Spiced Orange Slices and Goat's Milk Faisselle

It's been a while since I posted a homemade cheese adventure.  I definitely know it's time to sit down and reevaluate when there hasn't been any handcrafted fromage in my kitchen for a couple of months.  Although, part of that stems from the fact that I have to unplug my extra fridge in the winter.  Our garage isn't heated, so the entire fridge turns into a deep-freeze box.  I have to make sure everything is cleared out and the fridge is clean, open, and unplugged before old man winter sneaks up and it's too late to save everything.  So, no second fridge, no extra space.  I'm pretty sure I'd get the evil eye...and the complaining belly...if I tried to keep enough space empty for "projects" in our everyday fridge.  But...since the coldest of the days have now passed, I once again have extended space for cheese making, curing, beer, and what ever else I may need it for.

Goat's Milk Faisselle

slightly adapted from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes

yield: ~18-24 oz

1 quart goat's milk

Pinch mesophilic culture

2 drops liquid rennet

In a large pot over medium heat, warm milk to 86°F, stirring gently to prevent scorching. Remove from heat. 

Sprinkle culture over surface of milk and let stand for a~5 minutes to rehydrate. Gently draw culture down into milk without breaking surface of milk, by using an up & down motion to mix in the culture with a skimmer or large spoon. 

Dilute rennet in 1 Tbs. cool water. Add to milk and, using the same up-and-down motion, draw rennet down into milk until well blended. Cover and let set at room temp in a draft-free location for 12 hours. 

Place six small or one large cheese mold in a flat-bottomed baking dish. Gently ladle curd into molds, taking care not to break up the curd. The whey will begin draining out of the holes in the molds right away and will collect in the dish. I found that my curd wasn't firm enough to keep from seeping completely through the holes in my cheese molds.  But I figured I'd go with it and see what happened.

As soon as the curd has drained down below the tops of the molds, cover the dish and place in the refrigerator. The faisselle is ready to use ans soon as it has drained to your desired texture. The longer it drains, the firmer it will become (because the molds are sitting in the whey, it will stay fairly moist). Store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To remove, unmold onto a plate.  After 4 days, only the bottoms of my little molds had some cheese left in them...just up to where the rest that had drained out sat.  I unmolded those the best I could.  Basically it was like a thick, tangy goat's milk yogurt.  Very tasty, especially against the sweetness of the spiced oranges.  I decided to pour it all into one large mold, this time lined with butter muslin to see what would happen.  It is in the fridge now, I'll add an update later today. (*see photo below for results!)

Spiced Orange Slices

slightly adapted from The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving

 yield: 1 pint

2 large oranges
  8 c. hot water
½ tsp. salt
½ c. granulated sugar
¼ c. lightly packed brown sugar
¼ c. cider vinegar 

¼ c. water
2 Tbs. corn syrup
  4 whole cloves
  2 cardamom pods
  2 cinnamon sticks, 3 inches long
¼ tsp. black peppercorns

Combine whole unpeeled oranges, hot water, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring  to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until fruit is tender. Drain oranges, discarding liquid, and cool. 

Cut oranges in half crosswise and then into very thin slices. 

Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, vinegar, water, corn syrup, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and peppercorns in a large saucepan. Stir over high heat until sugars have dissolved. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Add orange slices, cover, and cook gently for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove and discard cardamom and cinnamon. 

This recipe is then able to be canned, if you wish (see instructions at forging fromage if you need them).  I just jarred them up and stuck them in the fridge.

*second attempt at "molding" Faisselle using butter muslin...still pretty loose

Making Queso Fresco (and refried beans)

Another favorite around here?  Queso Fresco!  We use it on almost everything from tacos to enchiladas to sopes to gorditas to flautas to tortas to pasta to chilaquiles to quesadillas.  I love it!  Queso Fresco is a fresh Mexican cheese...that is soft and somewhat moist...but perfect for crumbling.  It doesn't really melt, but I LOOOOVE the way it tastes when it's warm.  It's sort of spongey and salty and milky. Mmmmm!  In all honesty, I usually buy it.  That's because I had yet to find a recipe that gave me what I was looking for.  Well folks, those times are through.  The MAN has come through...as if I ever had any doubt.  The longest part of the process is the culturing step...but it all hands-off, so don't let that scare you away.  I used citric acid (as opposed to the lime juice) when making the cheese since I already have it on hand for cheese making.  If that scares you or you don't have any readily available, then try the lime juice method!  Another thing...you may be tempted to dump the salted curds into a mold, but it really isn't necessary.  Simply gathering them together into the shape of a disk is perfectly sufficient.  Not to mention- gorgeously rustic!

Queso Fresco

from Fiesta at Rick's by Rick Bayless

makes ~1 lb.

1 gallon whole or 2% milk (remember, the richer the milk/flavor, the better the cheese)

2 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. Citric Acid (sometimes called sour salt)

OR

1 c. fresh lime juice

1 tsp. salt (pure, fine-ground sea salt works best)

 Culture the milk.  Pour milk into a very large pot over med-low heat.  Stir in buttermilk.  Bring milks to 75° F, turn off heat, cover pot and let sit for 3-4 hours.

 Set the curd.  If using citric acid, stir it into ¼ c. cold water, continuing to stir until dissolved.  With lid off pot, turn heat to medium and stir dissolved citric acid or lime juice into milk mixture.  You will immediately see small curds start to form.  Every couple of minutes, stir slowly, gently, & thoroughly over entire bottom of pot until milk reaches 195°F, ~20 minutes.  At this point the curds will be very obvious, floating in the milky-transparent whey.  Remove from heat, let stand five minutes without stirring so all the curd can rise to the top.

  Drain the curd from the whey.  Wet a large piece of cheesecloth and line a large colander with it.  Set colander in sink (or over bowl if saving the whey).  Carefully ladle all of the curd into the colander. Gather the cheesecloth around the curd and gently squeeze to expel a bit more whey.  

Unwrap curd onto a plate, break it up, and sprinkle w/ the salt...working it in with a spoon or your fingers.

Gather the cheese curds into a 1" thick disk, transfer to a plate, cover, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

After it's chilled in the refrigerator, it is ready to use! It should last about 5 days or so, covered and refrigerated.
My preferred method is just crumbling a bit off and onto my plate...or into my mouth.  And I must say...I like it while it's still warm, too...before it's even gone in the fridge and had time to set.

Simple Refried Beans

 ~1 Tbs. bacon grease, lard, or olive oil
~1-2 c. cooked pinto beans w/ some cooking liquid
garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, salt, & pepper, all to taste

Heat fat in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add in beans w/ some cooking liquid.  Mash them up with a potato masher and continue to toss until they are a bit dried out.

Stir in spices to taste, cook for another few minutes, and then remove from heat.  Serve.

One of my favorite ways to put it all together is to make a Torta.  Slice a bolillo or telera bread in half and toast, cut side down on a hot skillet until browned.  Spread some hot refried beans on the bottom bun.  Scatter crumbled queso fresco over the beans. Layer on some sliced tomato.  Add some meat if you wish...I used Peperoncini Beef.  Scatter lettuce or cabbage over that along with some cilantro, avocado and some salsa.

*Also, check out my friend Mely's post over at Mexico in my Kitchen...she gives a great Queso Fresco tutorial using a different recipe!

I am sharing this post with:

Mizithra, Crackers, & Habañero Honey

If you've been hanging around for a while, you know my penchant for a meal of cheese, bread, wine...perhaps some fruit and/or salume thrown in.  Well, I went for a little spin on that this time.  I made some Mizithra cheese and was wondering what to do with it...so as usual, I started out by just eating it.  Straight up.  And some people may think me strange, but I loved the straight-up, creamy, milky taste of Mizithra.  I mean, solid milk?  Nice.  There was just something so pure about it.  A big hunk of dreamy dairy...that just makes my day.  I knew I wanted to eat up a few of the little  hand pears that my mom sent home with us a few days prior...and I wanted to drizzle them with some mind-blowing habañero honey...but I didn't have any bread...or the time to bake any.  I wanted to eat "now"!  So, I decided to go with the quicker option and bake some crackers.  Good in a pinch...but fresh, warm, crusty bread they are not.  Still tasty, though.

Greek Island Mizithra
adapted from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes

3 quarts whole milk
1 Tbs. kosher salt
½ tsp. liquid rennet

Sterilize all equipment.
In a large stainless steel pot, heat milk gently to 90°F, stirring gently to prevent scorching.
Remove from heat and stir in salt.

Dilute rennet in ¼ cup cool water. Add to milk and, using an up-and-down motion, draw rennet down into milk until well blended. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 30 - 60 minutes, or until a firm curd has formed.

Using a whisk, gently break up curd, stirring until curd pieces are approximately ½" in size. Let stand for 2-3 minutes.

Gently pour curd into a cloth-lined colander and let drain for 1 hour. Scrape cheese into center of cloth. Gather the four corners of the cloth together and tie to create a bag. Hang the bag and let drain over a bowl or the sink for another 5 hours at room temperature. Place a colander in a bowl; place bag in the colander and let drain in the refirgerator for another 12 hours. Twist the cloth tighter from time to time to aid draining.  Instead of hanging the bag, I pressed the curd into a cheese mold at this point, added a big of weight to press it, and put it in the fridge for 2 days.

Remove cheese from cloth or mold and place in a bowl or onto a plate. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

The crackers and the cheese weren't the best "together", but separately they were just awesome.  I'm thinking thin, crisp crackers would've complimented the cheese better...

Mostly Whole Wheat Crackers

slightly adapted from The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman

yield: ~15 large rectangular crackers (double that for squares...or even more if you roll it thinner)

¼ c. all purpose flour, plus a bit more as needed

¾ c. whole wheat flour

½ tsp. sea salt

2 Tbs. butter

2 Tbs. olive oil  garlic & thyme-infused olive oil

Hawaiian Red Sea Salt, pepper, freshly grated parmesan, sesame seeds, or whatever you else you like for sprinkling on top

Heat the oven to 400° F.  Line a baking sheet w/ parchment paper.  Put the flours, salt, butter, and oil in a food processor and pulse until combined.  Add  ¼ c. water and let the machine run for a bit; continue to add more water 1 tsp. at a time until mixture holds together, but is not sticky.

Dust a work surface with a bit of the extra ap flour and roll out the dough ~ ¼" thick, or even thinner, adding flour as needed.  Drape the sheet of dough over the rolling pin to transfer it to the prepared baking sheet.  Score the top lightly with a sharp knife, pizza cutter, or pastry wheel if you want to break the crackers into squares or rectangles later on.  I also added some decorative fork-tine pocks.  Sprinkle w/ optional toppings.

Bake until lightly browned, 10-15 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature or store in a tin for a few days.

These are fantastic and buttery and very reminiscent of shortbread.  Compare to a "Club"-type cracker.  Only way better.  Way.

Habañero Honey
inspired by my pal Butter from Hunger and Thirst

Okay, not really rocket science...

Cut up a bunch of fresh, fruity, fiery habañeros...with gloves, unless you're trying to punish yourself.

Put them all into a jar.  Pour honey over to cover.  Let sit in the sun.   Or slightly warm the honey before pouring over.  Either way.  You choose.

Use at your own risk.  It's so deceptively hot.  I constantly stick my finger in for a lick...and am amazed at how hot it is.  Each time.  I'll be roasting a pork loin in some later on in the week...can't wait!!!

The soft, sweet flesh of the hand pear was the perfect cooling agent in this combo.  With a cracking of some fresh black pepper...I was happy with my impromptu lunch!

*This post is linked to:

Making Paneer at Home

It feels like it's been ages since I've posted a cheese making recipe...bad cheeseslut!  I'm sure it was just last month, but I've gone into withdrawal and need to get my fix, so... just a quick fresh cheese today to appease that beast.  Paneer is one of those simple ones.  The kind that takes milk and an acid and turns it into something far more glorious than its parts.  There are many "recipes" out there...they all use milk and lemon juice.  I just went with the amount that worked for me; not a new discovery by any means.  I used the resulting cheese to make my Paneer Tikka. Paneer is very milk and non-descript, taking on the flavors that you cook/mix/pair it with...not much of an eating "out of hand" cheese.  Unless you want to, that is.  Who am I to argue?

Paneer

1 gallon whole milk

~½ c. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place milk in a large, heavy pot and slowly, over low heat, bring it just to the boil.  It will look very thick and creamy.

Turn off the heat.  Stir in  ½ c. lemon juice with a wooden spoon...

...for a few minutes until the curds begin to separate from the whey.

If, by chance, the curds don't separate, add a bit more lemon juice and continue stirring.

Scoop/pour curds into a colander lined with butter muslin or cheesecloth.  Reserve the whey for another use.

Run cold water over the curds until the water runs clear.  Squeezing a bit.  This step gets rid of most of the lemony taste.

Gather up the sides of the cheese cloth and squeeze gently.  Tie/hang the bag for ~3-4 hours at room temperature.

You will now have a solid mass of Paneer that can be used in many applications from this point.

Or you could load it all into a press.  (I use a 28 oz. can w/ the top and bottom cut off...and used underneath and on top.)

Place the top lid on the mold...or use a plate if you're pressing in a colander.  Place a couple pounds of weight on top.  Refrigerate overnight.

Remove the top and bottom of the mold and slide the pressed cheese from it.

You now have a solid block/round/cylinder of Paneer. 

From here, you can slice it, cut it, crumble it...use it however you need it in your application! 

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