One week before - cheese

So, as you can imagine there was a lot of food to make for the big surprise party.  So the cooking began one week ahead.  I never saw much of a need for a second refrigerator until this past week.  It was a god send!  I don't know what we would have done without it.

Anyway, a week ago Saturday started with intense cleaning and rearranging.  Then, Mary agreed to take the boys for the afternoon so we could "get unpacked and settled a bit more".  (right.)  Brett took off to run some errands and I set myself up to begin the cheese making process.  This was the first time I attempted Fromage Blanc.  I had read the recipe (that includes 4 steps) about 5 times and each time I apparently missed a key phrase.  "Let stand 12 hours."  I totally saw the part about it draining for 6-12 hours, so when I started the process at noon, I thought I would be done at dinner time.  WRONG!  It was then that I realized I would be up very late that night, and I might as well get as much done as I could.  So, I made fromage blanc:

Pour 1 gallon of milk into a large stainless steel pot and heat to 86˚F while stirring slowly
Add fromage blan starter packet (contains starter bacteria and rennet)
Allow to sit at room temperature for 12-14 hours
Line a colander with butter muslin and transfer the curds to the draining cloth
One cheese is transfered, gather the corners of the muslin and tie to make a pouch
Hang to drain for 6-12 hours (the less time is drains the smoother/more spreadable the texture)

So the curds set until exactly 12:35AM I tied and hung them, then set my alarm for 7AM to transfer them to a storage container and stir in Herbes de Provence (a combination of savory, fennel, basil, thyme, and lavender flowers and other herbs.)  This was then allowed to sit for the week in the fridge to really meld the flavors.


I served the fromage blanc with toasted pieces of sliced baguette.

Next I made the mozzarella.  I had done this a few times before, so I knew what to expect.  It's a quick and simple process that takes about 30 minutes total.  


Pour 1 gallon of milk (I use whole) into a stainless steel pot
Add one tablet of rennet to 1/4 cup of cool water (avoid tap water here) and set aside
Add 1.5 tsp of citric acid to 1 cup of water and set aside.  Be sure to stir until all is dissolved.
Stir the citric acid into the milk and heat to 90˚F
Stir in rennet for about 30 sec.  then cover and let stand for 5 minutes
Curd should look like custard
Slice curd with knife that reaches the bottom of the pot and reheat to 105˚
Transfer curd to a colander using a slotted spoon and gently drain of excess whey
Transfer to a microwavable bowl and heat for 30 seconds in microwave
Knead until becomes a ball - reheat if necessary - the more you knead the firmer the cheese will be
Then you stretch it just like taffy until it gets shiny

At this point I separated the mozzarella forming about 50 tiny balls.  I put them in a storage container and refrigerated them for the week.

On Friday night before the party I brought out the mozzarella balls and sliced each in half.  I then slid the cheese onto a toothpick with a leaf of fresh basil and half a grape tomato.  Voila! caprese salad on a stick!  I served them with oil and vinegar on the side.  They were a huge hit!

Yep, it means: White Cheese

This weekend I upped my home cheese making by attempting Fromage Blanc.  It is a mild, spreadable cheese (sort of like cream cheese or the herbed Alouette you can get at the store).  I was pretty excited to try my hand at something other than mozzarella or ricotta.

I started by ordering the formage blanc starter from the New England Cheese Making Supply Company.  I read the recipe – which consists of four steps – a number of times.  And yet, as I set out to start my cheese I realized that, although I saw the part about it draining for 6-12 hours, I missed the part about it setting up for 12 hours prior to that!  I looked at the clock and decided that this was a sacrifice I would make for cheese - I would stay up until 12:35AM so that I could drain and hang that fromage blanc, and then get up at 7AM to check it.  Done and done.

And, that's exactly what I did.  I made the cheese with organic whole milk from Lund's.  It turned out beautifully.  I only drained it for about 6 1/2 hours because I wanted the consistency to remain soft and spreadable.  After removing it from the butter muslin it had hung in, I folded in a tablespoon of Herbes de Provence, put it in an airtight container and moved it to my fridge.  I'm going to let it sit for a day or two, so the herbs really flavor the cheese, then it will be cheese meet cracker!  I cannot wait.

Too yummy!  So, this weekend, I stayed up really late and made white cheese with french herbs.  So very fancy...

A Brunch in the Making

Father's Day is just an excuse to cook for more than just my kids and my husband.  It gives me the opportunity to pull in my in-laws too!  Since we have 3/4 of our lives in boxes, my mother-in-law graciously offered their house to host, and all I had to do was try out a recipe I've been dying to make for weeks!

When I first saw Anya's recipe for Ricotta Breakfast Casserole, I knew I had to try it with some homemade ricotta!  Judging from all of her delectable successes chronicled on A Toast To Taste, I knew it would be a hit!  And, BONUS!, I got to try my hand at a whole new type of cheese!

So, I started on Friday when I got home by making the Ricotta.  Urban wanted to help, so we pulled ou hair back, brought over his cooking stool and poured our milk into the pot.

I found this beautiful whole milk from, Oberweis Dairy, that comes in heavy glass bottles.  (It was the bottles that sold me, I'll admit) but also the fact that they do home delivery!  (I detest going to the grocery store, so anyone who will deliver staples to my home is a new best friend in my book.)

Anyway, we carefully measured the citric acid and cheese salt, and I put Urban in charge of stirring.  You don't want the milk to scald, and you have to bring it up to 195˚F.  So constant stirring is a must.  I was in charge of reading the thermometer.  He actually stood there and stirred the entire time switching arms periodically because his "muscles hurted."  After the curds and whey came up to temp, Urban abandoned me to paly video games, and I strained the curds and hung the resulting cheese in a butter cloth "satchel" to drain.  About 30 minutes later, we had a lovely lump of ricotta.  Into the fridge it went.

On Saturday, after a morning of packing and running around, I set out to make the casserole.  This is the recipe:

Ricotta, Cinnamon and Honey Breakfast Casserole

1 tsp. butter
1 baguette, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3/4 cup milk (skim is ok, but whole is better)
2 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
8 oz. fresh ricotta (you can usually get fresh ricotta from a cheese shop or fancy grocery store, but regular is ok if you can’t find fresh)
1/4 cup honey
extra honey, agave nectar or maple syrup for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a small baking dish (I used a 9-inch oval) with the butter. Place half of the baguette slices in a single layer at the bottom of the dish.

Whisk the milk, eggs, cinnamon and salt together until well-combined and pour half over the bread. Spread the ricotta over the batter-soaked bread and drizzle with the honey.

Place the remaining bread over the top of the ricotta, pressing down a bit to compress, then pour the remaining half of the batter of the top, making sure to coat each piece of bread.

Let sit for 30 minutes (or overnight) covered in the refrigerator. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden and crisp and the custard is set.

Serve and drizzle with honey, agave nectar or maple syrup. 

I added just a pinch of ground cloves to the milk, eggs, cinnamon and salt.  I love cloves and cinnamon together, and it actually gave the final product the illusion of a baked-apple taste.  (Which is cool since I love apples, but can't eat them due to an allergy that developed when I was pregnant with Urban.  Silly babies, ruin everything.)  I digress...

I let the casserole sit overnight, as suggested, and brought it, along with some fresh berries, to my in-laws'.  There it was baked for the recommended 25 minutes and Voila! a beautiful Sunday treat to celebrate Father's Day.

It was very lovely, and I highly recommend anyone try this out.  The final product was very similar to a stuffed French toast that my family enjoys, and I can imagine so many yummy variations, it boggles the mind.

Truly the creation of this dish, from the cheese to the casserole, was a wonderful escape from the cardboard jungle and Sharpie smells that now fill my life.

I made cheese

Moving just isn't enough to occupy my time, apparently.  While reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, an incredible read about eating local, my lifelong desire to make cheese was once again pulled to the surface.  So, I immediately jumped onto cheesemaking.com and purchased the 30 minute Mozzarella kit.  Guess what?  It really only takes 30 minutes!

The cheese was delicious.  In 30 minutes I made about 1 pound of fresh Mozzarella.  While it cooled a bit, I rolled out pizza dough from a Pillsbury package and popped it in the oven for a 5 minute pre-bake. Then I sliced and sautéed onions, green peppers, zucchini and garlic.  I threw in some diced, canned tomatoes and fennel, then spread the whole mixture onto the crust.  Topped it off with some pepperonis and black olives (for Urban) and a bunch of fresh Mozzarella.  10 minutes later we sat down to a pizza dinner that everyone demolished.  It was so good!

I love making cheese.  In between boxing up our office and cleaning the 1/2 story this week, I'll definitely be trying my hand at ricotta.