The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Salmon Omelet with Homemade Feta and Chives

I’ve been on an omelet kick lately.  Or a scrambled-eggs-with-stuff-mixed-in kick.  This morning my eggs and additions took omelet form.

Here’s what I used:

From the top right – two eggs, some leftover grilled salmon (wild caught, Alaskan), chives from the garden, and homemade Feta from last week’s cheesemakingpalooza.  Okay, I guess I didn’t make enough cheeses for it to qualify as a “palooza,” but I made four kinds.  And one was Feta.  (The short-term version, fyi.)

Anyway, back to breakfast…

Face to Face with Me

I was scrolling through facebook a few minutes ago after posting a link to the previous post, and as I scanned status updates and links to news articles and other posts, I was rather startled to bump into my own face.

New England Cheesemaking Supply Company had asked me a while back if they could use my post from last summer about making Feta.  I’d said yes, of course, and then promptly forgot about it, figuring I’d find out whenever the post ran.

It's running..

It’s basically a reprint of my own old post, but if you’re interested at all in cheesemaking, there are lots of great articles and interviews with other cheesemakers – from beginner to professional – in their blog.

Feta Frustration

At the beginning of this month I made a double batch of Feta.  And I wrote about it here.

I was very excited.  I love Feta.  And making it was nice – it was similar, a bit, to making hard cheese like Cheddar, but shorter.  Not so much pressing and air drying and all that.

Half of the curds were tossed with salt and left in the fridge to cure for about 5 days.

The other half went into a brine and would be soaking in that brine for a month....

Unveiling the Short Term Feta

Just about a week ago I made Feta for the first time.  This weekend the short term batch was ready to sample.

Making Feta

At long last, after a summer-long painting-induced hiatus, I’m back to making cheese again.  I missed it.  I especially missed goat cheese. 

Fortunately for me, I had close to 3 gallons of goats’ milk in the freezer from earlier trips to the Farmers’ Market this summer.  I needed to get the milk out of there so I could organize all the soup stocks and bags of clams and conch before chaos took over, so the timing was perfect.  I’d ordered direct set Chèvre and Mesophilic cultures from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company earlier in the week, and they had arrived within a couple of days, so this past Sunday was perfect for cheesemaking.

Feta and Olive Dip

In a food processor combine the following:

One part kalamata olives (seeds removed)

Two parts feta cheese

some black pepper if you wish

Put the food processor lid on and turn the machine on and slowly drizzle in some olive oil until the mixture reaches a pleasing dippable consistency.

Put mixture in a bowl.

Serve.