start your own local chapter, of course!
- Ricotta Container Support Group: Frequently Asked Questions
- In addition, we will try to help those with (heaven forbid) too many containers, pointing out new, or perhaps even old uses for them.
- We will also try to provide some recipes using ricotta to help those who may be container-shy.
Creating a local Ricotta Container Support Group
Creating a local Ricotta CSG may not be as easy as it seems. First off, you need someone to play the role of Grandma™. Your selection may vary depending on several factors.First, how far of a comute is it to Grandma™'s house? Do you have to travel through any woods or over any rivers to get there? If so, have there been any reports of Big Bad Wolves™ or Bridge-Trolls™?
Second, is Grandma™ willing to bake for you? and does she have the means to support your habit?
Third, does your nomonee fit the Grandma™ criteria? Beaming, tears of joy, likes your kids, toaster-quilt etc. (see above 'Rockwell description').
Perhaps most importantly, can Grandma™ bake? Cookies that is, not little door stoppers or sling-shot ammunition. Be sure there are (apparently used) supplies of butter, sugar, shortening, confectioners sugar(10x). Be wary if all you find is margarine, nutra-sweet, and skim or dehydrated milk. By the way, don't get caught poking around potential Grandma™'s kitchen -- remember that wooden spoon.
Once Grandma™ is selected, you should set up some guidelines. For instance, you may want to check and make sure you fit into her party schedule. You think she is sitting around waiting for you to pick up some cookies so she can continue baking?!? Ha! And when setting up these guidelines, remember, Grandma™ is the chapter president.
Re-using those containers you already have
- First and foremost: make sauce -- the right way. What's the right way? It starts off with a 20 Quart saucepan. That's not a typo, that's Twenty, '2'-'0'. Starting to get the picture? The key to good sauce is good quantity. Then pack it into ricotta containers and freeze them. Trust me they will keep, and you'll save money by not buying jarred sauce. And you'll either save the environment by not throwing those jars away, or save room by not saving those jars (They don't stack when they are empty like ricotta containers).
- Second, make soup... 20 Quart saucepan... husband... Got the picture?
- Sandcastles. Ricotta containers make excellent towers on sandcastles, especially if you also have the smaller size so you can stack it on the bigger one. Once these become cracked or your (grand)kids lose the lids, then they are useless for all practical purposes -- off to the landfill they go.
'How is sauce going to reduce the number of containers,' you may ask?
Here's the scenario. Let's assume half the time you are going to be making
sauce for dinner one night and the other half of the time you can let your
husband do it, because lets face it, making pasta should be a no brainer.
Ok. Now, 20 percent of the time you need it in a hurry and you need to
microwave it to defrost it; 80 percent of the time your husband forgets
all about makng diner and has to microwave it to defrost and heat it to
serving temperature. I also happen to know that it is really easy to overheat
a ricotta container in the microwave due to uneven cooking, and the container
warps and becomes trash. So, 10 percent of the time you will ruin it, and
70 percent of these times your husband will. That's a 40 percent probability
that that container will be used once. Who said husbands were good for
nothing?!?
Building up your ricotta container supply
please send recipes to jmamato@yahoo.comlast modified 17 May 2000 19:33:43 MDT