A couple of days ago Bill and the kids and Bill’s friend and one of his kids went crabbing. Gone are the days when crabs were the occasional bonus goodies brought home in addition to the major prey – the clams, the bluefish.
Now, we are The People Who Hunt the Savory Beautiful Dancers of the Sea. Well, of the Bay. And I haven’t even been hunting for them myself. (Because of course I am The Woman Who Tends the Hearth) (okay, enough with that silliness….)
Or solitary egg, in this case.
When I was a kid, my mother used to make this dish sometimes on Sunday mornings. It’s a slow-morning kind of breakfast, and Dad’s photography business was closed on Sundays.
I haven’t had savory baked eggs since that time, and lately it’s been on my mind. So I asked my Mom for details recently and here we are. The ingredients are simple – onions, butter, salt and pepper, eggs, cheese. The end result is so simple and incredibly yummy, I’m kind of annoyed with myself for not giving this a try years ago.
Julia and Alex helping to make the stuffing…even though we didn’t actually stuff anything except ourselves…
Continue reading "A Few Pictures from Thanksgiving Morning" »
July is the month of Visiting Family Members From Outside New England, which means, in addition to Alex and Julia having to share a bed, lobster.
Now, there are several types of lobster eaters. There are the Big Claws and Tail Only people. There are the I’ll Eat Other Parts of the Lobster As Long As I Don’t Have to Pick Through All The Body and Squeeze Out All The Meat in Those Skinny Legs Myself people. There are the ICK, What’s That??? people. And there are the people who will eat every last scrap of edible lobster – meat, fat, coral (roe) and tomalley (liver) – and will suck all of this down faster than the Big Claw and Tail people can get their crackers and picks going.
I belong to the latter group.
But.
There are times when I curb my impulses and leave the body and little skinny claws alone, just so we have meat to do something with the next day.
This post is about one of those times.
I was quite surprised and delighted when Kitchen PLAY invited me to participate in their “30 Days of Outdoor Dining” event, which is running from June 25th through July 24th.
Once I’d agreed to the posting date, I was given the “secret ingredient” info: LAND O’ LAKES 4 Cheese Italian Blend.
Tuesday is becoming our “Make Your Own Salad” night. We all look forward to it, and we all participate in the preparation. I look on it as a little kitchen class for the kids. They get to use sharp knives – great fun!
Anyway, here’s a look at last night’s culinary adventures…
Continue reading "Fried Mozzarella and Make Your Own Salad Night" »
My fridge is packed. And not in a good way. It’s stuffed with neglected containers of meals past, with foods that need to be chopped and cooked and canned…with feta in brine for another couple of weeks, with jars of salsas and jams and pickles that we cracked open just to make sure they had turned out okay.
I needed to do some cleaning out. And part of the clean out resulted in this version of macaroni and cheese.
Continue reading "Red Curry Macaroni with Five Cheeses – and Bacon!" »
I’ve been making cheese for a few years now, but not as frequently as I’d like, and certainly not as many varieties as I’d like. I’m hoping to kick myself into a higher gear as this summer flies by, and maintain that gear through the rest of the year.
Yesterday I made a batch of goats’ milk mozzarella!
I also made a batch of the 30-minute mozzarella with cows’ milk, for comparison purposes.
Unfortunately I only have about fifteen minutes to type today, so the whole process post with lots of pictures will be delayed a day or so.
Well, it smokes at one a.m., anyway.
Yep, it’s the middle of the night, and I’ve just put a 9+ pound pork butt in the smoker. It should be done around twelve hours from now. Lunchtime tomorrow. Or, actually, lunchtime much later today.
My husband thinks I’m nuts.
When my husband got home from work yesterday I told him “I am SO cool!” And to prove it, I showed him what I’d done.
Actually, I wasn’t quite this far along when he got home – the cheese was still in the smoker.
But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Oh, earthy goats’ milk, how I love thee!
I started a batch of chèvre last night.
Finally.
Here’s how it looked this morning when it was time to drain the whey off and hang the curds…
I had a little bit of salad left from last night. Some chopped asparagus, some greens, a couple of slices of radish.
I almost tossed them in the compost last night, but then I thought they’d make a nice omelet in the morning.
So here’s what I did.
Yum.
I was a little concerned (maybe that’s too strong a word) when I smelled the curd for this one. It smelled like yogurt, and I was worried that it would have a yogurty texture even after draining.
But, happily, I was wrong.
And there I go, getting ahead of myself again…
It’s been a while, but I’m making some cheese! It’s a very simple soft cheese called Lactic Cheese. I know – doesn’t sound very interesting, does it? But it smells good – kind of yogurty – and tonight it should be drained enough for me to taste it.
I admit it. I cut into this much sooner than I’d originally planned.
I made this Manchego on January 28th – not even a full five weeks ago. Now, there’s no official aging time with Manchego. You can leave it for a week and eat it really young, or age it for 3 weeks, 6 months, or longer. I had kind of intended to let this one age for at least a few months.
But what with being away for a bunch of days, and then being sick for most of last week, I just don’t have any food posts for you. And telling you I ate oatmeal with coconut, banana, raisins and almonds for breakfast just isn’t all that exciting. Is it? Of course not.
So tonight, since Bill had already got dinner under way, I figured I’d cut into the Manchego and see what was going on.
Turns out, yummy cheese was going on.
It’s been ages since I made cheese.
And, despite some missteps along the way, I’ve missed it.
So, finally, I carved out some time last week, gathered my milk and starters, rennet and cheesecloth, and jumped back into the game.
For French Fridays with Dorie this week, we made gnocchi. But not the gnocchi I usually make – you know, with potatoes. Or, sometimes, sweet potatoes.
This version has no potatoes at all. The gnocchi are made with pate a choux, the same dough used to make things like eclairs, cream puffs, and gougeres.
Those kooky French cooks!
Continue reading "French Fridays with Dorie – Gnocchi a la Parisienne" »
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!
Ahem.
I made cream cheese to serve on Mother's Day. I served some of it plain and some flavored. My mother was so impressed that she ordered her own copy of Home Cheese Making.
Remember I mentioned the crash during the pressing part of my Stirred-Curd Cheddar post?
The loud crash I heard through the kitchen window while I was gulping down my cheeseburger and potato salad politely suggested that I might want to figure out a better way of weighing down my curds.
Continue reading "Stirred-Curd Cheddar - Batch #1 - Part 1" »
I made a batch of chèvre recently. Have I mentioned how much I love cheeses made with goats' milk? Something about that tang...yum. I wish we had more land. I'd raise goats.
Continue reading "Mushrooms Stuffed with Chevre and Smoked Trout" »
Finally.
I'm making a hard cheese.
Continue reading "Farmhouse Cheddar Batch #1 and a Bit of Baseball" »
Recently the stars and planets were aligned just right and so I made a big batch of macaroni and cheese. A big batch and a smaller one, actually.
Continue reading "Smokey Hot Turkey Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese" »
I made this toward the end of July, back during my blueberry recipe frenzy. I was also going to the Farmers' Market every Friday morning and getting my weekly ration of goats' milk and making my own cheese from the milk.
Yes, it's still Blueberry Week here, but I took these pictures last week at some point and forgot to post them, so I'm doing it now.
I made a double batch of goat cheese, and these are pictures I took after the curds and why had separated and I lifted the lid for the first time after that portion of the program.
In the past, I've always scooped the curds out of the whey, which leads to some of the curds breaking up and I end up having to strain a lot of the mixture.
This time around, I started by ladling out the whey instead, and as I did that, I started to see this swirly shape in the curd part. So I kept ladling out the whey...
And it kept looking kind of cool and interesting...
I kept ladling, but unfortunately the ladle ended up forming an indentation over there on the left of the curd...but still...rather cool formation, isn't it?
Anyway, once I couldn't really get any more of the whey out with the ladle without breaking up the curd, I scooped the curd out into a muslin-lined strainer. Here's the first scoop:
And that's it for the cheese pictures.
For now.
Would you look at that!?
Okay, it doesn't look all that special. In fact, if you hadn't read the title of this post, you would be safe in assuming it's cream cheese, or maybe ricotta.
But it's not.
It's goat cheese. My first batch of goat cheese. And it's yummy.
Okay.
First thing you need to make goat cheese is the milk. A gallon of it. From, of course, goats. And you need to pasteurize the milk.
How does one do that? Well, according to the directions I followed, in the booklet that came with my Goat Cheese Kit from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company (where I want to live, if this whole bedroom renovation project gets to be too much for me), you put your goat milk in a big stainless steel pot, heat it to 145 degrees F, and then keep it at that temperature for 30 minutes.
So I did. Here's the milk in the pot, and you can see the metal probe of my thermometer over on the left.
This is probably the longest and, yes, least exciting part of the job. The waiting. And waiting. You don't want it to heat too fast and scorch the bottom of the pot (so if you've got a nice heavy-duty pot that's what you'd want to use here). So you stir and check the temp and stir and check the temp. At least that's what I did.
I know. A watched pot of goat's milk never reaches 145 degrees F. I tried to look away from time to time, but what if it all suddenly surged up to the boiling point and bubbled over the side of the pot and set my kitchen on fire????
This is the sort of thing you have to think about. It's tough work.
Anyway, at last, my thermometer hit the 145 mark and then came the fun of keeping it at that temperature for half an hour.
I kept it at that temp, or slightly above at times, by constantly adjusting the flame under the pot. And yes, I pretty much stayed glued to the pot and my thermometer for the whole half hour. I didn't want to ruin a whole gallon of fresh goat's milk.
Actually, I have to correct that - it was half a gallon of fresh, and half a gallon I'd frozen from the week before. Goat's milk freezes very nicely.
(And you can see a bit of the frozen chunk in the picture above, actually. It's the part of the milk that looks textured all around where the light is hitting it.)
Okay, so you've brought your milk to temperature, and you're keeping it there.
While you do that, with your third arm (because one has the thermometer and the second arm is controlling the flame), reach over to your sink and fill it about half way with cold, cold, cold water.
And get out your little packet of Direct Set Chevre culture. It came with the kit. I think I got four of them. Plus culture to make my own starter, but that's for another post. I haven't done it yet. I'm waiting for our house to be free of sawdust and joint compound dust and paint.
So here's the little packet.
Now. When your milk has been at 145 F for half an hour, plunge the pot (plunge is an action word! it makes this post exciting!) into your sink of cold water, and stir, stir, stir the milk to bring the temperature down, now, to 86 degrees F.
When you get the milk to 86, remove the pot from the cold water, add in your direct set culture, stir well, and then put the lid back on the pot.
And now? Just leave it alone. I know. So anticlimactic, huh? But that's what you do. You leave it all there, inside the pot, covered, "for 12-20 hours or until firm."
You also need to keep the milk/cheese-to-be at a temperature of at LEAST 72 degrees F in order for the starter culture to work properly.
I think part of the fun, for me, of making cheese is that it flies in the face of everything you're supposed to do to prevent bacterial growth.
There's a part of me that feels rather rebelious, leaving that milk out at room temperature. For 12 or more hours!
You WANT that milk to change. You don't want it to just sit there and remain milk. You WANT that transformation to take place.
Or at least, I do.
Anyway, even though it's June and it's way above freezing, even at night, I worried that my precious milk would get chilly. So I bundled it up in a blanket and a towel before putting it to bed on the back of my stove.
I kissed it goodnight at about 8:30 pm, knowing I couldn't check on it until at least 8:30 the next morning.
Oh, the anticipation!
So the next morning I was up at my usual time of somewhere between 5 and 7...way too early to check on the milk/cheese-to-be...so I sipped my coffee and tried not to stare at the bundle on the stove.
As the unveiling approached, I started getting things ready for the next step.
I got some of the butter muslin that came with my kit (it's like cheesecloth, but has a tighter weave) and lined a collander with it, and set the collander over a pot to catch the whey.
And then, gently, gingerly, I removed the towel and the blanket from the pot.
And then I remembered I needed a big slotted spoon of some kind to ladle the curds out with, so I grabbed that and put it in the muslin-lined collander. And then...
I removed the lid from the pot and peeked inside.
VICTORY IS MINE!!!!
Sorry.
But look! Look around the edge of the pot - you can see that separation has occurred! I have curds, and I have whey!
(And with those baby spiders that were in my back yard recently, I really COULD be Little Miss Muffet at this point!)
Anyway, that's what I was waiting and hoping for. For some reason I worry that I've done something wrong with the preparation...maybe I let the milk go a little TOO high over 145? Dipped a degree lower than 86 before I put the culture in? YOU JUST DON'T KNOW!!! And the suspense was killing me.
But there was no need. Everything set up just the way it was supposed to. Hee hee!!!
So now it's time to ladle the curds into the collander.
I took a big scoop - left-handed, so I could take a picture at the same time. Here it is:
Isn't it lovely? At this point it reminded me of yogurt. Kind of silky and smooth. I scooped out what I could with the big spoon and then poured the rest of the whey through the muslin-lined collander to catch every little bit of curd.
And then I covered it again and let it drain for about an hour.
Just to get rid of the majority of the whey. See? It's thicker now.
Next, I took the corners of the muslin and tied them together....
Hung the muslin on a wooden spoon above the big pot I'd orignally cooked the milk in....
Sort of covered it again, and let it sit.
For 12 hours. Yep. More waiting.
You can let it hang and rain for anywhere from 6 to 12 hours, depending on the consistency you want. I wanted it rather dry and firm, so I left it for most of the day.
And then I untied the muslin and - at last - tasted a bit of it.
And you know what? It tasted like goat cheese!
Now at this point you can add salt to it, if you'd like. I sprinkled a little kosher salt over the top and mixed it in with a spoon. Not too much salt - it really didn't need it, in my opinion.
Then I divided it into some ramekins, covered them with plastic, and stuck them in the fridge.
I also weighed the cheese, just to see if I'd matched the yield given in the recipe.
Now, the thing is, I also have a book, put out by Ricki Carrol, the Cheese Queen, who heads up the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company and gives workshops (which would be SO COOL to attend), and I was kind of referring to both the book AND the little pamphlet that came with the cheese kit.
Everything's the same, except that in the book the yield is a pound and a half of cheese, and in the pamphlet it says 2 pounds.
I got a pound and a half, and I'm perfectly fine with that! That's a lot of goat cheese, not that I'm complaining!
I gave some to my friend across the street - she loves goat cheese too, and I wanted her opinion on the taste. I'll be bringing some more to a little family get together tonight, and that leaves the rest for us.
And then...sigh...I guess I'll just have to make it again!
And again.
And again.
And again.
Back at the beginning of December I did a post about brie, in which I spoke nostalgically of a restaurant in Camden, ME and then showed you how I made a rather odd-looking version of brie en croute.
It looked like this:
Kind of like I'd encased a dead bird in puff pastry.
It tasted great and all, but the appearance left something to be desired.
The very next day, I received an email from a Casey Ibbetson about this very post. It read, in part:
I saw your creative use of brie in your 12/3 post and wanted to pass along some details about a new type of brie with a new innovative shape that might be easier to wrap dough around!? There are a few things that evoke feelings of celebration and luxury such as champagne, truffles and brie – and now there is a new element of convenience for busy hosts looking to add a touch of elegance to their event. Thanks to the long shape of the new Président Brie Log, serving this treat is much easier. Slices of the Brie Log fit perfectly on a cracker — and its thin edible rind only adds to its rich, creamy deliciousness.
Below I've included a few enticing recipes that are sure to spark creativity for any holiday menu. If you’re interested, I’d like to send you a sample of this new Brie Log – all I’d need is your mailing address and I can ship the brie to you priority overnight!
Attached to the email were roughly a thousand pictures of slices of this President Brie Log on a cracker with a variety of toppings, and the corresponding recipes, so I could make them in my very own home.
Casey Ibbetson, it turns out, works for SHIFT Communications, a PR agency that, I can only assume, counts Président Cheese as one of its clients.
At first I thought - my brie thing was so pathetic that someone associated with a brie distributor actually felt sorry for me and wrote to offer help. "Your creative use of brie" was just a kind way of saying "that scary thing you actually showed to your readers." I laughed and sobbed at the same time. (Okay, not really about the sobbing part.)
After that moment had passed, and I had looked at some of the photos of brie slices on crackers, I thought - well hey, FREE CHEESE! Why not?
And so I sent off my mailing address and looked forward to a log of brie in the near future.
Before that arrived, however, I felt, perhaps, the need to prove that I could make a brie look pretty all on my own. So I bought a small wheel of brie and wrapped it up and from that came this post.
And this:
Much nicer than the dead bird en croute from the week before, right?
The next day, I received a large box with large splashes of tape on it that read "FRAGILE" (must be Italian!) and "PERISHABLE!" Woo hoo! My cheese had arrived! And in such a large box! How much cheese did they send???!!!
Salivating, I grabbed a utility knife and slashed through the packing tape.
First, amid the bubble wrap, I encountered a handwritten note:
"Hi Jayne,
Enclosed please find a President Brie Log and a little something extra for you to enjoy with it.
Happy Holidays!
Kind regards,
Vicky"
I dug further, and found a small blue lunch bag sort of thing, which, when I unzipped it, contained a couple of ice packs and the much anticipated Brie Log.
Yay!!!
And then there was another container. Red, kind of suede-ish, and zippered.
The "something extra!" Christmas had come a couple of weeks early!
And so I unzipped it.
And lo - more goodies!
Carr's crackers!
Stonewall Kitchen Black Cherry Jam!
Little napkins! A corkscrew/bottle opener thingy! And a pair of plastic go-anywhere wine glasses!
Wow!
All I could think was "You forgot to send the bottle of wine, Vicky!" I JEST!!!!
I was thoroughly delighted. So was my husband, but in a manly way, of course, not in the giggly, squealing girly way I was. Okay, I'm not really giggly or squealy either.
I was, all kidding aside, very pleased and impressed. I figured I'd just get a sample of the President Brie Log and that would be it - which was fine - like I've said - FREE CHEESE! But no - they went that extra step and sent me the not only additional edibles to go with the cheese, but something lasting as well. Now, okay, I know it's all part of marketing and all that. But still - it's nice.
So before I go any further, I want to thank Casey Ibbetson at SHIFT Communications and Vicky at Pollock Communications, and the folk at Président Cheese, and anyone else involved behind the scenes for this lovely package of goodies. Thank you!
And now, onto what I wound up creating.
First of all, I was a bit tired of the sweet + brie combo. I wanted something purely savory. So did Bill. So I went with one of my favorite savory flavory things - caramelized onions.
I cut up a couple of onions, softened them in some butter, and let them cook a while. I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar on them near the end of the cooking, once they were soft and brown and intoxicating.
I let them cool while I got the sheet of puff pastry dough ready...
And when the onions were room temperature, I spread them out on the dough in a layer...
placed the Président Brie Log at one end...
and carefully rolled it up, like you would with cinnamon buns or the like.
Ta-da!
Now, if I had been making this for a party or something, I'd have made it prettier. I had actually imagined making little leaves and vines and flowers out of puff pastry dough, to twine over and around the log. But since it was just for Bill and me, and I didn't actually have another sheet of puff pastry dough, I didn't go that route. Next time.
But anyway. I put the wrapped log in the fridge for about half an hour to chill the dough. I preheated the oven to 425 degrees F, and then popped the log (on a parchment lined sheet pan) into the oven and baked it for about 25 minutes.
Also next time, when I'm in a mood to be fancy, I'll paint it with egg wash, which will give it more color and shine.
But anyway. It smelled FABULOUS. I held Bill off with one hand and sliced the lovely package open with one swift slash of my knife:
The brie didn't ooze out, it poured out. Very hot and melty and surrounded by soft, sweet onions.
Bill grabbed the board with the brie away from me and raced down the stairs. Laughing.
Okay, no, that didn't happen. But I took just a few shots and then put my camera away, grabbed the box of Carr's crackers and that was the end of gazing longingly at melty cheese and crispy pastry.
It tasted very, very good.
I recommend the grilled onions/brie flavor combination, if you're looking for something without a fruit element.
And the Président Brie Log itself? I think it's a lovely idea. My only complaint would be the diameter. It's maybe an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half in diameter, I think (I didn't measure it - sorry), and, greedy cheese-glutton that I am, I'd have liked a wider circle. But that's greed and gluttony talking, so feel free to disregard.
One more time, thank you Casey, Vicky, and the folks at Président Cheese!
By the way, it's not all that difficult to make your own puff pastry dough. Here's a recipe for you.
In my quest to shoot pretty pictures AND eat yummy stuff, I made another version of brie en croute last night.
I've gotten behind on my posts, so much so that I've done two more batches each of Ricotta and Mozzarella but haven't written about them yet.
I'm not going to rehash the whole recipe and process every time. If you want to see the original Ricotta-making post, go here. And if you want to see the original Mozzarella-making post, go here.
I did, however, want to write about how things went with each successive batch. In a nutshell, things improved. But who wants a nutshell? It's hardly satisfying.
Both times I've made cheeses again, I've made a double batch of mozzarella (if I'm going to make it, why not make plenty?) and a half batch of ricotta.
Second batch of mozzarella went so much smoother than the first chaotic experience. I learned a lot from the first batch. Things like...the milk will heat up to 55 degrees F pretty darn fast, so don't go reading ahead in the recipe or anything. Just WAIT. Which is what I did. Added the citric acid right on time, temperature-wise. I also made sure I had LOTS of bowls on hand, a couple of strainers, slotted spoons, and huge glass of ice water for myself, because it gets pretty hot standing there over a hot pot of milk curds. Oh, yeah, and I was also making bread, too. I'll post about that separately. I made some baguettes to have with the cheeses.
Anyway. With this batch #2 of the mozzarella, I changed a few things. I used half whole milk and half 1%. I can't keep eating full fat mozzarella, and that's that. I didn't notice a huge difference, either, though maybe I would if I did a taste test between a full fat and a part full, part low-fat batch. Hmmmm....that sounds like a fun project, actually.
I also added lipase to the batch. Lipase an enzyme used to give Italian cheeses in particular to enhance the flavor. It comes in powder form and keeps for ages in the freezer. You only need a little - I think I used half a teaspoon for this batch.
I also upped the rennet a bit, because I'd read that if you add lipase, the cheese can have a softer consistency, and so if you add more rennet, that helps balance things back out.
Those, and the switch from all whole to half whole and half 1%, were the only changes I made.
Things went a LOT better. For one thing, the way the curds formed after I added the rennet. Well, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. I added the citric acid and the lipase (both are dissolved in cool water, and the lipase needs to sit for 20 minutes before using as well) at the 55 degrees F mark and stirred that in. Right away, little tiny curds started to form. You can see them there on the thermometer....
I kept the thermometer in the liquid and gave it a little stir occasionally, just to see how the curds were doing. I was waiting for the temp to go up to 90, so I could add the rennet. Once the rennet joined the party, the fun began.
Woohoo! Curds and whey! A lot of it!
Best of all, as time went on, the curds basically bunched together and tightened into one big mass and started pulling away from the sides of the pot.
Pretty cool, huh?
I also learned another lesson. In the book it says to add the rennet when the temp reaches 90, and then continue heating to between 100-105. So I'm standing there sweating away (probably added additional flavor to the cheese...I'M ONLY KIDDING), holding the thermometer in the middle of the pot. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. And the temperature wouldn't go above 90! Maybe up to 91, but nothing more.
I didn't mind so much - I was busy gazing lovingly at the giant mozzarella-to-be floating in the whey. But I was also pretty hot and icky and sort of wanted to get things finished up. I checked the temperature with another thermometer, thinking maybe the new one I'd bought wasn't any good. But no, the other one registered 90 also.
And then some little voice whispered "check the temperature of the whey near the side of the pot!" And so I did, and OH, okay. Got it. The curds apparently get to 90 and stop or something. Or maybe they somehow insulate themselves from the heat. Whatever it was, the whey was plenty hot enough. I don't know the exact temperature- once I saw the temperature zipping past 100 and not slowing, I moved the pot off the burner and shut off the flame.
YAY! Time to strain!
I'm still on the lookout for a really BIG slotted spoon, but this one I bought recently was an improvement over the strainer - it did a better job of draining out the whey as I scooped up the hot curds.
As you can see, there is still a lot of whey to be strained out of the curds, but it took less time because I had a better handle on what needed to be done. I also didn't splash whey all over the counter, the floor, and myself. Not a lot, anyway.
While I worked on pressing the curds together and pouring off the whey, I was also heating the pot of whey (with salt added) up to 175. I made several balls of curds and set them aside. It's sort of like forming snowballs...sometimes the snow isn't exACTLY the right consistency to retain it's ball shape. Same deal with the curds. They're still kind of wet, and crumbly at the same time. So they'll stick together, but you have to do it carefully, otherwise they'll just break into pieces.
It is taking me 3-4 dips in the hot salted whey (okay, I'm not going in it, I mean dipping the ball of curds in the whey 3-4 times) to achieve the proper stretchy consistency. After the first dunk, I mostly just squeeze out more whey and fold the curds (carefully) over and over a couple of times in my hands, give them another squeeze and then put the ball back into the whey. After the second dip, I can start to see the strings forming.
See them? Little stringy bits? But you can also see it's still rather crumbly, too. So I knead it in the bowl or in my hands, and this time around the ball starts to hold together better.
Back into the whey again, and I start to fold it and stretch, fold it and stretch...
It's pretty close now - much stretchier.
I can't tell you how cool this is. Well, I guess I can. It's really, really cool.
And what did I do with this batch? I'd made it a double batch so we could enjoy some that night and so I'd also have some for the next night, when Bill's brother and his girlfriend and his son and HIS girlfriend came over for dinner. We did beer can chickens (Bill cooked those) and I made a pasta salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of mayo...and two zucchini (from the garden)
and a beautiful little pattypan squash (from the garden)
grilled and then cut up into chunks and tossed into the pasta. I also added some scallions (from our garden), and salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of my ricotta over the top. (The second batch of ricotta went off without a hitch.)
I also made a salad of fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and sliced organic hot-house tomatoes. I drizzled the whole thing with olive oil and sprinkled it with freshly ground black pepper and some generous pinches of Mediterranean Sea Salt.
In case you're wondering, after I'd done my two long rows of tomato/mozzarella/basil, I still had a bit of everything left over. So I chopped it up, tossed it together and set it down the center. I figured maybe some people would prefer the slices and others would prefer the chopped stuff.
And ALSO (will it never end???) I served a ball of ricotta in the center of one of my breads. I'd made three baguettes and two circular loaves, both with holes in the center. One looked like a giant bagel, and the other I'd braided and then joined the two ends. I sliced that loaf - the braided one - one quarter at a time and set the whole sliced braided loaf in a pie plate where it fit perfectly. I set the ball of ricotta in the center.
OH - I almost forgot - I'd ALSO made little mozzarella balls - bocconcini - and let them bathe in a blend of olive oil and chopped herbs from the garden. Bill and I ate those the night before, spread on one of my baguettes.
Okay, so all that was from my second batches of mozzarella and ricotta.
I made the third batch of each on Friday, July 4th, while Bill and Alex were out digging quahogs (actually most of them were little neck size) for chowder. Julia was home with me, but there's not much I can let her do while I'm making mozzarella without her being in danger of getting burned. She did, however, help me make pizza dough later in the day.
I'd finished the mozzarella and a small batch of ricotta before Bill and Alex returned from digging. Alex learned how to use a clam rake and did his share of the work, thus earning his dinner. They had 52 clams in all (not the "thousands" that Alex told me initially) - more than enough to make chowder.
Since we had a surplus, we ate the smallest ones raw, on the half shell. Yum. Alex loved them, too. Julia, not so much.
Bill steamed clams and diced potatoes to make chowder and then shucked the rest of the clams and set them out with lemon wedges on a platter.
And what was I doing all this time? Well, I had made pizza dough earlier, so I cut off enough for two pizzas, stretched out the dough on two cookie sheets, and gave them to the kids to work on. I don't have pictures. Julia topped hers with tomato sauce, sliced fresh mozzarella, sauteed mushrooms, and zucchini coins I'd sauteed earlier. Alex spread a thin layer of sauce, then added mostly sliced pepperoni, some zucchini, and small pieces of cheddar.
I made another pizza (it was SO HOT in our house by this time, what with all the cheesemaking earlier in the day, and the pizzas baking, and the chowder cooking away on top of the stove) - oh, yeah, speaking of hot in the kitchen - I had also roasted 8 heads of garlic in the morning. I squeezed all the garlic out and pureed it. I'll freeze some and keep the rest handy. I love the stuff.
Where was I? Oh, yes. I made another pizza - pureed roasted garlic smeared on the dough first, topped with sauteed mushrooms (a blend of oyster, crimini and shitake) and ricotta, then drizzled with olive oil. THAT one was pretty tasty, I have to say.
And I made one final pizza, but we were too full to eat it that night.
I'd bought garlic scapes at the Farmers' Market that morning, and I wanted to use them on a pizza. I sauteed the garlic scapes in butter, salt and pepper earlier. When I made the pizza, I topped dough with a nice smear of the roasted garlic puree, then "artistically arranged" several of the garlic scapes on top, arranged bits and pieces of fresh mozzarella here and there and added ricotta in and around the mozzarella. Then I placed 7 of the raw little necks in the loops of the garlic scapes, drizzled it all with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper.
It smelled really really good while it was baking but, like I said, we were just too stuffed to eat anything more.
We saved it and had it last night (the 5th) for dinner after the kids were in bed. It was fabulous. The two "shades" of garlic - the roasted garlic puree and the sharper scapes...the soft, mild cheeses...and the occasional brine of the clams.
Heavenly.
And that's a LOT shorter than the original title, which was "Lasagne of Homemade Ricotta, Homemade Mixed Greens Lasagne Noodles, and a Quick Homemade Tomato Sauce." The "mostly" refers to the mozzarella string cheese I used (hadn't made my OWN mozzarella at this point) on top of the lasagne.
WOO HOOOO! I DID IT!
I told my sister yesterday that when I was done and all the mozzarella balls were formed (or eaten), I felt this urge to cry...it was similar to after both my kids were born, only without the pain. And, of course, not as wonderful and amazing as my children, flesh of my flesh, and so on.
It was the aftermath of success, of having made something myself, by my own hands. Tracey recently referenced a line from "Sunday in the Park with George" (yeah, I'm WAY off on a tangent), which, if you aren't familiar with it, is the fabulous musical by Stephen Sondheim revolving around a fictionalized version of the life of artist Georges Seurat, but also about the creative process and art and art vs profit and relationships and all sorts of stuff. Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters starred in it and the music sometimes plays in my head for days.
Particularly the song "Finishing the Hat," which is Georges'...explanation? description?...of, basically, what it's like to be an artist. Relationships fall by the wayside, life continues to go on outside, because you "have to finish the hat." And at the very end of the song, after all the pain and passion have subsided...he sings, softer......"Finishing the hat/Look, I made a hat!/....Where there never was a hat!"
And that's my incredibly long and way off topic (sort of) explanation of how I felt upon completion of my first batch of mozzarella.
Look - I made fresh cheese!
But before the success came the work, and while not difficult work, it was new work, and at times my cheesemaking rivaled Lucy Ricardo's chocolate factory assembly line experiences. Really. Well, okay, not exactly, I wasn't stuffing curds down my blouse or anything. But it was a bit of a comedy.
Okay, before I go and revisit my own ineptitude, I have to say, if you want to learn how to make cheese, your first stop should really be at the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, owned and run and taught (yes, workshops and DVDs) by Ricki Carroll, aka "The Cheese Queen." I read about Ricki in Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," which I talked about a bit here, and I basically knew I had to give it all a try. I ordered the "Ricotta and Mozzarella" kit, and in the meantime I made my first batch of ricotta. I also bought Ricki Carroll's book "Home Cheesemaking" and have pretty much destroyed the pages with all my drooling. I've asked Bill to build me a cheese press...all I'll need now are the cows and goats and sheep to milk and I'll be SET.
Again, I babble.
Okay, I got my kit and I got my book and I got whole, pasteurized, locally produced milk. I had my stainless steel equipment and thermometer and a bowl. I was ready.
And also, weirdly, I was sort of nervous. I don't know why. I usually attack this sort of thing fearlessly. But for whatever reason, I was a little apprehensive.
And then I got annoyed with myself, squared my shoulders, tied on my apron, and got to work.
I used Ricki Carroll's "Thirty-Minute Mozzarella" recipe from her book, basically, but I didn't do it using the microwave (which is what makes it take only 30 minutes to make), because, I don't know, I felt like it was too easy that way.
So here's what I did.
First, I got out everything I'd need (or so I thought).
Following Ricki's recipe, here are the ingredients:
1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
1 gallon pasteurized whole milk
1/8-1/4 teaspoon lipase powder (I didn't use any for this first batch)
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/4 rennet tablet) diluted in 1/4 cup cool, unchlorinated water
1 teaspoon cheese salt (optional) - (I didn't use this either - I ended up following the non-microwave directions, which included adding 1/4 cup cheese salt to the hot whey...but I'm getting ahead of myself.)
Okay, here we go...
1. While stirring, add the citiric acid solution to the milk at 55 degrees F and mix thoroughly. (If using lipase, add it now.)
I started off by immediately screwing up. I put the milk in the pot and turned the heat on and walked away to read through the directions again. Okay, fine, I was reviewing directions, HOWEVER, milk heats up rather quickly, and I should have stayed right where I was, thermometer in hand, to wait for the milk to quickly reach that 55 degrees.
By the time the sluggish voice in my head woke up, rubbed its eyes, and remembered to remind me about that 55 degree temperature I was shooting for, the actual temperature of the milk was up to about 82 degrees. Oh GREAT! I've already ruined it!
I shut off the flame and moved the pot to a cold burner and started stirring like I was possessed, frantically trying to cool down the milk. Of course, that wasn't working all that well. Okay, think, Jayne...COLD WATER! THAT'S WHAT I NEED! I filled a big stainless steel bowl with cold water (our icemaker wasn't working, in case you were thinking, rightly, "icewater would be better") and set the pot down in it and continued to stir like a madwoman. The pot was also near an open window. I begged for strong breezes. I checked the temperature. Oooh, already down a whole degree. I'll get down to 55 by the weekend, probably. Damn the stupid not-working icemaker! I need ice! Stir stir stir stir. Another tenth of a degree.
Hey! I suddenly had a functioning brain again. We have freezer pack things to put in coolers and lunch bags! I can use them! I dug out all the frozen plastic things we had and set them below and around the pot in the bowl of water. Quite the assemblage, let me tell you. I stirred and stirred, and hoooooey! Eventually, like around two years later, I got down into the low seventies. You know that saying about a watched pot never boiling? Same thing applies to that pot never cooling.
This was taking way longer than thirty minutes. In fact, just my dumbass mistake and the attempt to fix it had already brought me past the thirty minute mark. I briefly thought of putting the pot in the fridge, but that would mean clearing space and that would take MORE time, and is it really, really, REALLY imperative that the dissolved citric acid go in at EXACTLY 55 degrees? I mean, you keep heating it up anyway, right? Check the temperature...ooh, it's 70 now. FINE. I'm just going to go ahead with it. If I screw it all up, so be it. Dammit. Dumbass.
So after the stirring of the milk and the berating of myself was over, I dried off the bottom of the pot and set it back on the burner. And, holding my breath, added the citric acid and stirred it in. The milk exploded all over the kitchen. Just kidding. Nothing happened. Nothing bad, anyway. Instead, happily, the milk started to coagulate in little tiny, wispy shreds. Exhale. Okay, now what?
2. Heat the milk to 90 degrees F over medium/low heat. (The milk will start to curdle.)
I can manage that, I think. Just don't walk away again!
3. Gently stir in the diluted rennet with an up-and-down motion, while heating the milk to between 100-105 degrees F. Turn off the heat. The curds should be pulling away from the sides of the pot; they are ready to scoop out (approximately 3 to 5 minutes for this).
Ack! What do I use to stir in an up and down motion? I forgot this part! I don't have the right equipment after all! I ended up using a large serving spoon and kind of pressing the milk up and down with the bowl of the spoon. I guess it worked - curds formed. I've got CURDS!
4. The curds will look like thick yogurt and have a bit of shine to them, and the whey will be clear. If the whey is still milky white, wait a few more minutes.
My whey looked pretty clear to me, but I waited a few minutes anyway, just to be sure.
5. Scoop out the curds with a slotted spoon and put into a 2-quart microwavable bowl. Press the curds gently with your hands, pouring off as much whey as possible. Reserve the whey.
Okay, I had looked in a couple of stores for a nice, wide, slotted stainless steel spoon or ladle that I could use for this part. I should have looked harder, but I thought I could make due with a sort of mesh strainer with a handle. It was flat, and looked basically like a spoon only with mesh instead of a solid or slotted bowl. It did come in handy, but not at this particular moment. I tried scooping out the curds with it, but since at this point there are big curds and small curds and tiny curds, the tiny ones clogged all the holes in the mesh and I ended up scooping lots of whey along with the curds. So my 2-quart bowl had a nice pile of curds surrounded by a moat of whey. Grrrr. I grabbed a slotted serving spoon from the drawer under the counter and used that for my scooping. It worked well, except it wasn't very big and all the scooping took me 4-EVAH.
And then there was the matter of all the tiny curds. I was bound and determined that I would harvest ALL the curds, every last one of them, in order to get the most mozzarella for my efforts. So I switched back to the mesh spoon and caught the fleeing curds like fish in a net. Only problem was, they got stuck in the mesh (yeah, like dolphins in a tuna net) and I had to bang the mesh spoon on my bowl to free them. I didn't break the bowl, but this really wasn't the best option.
Now, one of the important things when making cheese is CLEANLINESS. So with that uppermost in my fevered brain, I had laid out all my tools on clean paper towels prior to the start of my cheesefest. I planned to ONLY use these. Because I had washed and inspected them all and they were nice and clean.
But then there I was, banging a metal spoon on a glass bowl, just daring the bowl not to break and spill all my hard-earned curds on the floor. I glanced around the kitchen and AHA - I grabbed the bowl of my 6 quart KitchenAid mixer and a mesh strainer (deeper bowl than the spoon thing), set the strainer on the mixing bowl and yes, poured the pot of whey through the 5" diameter strainer to get those last stubborn little curds, dammit! Got 'em! And then I also strained the whey from the curds in my glass bowl. Amazingly, that part went fine.
And then I had to pour the whey from the mixing bowl back into the pot so that later on I could heat that up to heat up the curds so they'd be stretchy...that part comes later. So anyway, I've got the big 6 quart bowl of whey and I'm trying to pour the whey into the pot without spilling it. I didn't want the whey to drip down the edge of the bowl and drip onto the stove...so I tried to hold the bowl so the lip would be at one side of the pot and the rest of the bowl would be completely over the pot and there would be no spillage. I tilted the bowl and the whey rolled out in crashing waves, right over the side of the pot and into my mise en placed bowls of cheese salt, onto the counter, between the counter and the onto the floor. Great going, Jayne!
But at least most of the whey went back into the pot.
Okay...where was I?
6. Microwave the curds on high - No, wait, I'm not going that route. I have to read the section little blurb in the box to the left on that page....
"No microwave? If you don't have a microwave, you may want to put on heavy rubber gloves at this point. Heat the reserved whey to at least 175 degrees F. Add 1/4 cup of cheese salt to the whey. Shape the curd into one or more balls, put them in a ladle or strainer, and dip them into the hot whey for several seconds. Knead the curd with spoons between each dip and repeat this process several times until the curd is smooth and pliable."
Well, I don't have rubber gloves, but I do have "chef hands" - I can tolerate the heat a lot better than some people (like my husband, who was getting something off the stove the other day that was hot and I heard him hiss to himself "Ow...don't have chef hands!"), so I figured I could stand to handle the hot curds. I started heating up the whey and while it was heating, I formed some small balls with the curds and put them in another bowl. I had one pot of whey and three different glass bowls, a stainless steel mixing bowl, several spoons (slotted and non-slotted), two thermometers, two types of mesh strainers, and a ladle. I looked SO in control of things. But whatever. I soldiered on.
The whey was nice and hot, and I took one ball of curds, put it in the ladle, and lowered it into the pot for a couple of seconds. Then I poured the ball into an empty bowl and started to knead it. Now, I've kneaded bread and pasta doughs, but I could slam them on a floured countertop and somehow I didn't think that was appropriate for curds. So I just picked up the ball of warmed curds and started pressing it and smushing it in my hands. I don't know how to describe it, but I guess it was a kind of mini-kneading.
8. Knead quickly until it is smooth and elastic. When the cheese stretches like taffy, it is done. If the curds break instead of stretch, they are too cool and need to be reheated.
Still too curdy, so I put the ball back in the ladle, immersed it again, and worked it by hand again. Hm...it was starting to hold together better, and I could actually see little cheesy strands starting to form.
I WAS DOING IT!! Back into the hot whey once more...and this time part of it stuck - in a gooey, cheesy way!!! - to the ladle when I tipped it back into the bowl. This time, when I was kneading it, the whole cheese had been transformed from ricotta-like curds to elastic strands of - can it be??? - fresh mozzarella!
9. When the cheese is smooth and shiny, roll it into small balls and eat while warm. Or place them in a bowl of ice water for 1/2 hour to bring the inside temperature down rapidly; this will produce a consistent smooth texture throughout the cheese. Although best eaten fresh, if you must wait, cover and store in the refrigerator.
I continued to play with the stretchy, strandy, shiny, magical ball of mozzarella and hollered for my husband, who was practicing a self-arranged solo version of "Ave Maria" for a wedding he's playing this Saturday. Normally I don't interrupt him when he's practicing, but this was IMPORTANT!!! He didn't come a-running as quickly as I would have liked, but I guess he had to put the guitar down first so I wouldn't drip whey on it.
I tore that first ball in two and gave him half. Okay, the smaller half, but hey, I actually MADE the cheese, so I figured I'd earned the slightly bigger piece. And it was warm and soft and slightly chewy and slightly salty and definitely CHEESE. Bill looked at me, nodding. "It's the real deal." He said. "Good job." (That's his version of jumping up and down and squealing "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" about things.)
Bursting with a million emotions - joy and pride and, yeah, relief - I finished making the rest of my mozzarella balls - in various sizes.
Julia came into the kitchen at some point and had part of a ball - LOVED IT - and wanted more. We told her she had to wait til I was all done. Alex, expectedly, didn't want any. It's that white squishy cheese thing with him. But that's okay, I knew that ahead of time.
Everything within a 4 foot radius of that pot of whey was splashed with little droplets of whey. And later on, I noticed that tiny curds had stuck in and around and on my rings. My glasses were splashed and smeared, too. I was hot and sweaty and breathless and emotionally exhausted (okay, that's a slight exaggeration)...and I was exultant.
I did it!
And the best part is, I can't wait to do it again. This time, I'll know what I'm doing, and I'll be able to enjoy the process and maybe take more pictures. I didn't plan to take pictures with this first batch - I had planned to focus completely on the task at hand. Of course, that flew out the window when I heated my milk too fast at the very beginning, and I ended up taking a couple of pictures when I had a moment of down time. But there were other points that I wanted to take pictures, to give you a more step by step feel for it. So I'll do that when I make batch #2.
Yield: 3/4 - 1 pound
I couldn't get the exact yield of mine because the first two balls were eaten right away. But there was another ball about the same size as the two that were gone, so I weighed what I had and ballparked the actual weight of the whole batch. And it was half an ounce under a pound. So - not bad at all, I say.
Above - on the left - a ball of curds. On the right - two balls of mozzarella. By my own hands.
I know I sound like a lunatic, but really - this was so cool. I "get" the process now, the heating the curds so they are pliable, and working them until they become stretchy. I really can't wait to make some more. And then - so many possibilities! Grilled pizzas...salads of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella and basil drizzled with olive oil...mozzarella sticks for Julia to eat most of and the leave the last nub somewhere on a piece of furniture in a room other than the dining room...FRIED mozzarella!! Lasagne and manicotti and stuffed shells...and chicken or eggplant parmesan...or just - fresh cheese, still warm, eaten while standing by the stove.
You HAVE to try this, folks. Really. It is SO worth it.
~~~~~~~~~~
And here - I just wanted to link again to this website - I'm not being paid to, but really, if you want to get started making cheese, go check it out.
New England Cheesemaking provides everything you need to make fresh, homemade cheese, they even have a 30 minute Mozzarella. From kits to recipes to books, store bought will never taste the same again.
YAY! I MADE MY FIRST CHEESE! WOO HOO! NOW I'M GOING TO BUY A LARGER PIECE OF LAND AND RAISE COWS AND GOATS AND SHEEP AND MAKE LOTS AND LOTS OF CHEESE!
Okay, yeah, I'm getting carried away. But still. I've never made cheese before - well, okay, I made yogurt cheese but that's basically just straining the liquid out of plain yogurt - I didn't have to COOK anything.
So anyway, I'm on a cheese kick now, so consider yourself warned. I've bought a book, I've ordered a kit, and next up will be fresh mozzarella, baby. ALL. SUMMER. LONG. And when the tomatoes start coming in? And basil? Layered with the FRESH MOZZARELLA THAT I WILL MAKE and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper? OH, you will wish you were my neighbor.
Okay, I've calmed down now.
I've seen other food bloggers mention making their own ricotta and how easy it is, so I finally decided to pick out a recipe and go for it. I used this recipe for this batch, and I'll probably try others here and there.
It was pretty easy, and cool, and fun, and if you're at all inclined, and interested, and if you like Ricotta cheese, then go make some.
This version makes it using whole milk, but traditionally ricotta is made from the whey left over from making mozzarella. I plan to try it that way, too, once I've actually MADE the mozzarella.
So anyway, to make this version, all you need are milk, non-iodized salt (that's kosher salt in the little bowl), and white vinegar. (Please excuse the slight blur to that photo - I was trembling with excitement and the camera shook.)
The fresher the better, as far as the milk goes, and you want to make sure it's not ULTRA-pasteurized. Pasteurized is fine, but not the ULTRA, because that stuff's been pasteurized at too high a temperature to successfully make cheese.
Here we go.
My gallon of milk is in the pot - the recipe in the link tells you to rinse the pot with cold water before adding the milk, in order to prevent scorching - along with the salt, and a thermometer. I'm heating it on medium to bring it to just before the boil - also called scalding - which, per this recipe, should be between 180-185.
Per my scribbled notes, this was begun at 12:13. I stirred it every so often.
Once the milk reached the desired temperature, I took it off the heat, added the vinegar and stirred for "no more than a minute."
While I was stirring, the acid in the vinegar was already causing the curds to separate from the whey.
It was pretty cool, actually.
Then, I covered the pot with a dry dish towel, as instructed, and left it to its own devices. This was at 12:40.
While the ricotta was forming, I made some pasta dough.
The recipe said to let the pot of ricotta-to-be sit for at least 2 hours. I held out for an extra fifteen minutes.
At 2:55, I took the dish towel off for good and here's what I saw.
Nope, it doesn't look all that different from the picture above it. But there's actually more of the curds than there were initially.
Here's a lovely close-up shot.
And a closer one.
Next step is to strain the curds from the whey.
I lined a collander with some cheesecloth and set it on one of the bowls to my mixer.
Then I ladled the curds into the cheesecloth-lined collander.
And let them sit for another couple of hours.
And, TA-DA! It's ricotta.
How simple, huh???????
From one gallon of milk, I got a little over 4 cups of cheese.
And THEN what did I do?
I covered the measuring cup above with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. I had to get back to the ravioli I was working on. I could have used the ricotta in the ravioli instead of the goat cheese, yes, but I'd already planned on the goat cheese and had the flavor kind of working in my mind. So I figured I'd make lasagna or manicotti in a day or two with the ricotta.
Which, of course, I did. And I'll share that whole adventure with you next time.
For now, I've got to go make two pie crusts. One of them is for a strawberry-rhubarb pie (strawberries from the Farmers' Market and rhubarb from our back yard), and the other is for a quiche my husband will be making tonight - on the grill! So even though it's a quiche, if it's cooked on the grill, it's a manly food.
That's it for the moment! Now go make some ricotta!
Those are thyme leaves (from the window box near my kitchen door). I also used oregano, tarragon, and chives. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've felt the urge to make fresh pasta lately, and I've seen, over the years, pasta with herb leaves pressed between the pasta layers. So, in that fresh pasta mood, and with PLENTY of herbs (though not all are ready) to choose from, I set to work.
From Food 2.0 by Charlie Ayers.
I believe I have mentioned that we have had a bumper crop of broccoli rabe this year. The thing is, broccoli rabe is kind of an early vegetable, and Bill had planted a ton of rabe in spots that will eventually (soon) be taken over by the mid-season vegetables that make up the bulk of our garden. Did that make sense?
Well anyway, with so much broccoli rabe, I thought I needed to branch out from my normal "saute it in olive oil with some garlic and maybe some pancetta and grate some cheese on top and that's all it needs" philophy of broccoli rabe. So I started looking through a few cookbooks to see what other people liked to do.
And then, of course, I deviated from that path a bit. I found a recipe for a Vegetable Gratin in the book Giada's Family Dinners by Giada De Laurentis. Cauliflower and broccoli were the vegetables she used, and so I thought, why not use rabe instead of the broccoli florets? And so that's what I did. I also used different cheeses than she recommended, mainly because I already had some good-sized hunks of cheeses left over from Julia's birthday party, and I figured I should use them up.
And so I give you Broccoli Rabe and Cauliflower Gratin.
(Adapted from "Vegetable Gratin" in Giada De Laurentis' book Giada's Family Dinners. Original recipe pg. 178.)
Ingredients:
3 T unsalted butter
salt
1 head of cauliflower, cut into large florets
about a dozen broccoli rabe plants, pulled from the garden, cleaned, and chopped (roots removed)
2 T all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups 2% milk
3 oz mild cheddar cheese, shredded
3 oz edam cheese, diced (because i didn't freeze it first and so it was impossible to shred)
1/2 cup plus 2 T grated peccorino romano cheese
freshly ground black pepper
2 T dried bread crumbs plus a tablespoon of dried oregano
Ready, Get Set, Go:
Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking dish with 1 T of the butter.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the cauliflower florets and cook for 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cauliflower to the prepared dish.
Repeat with the rabe.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 T of butter in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. Whisk in the cream and milk. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, whisking often, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the cheddar, edam, and 1/2 cup of the romano. Stir until the cheeses have melted. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and toss to coat.
In a small bowl, stir the bread crumbs and oregano with the remaining 2 T of romano. Sprinkle over the gratin.
Bake uncovered until the topping is golden brown and the sauce is bubbly, about 15-20 minutes.
Pretty easy - and pretty yummy. Alex didn't like it, but that was to be expected, as he's not fond of white sauces of any kind. The rest of us, however, were pretty happy with it.
Recent Comments