Say Cheese!

It's been a cheese-y weekend. We made two batches of mozzarella, one Friday night and because we just weren't that satisfied with one pound of mozzarella, we made a second batch Saturday morning. But we made VAST improvements with the recipe and technique between the two, so here's the recipe that worked and lessons learned:

Home-made mozzarella:

1. Take 1 gallon whole milk out of the fridge and let it reach 50ºF (We used Clover milk, and it was tasty!)
2. Dissolve 1 tsp citric acid in 1/4 C tap water and stir into the milk for 1 minute. Sprinkle in another teaspoon of citric acid in the milk and stir an additional minute.
3. Add 2 tablespoons yogurt (aka "theromophilic culture") to the milk, first diluting it in some of the milk so it spreads evenly.
4. Warm milk to 90ºF and add 1/4 tablet vegetable rennet, dissolved in 1/4 C tap water. Stir briefly (15 sec).
5. Turn off the heat. Cover and don't touch it for 30 minutes!
6. Check for curd formation. Our milk didn't form the beautiful custard texture that I saw in other online tutorials, more like a solid mat of tiny curds, but it did form a clean break when I poked it with one finger.
7. If you see a clean break, cut the curds into 1/2 inche squares with a knife.
8. Heat the milk to 105º with occasional stirring.
9. Turn off the heat and let sit for 5 minutes while the curds expel some of their whey.
10. Scoop out the curds with a fine-mesh sieve and ladle them into a cheesecloth-lined colander. Let drain for 10-15 minutes, or until it stops dripping all over the place.
11. Transfer curds to a microwave-safe bowl.
12. Microwave 30 sec, then press out the whey.
13. Microwave 15 sec, then press out the whey.
14. Add salt to taste, then knead the dough and stretch it. Microwave for a couple of seconds if the cheese starts breaking instead of stretching. You want it hot enough to be malleable.
15. When it is stretching nicely, you're done! Form it into balls and microwave it.

Ok, so these are the things we learned between the first and second batches:

* 1/4 rennet tablet is plenty for 1 gallon of milk. The first recipe we used called for 1 whole tablet, but that is so overkill.
* Moister cheese is better cheese - this was acheived by heating the curds at 105ºF for a shorter period of time (5 min instead of 20 min) and not being so forceful about getting all the whey out during the microwave steps. Our first batch was a little plasticky but our second batch was chewy like a dream.
* Adding yogurt makes for a tastier cheese. Ideally we would incubate the yogurt with the milk for longer at 90ºF (like an hour) before adding the rennet for more flavor development, but we were in a hurry. But even with the short incubation, I think it gave the mozzarella a deeper flavor.

For each batch, after two hours of work we ended up with a solid pound of fresh, tasty mozzarella. Not bad for $4 of milk!

Home-crafted Goodness

Following an article in Slate ("Scratch That") on the merits of cooking from scratch, I was inspired this weekend to try my hand at a few things that I've always wanted to know how to make.  I followed the recipes from the Slate article, since they seemed to turn out so well for the author, and made bagels, granola, and yogurt from scratch.  In that order temporally, and in roughly that order for effort/time.  And in the opposite order for degrees of success!

Bagels

Both I and the Slate author used this recipe for our bagels.  I halved the recipe because I wasn't planning on feeding a horde (and wasn't sure how these would turn out).

Makes 5 bagels.

3/4C bread flour

0.6 oz compressed yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 tablespoon salt

3/4 C hot water (80-90ºF)

3 quarts water

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

toppings: sea salt, shredded cheddar cheese, minced onion, cinnamon/sugar

1.  Mix flour, salt, sugar together in mixer bowl.

2.  Melt compressed yeast in the 3/4 C hot water.  Add to mixer bowl.  (Note: my yeast cake came straight from the freezer, really I should have thawed it the night before in my fridge but it was an impulse decision to make bagels, what can I say?)

3.  Mix for 2 minutes.

4.  Add flour until dough pulls away from side of bowl, and is no longer very sticky to the touch (my dough was still a little tacky when I called it done).  Knead 10 minutes.  

5.  Put in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until it has doubled in size.  (This took two hours for me, but I blame it on my frozen yeast.  I also had to go to an NFL draft party after this, so after it had risen I stuck it in the fridge for the night).  

6.  Bring water to a light simmer, with sugar added to this.

7.  Punch down dough.  Divide into 5 pieces, roll the pieces into balls, and allow the balls to relax for a few minutes.

8.  Flatten into discs and punch a hole in the middle of each, shaping it look like a bagel.

9.  Cover the shaped bagels (with plastic wrap form the rising) and let rest until they have risen slightly.

10.  Lower the bagels into the boiling sugar water with a skimmer.  Simmer for 1-2 minutes, flipping the bagels once during this time.

11.  Remove bagels, let drain on a dish towel, transfer to a cookie tray that has been greased and coated with cornmeal.

12.  Brush water on the bagels, then sprinkle toppings on.

13.  Bake in 400º oven for 25-30 minutes, until brown and shiny.  The recipe called for flipping them once, but I didn't do that, mostly because I was afraid of my toppings falling off!

Verdict:  Easy enough to do, and reasonably tasty bread product, but not quite like Noah's.  For one, I didn't get a beautiful color on mine, although I think it's because 1) I didn't use malt barley syrup in my water bath and 2) I used water instead of egg white-water mix for the wash.  The cheddar cheese topping looked exactly like an Asiago bagel though so that was awesome!  The onion topping came in second place, although the onions fell off quite a bit while I was eating the bagel.  I hear coating them in oil first helps with the cooking and may help them stick better?  I'd make them again if I craved bagels, but bagels aren't usually something I crave =)

Granola

Again, taking after the Slate author, I made this recipe for granola.  Actually, I've never had a burning desire to know how to make granola, but after the glowing description of it in the article ("world-beating, super-crunchy cereal, worth every calorie and penny"), how could I resist?

Makes 5-6 cups of granola

3 C rolled oats

1 C slivered almonts

1 C cashews

3/4 C shredded coconut

1/4 C + 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

1/4 C + 2 teaspoons maple syrup

1/4 C vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 C raisins

1.  Mix dry ingredients (oats, almonds, cashews, coconut, sugar) together.

2.  Mix wet ingredients (syrup, oil) and salt together.

3.  Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

4.  Spread on two baking sheets.

5.  Bake at 250º for 1 hr 15 minutes, mixing things around every 15 minutes for even browning.

6.  Put in bowl, mix in raisins.  Eat.

All the dry ingredients except for the sugar and almonds came from Safeway's new bulk bin section.  They totaled $3.40.  Amazing!  Of course, once you add in the cost of the maple syrup ($9 for about 3x what I needed) and almonds ($4.69) and brown sugar ($1.39 for a box), the total really came to ~$10 for the entire batch.  It was really really tasty hot out of the oven - we'll see how it holds up overnight.

Verdict:  Super easy, very tasty.  Sort of spendy, but will probably be my snack for the next couple of weeks and sure is healthier (and still cheaper) than the twix bars I've been rabidly consuming from the vending machines.

Yogurt

My favorite!  Followed Harold McGee's suggestions, but this was pretty much the easiest thing I've ever made and the cost-tastiness ratio was mind boggingly low.

1/2 gallon whole milk

1 serving vanilla yogurt (I used lucerne's vanilla flavor, it's purely for the bacterial culture)

1.  Heat milk to 180-190ºF.  I used a candy theromometer for this, but it was basically the point where the milk got frothy.  Try not to let it scald at the bottom of the pot.

2.  Cool milk to 110-120º.

3.  Add 4 tablespoons yogurt (mix with some milk first so it's pretty liquid for even dispersal in the milk).  Mix well.

4.  Swaddle lidded pot with a large bath towel.  Let sit undisturbed for 6 hours at room temperature.  

5.  Eat tasty yogurt!

I confess, I didn't leave my pot undisturbed.  I opened it at hour 4 to have a peek and was sure it wasn't working - the milk wasn't any noticeably thicker.  I covered it back up and resigned myself to having wasted a whole lot of milk.  But than at hour six - Beautiful!  It had firmed up nicely - definitely a solid now, but not quite as firm as the commerical brands.  I decided I didn't want mine very tangy so I stuck it in the fridge at that point.  But not before serving myself up a taste.  

Verdict: It has a beautiful creamy texture, but not much tang (still somewhat milk-y in flavor in other words).  I mixed mine with some strawberries and added some white sugar and it was LOVELY.  The best yogurt and fruit I've ever had.  Considering how little effort it took, I don't see any reason why not to do this every week.  Especially since the milk + yogurt cost a grand total of $2.50 and I have more yogurt right now than I really know what to do with.  I thought it would be like cheese and I'd get much less yogurt out than what I put in, but the whole pot settled up into a lovely consistency.  I read about straining it for thicker yogurt, but right now it's perfect for my strawberries.

3 am Turnip Casserole

Against my better judgement, I went out with my coworkers for a celebratory drink at our local wine bar.  Two hours in, my senses left me and I had a glass of wine - which an hour later was enough to put me into a comatose state curled up under all the blankets on my bed.  

I had been planning on making a turnip casserole based on our newest CSA box, but decided it was better to sleep my excesses off.  However, I woke up suddenly at 2 am and couldn't fall back asleep.  Hence, 3 am Turnip Casserole.  Easy enough to do in the wee hours while still slightly intoxicated.  Yes, it's just that easy!

Turnip Casserole

5 medium turnips, sliced thin

4 medium parsley roots, sliced thin

1 bunch green garlic (~7 bulbs and greens), sliced thin

1 bunch leeks (~5 medium/small bulbs and greens), sliced thin

butter

3/4 cup milk

2T flour

salt

pepper

bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 450º 

2. Steam the sliced turnips and parsley roots until tender.  I did this using a silicon colander in a bowl with some water at the bottom, microwaved for 7 minutes with a lid on top.

3.  Meanwhile in a large pan, saute the green garlic and leeks in 2-3 tablespoons butter until soft.  

4.  Add the milk and flour, stirring well to mix.  Keep stirring until the sauce has thickened. 

5.  Mix in the steamed turnips and parsley roots.  Salt and pepper to taste (I add a lot of both).

6.  Pour mixture into a casserole dish (I use a 9" pyrex pie dish)

7.  Sprinkle bread crumbs generously on top.

8.  Bake uncovered until the bread crumbs have browned (~20 min).

9.  Remove from oven and go to bed!

Radish Dal

I think I have finally figured out something to do with those pesky radishes!  Neither of us like them raw, but our CSA newsletter had a recipe for making a dal with them.  Tasty!

I wound up using my pressure cooker: sauteeing an onion and some cumin seeds in some oil, before adding spices (tumeric, cumin, coriander and salt), garlic and ginger.  I then dumped in what was left of my mung dal (~1 cup) and chopped up all the radishes (probably about 2 cups worth!), added water to cover, and set cooking.  Ten minutes later and dinner was ready!  Easy peasy and tasty too.  The radishes cooked down into soft melty chunks and lost all of their nasty bite.  I liked the radish dal plain, but could see it with some toasted buns or some rice.

I also made a caesar salad for tomorrow's lunch, using a vegetarian version of the dressing that came in our newsletter many moons back:

Caesar Salad dressing

1/4 C olive oil

1 large garlic clove

2 T lemon juice

2 T grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 t vegetarian Wortchesire sauce

1 raw egg yolk

pepper

Blend.  Toss with romaine lettuce, more cheese, and croutons!

Crusted Tofu with Lemon Caper Sauce on a Bed of Orach Risotto

I've been dying to try my hand at cooking orach ever since we got in our CSA box this last week. Its beautiful purple and green tones and spinach-like taste seemed like it would lend itself well to a risotto. I wanted something protein-y to pair it with, and settled on a panko-crusted tofu with a lemon caper sauce, adapted from eat me, delicious's recipe, which had in turn adapted a recipe from Quick Fix Vegetarian, by Robin Robertson.

The tofu was pressed and put in its marinade first thing. I started the risotto off in my pressure cooker (best time-saving kitchen gadget ever!). I sauteed a chopped onion in butter, added a couple cloves garlic, and then the arborio rice. After sauteeing the rice until it was a warm brown, I added my vegetable broth and white wine (two buck chuck!). I got the cooker up to pressure then promptly ignored it for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, I got my orach and mushrooms ready to add in. I'm not sure if it's necessary, but I removed most of the stems from the orach leaves and then sliced the leaves into 1/4" slices. The mushrooms also got the slicing treatment. When the risotto was almost done, I dumped the orach and mushrooms in and stirred stirred stirred until the orach went down in size. Mix in the parmesan and it was done!

The tofu meanwhile was doused in panko breadcrumbs and pan-fried on both sides. I had problems getting the breadcrumbs to stick too - maybe next time I'll try coating them in egg first. The same pan got recycled for use in making the lemon caper sauce. At first I thought the sauce might be too tangy, but when eaten with the risotto I thought the flavors actually worked quite well together. The tofu wound up being a bit generic, but served its role as a protein source for the meal, and also added some nice crunch.

Orach and Mushroom Risotto

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 bag orach (12 oz?), washed and sliced into strips
5 cremini mushrooms, sliced

1.  In a pressure cooker, saute the onion and garlic in the butter until translucent.  

2.  Add rice and saute until light brown.

3.  Add vegetable broth and white wine, cover, and get the pressure cooker up to pressure.  Cook for 12 minutes.

4.  Add the orach and mushrooms, stirring until the orach is cooked down (about five minutes).

Crusted Tofu

12 oz. firm tofu
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup white wine
2 cups panko breadcrumbs
thyme
salt
pepper

1.  Slice tofu into triangles.

2.  Press tofu to remove water for 15 minutes.

3.  Mix soy sauce and white wine together and pour over tofu in a bowl.  Marinate for 30 minutes.

4.  Mix panko crumbs, thyme, salt and pepper together.  Dredge tofu through the breadcrumb mix and fry both sides in a couple of tablespoons of oil until brown.  Set aside.

Lemon caper sauce

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tablespoons capers, drained, rinsed and chopped
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced parsley.
salt
pepper

1.  Saute onion in butter.  Add capers, white wine and vegetable broth.  Simmer and reduce by a quarter. 

2.  Add lemon juice and parsley.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Mix flour with a couple tablespoons of water,  add to sauce and stir until thickened.