Pour the milk and cream into a heavy ceramic pot and place on medium high heat. Stir occasionally so that the milk does not scorch on the bottom. You might have to turn the heat down to medium. Ignore my candy thermometer in the picture.

The milk must be gently heated until it comes to a rolling boil. Then add the salt and the lemon juice and vinegar and continue to stir the milk mixture until it curdles and you can see the ricotta curds have formed. (About two more minutes.)

Turn off the heat and let the mixture rest for 5 - 10 minutes so that the curds form even more. If curds do not form or you have weak small almost non-existent curds, you did not add enough vinegar . To fix this, reheat the milk until boiling, add another tbsp or so of white vinegar and stir for two minutes until better size curds form.

Place the colander or large strainer over a large ceramic bowl. With the small tea strainer or skimmer, skim out the cheese curds into the tea towel and let it drain for a few minutes. or you can pour the whole thing into the tea towel or strainer. The liquid will drain thru and the curds will remain on top. After a few minutes of draining, the ricotta will remain in the tea towel.

Spoon it out into a container and refrigerate until ready to use it.

It should last 2 days in the fridge. You can add it into a dish of pasta with light tomato sauce, use it in lasagna or make a ricotta cake or pie. I made a very nice appetizer before chilling it in the fridge.

I brushed slices of Italian bread with oil and toasted them.Then I smeared the toasts with a large dollop of the ricotta, added some kalamata olives, shredded basil, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. So heavenly good.