Hermelin ?!! Is it an animal or food?

Hermelin… why hermelin?

The name sounds weird and at first you would think about this fluffy and soft animal not a fluffy and soft camembert like cheese. Though it is…

Hermelin is a type of Czech cheese which imitates camembert, with a coating of white mold. In restaurants, the cheese is usually served marinated in oil (nakládaný), deep-fried in breadcrumbs (smažený), grilled (grilovaný) along with Czech beer.

Why would I recommend this for Spring and Summer?

The weather is getting warmer, we drink more and more cold beer and putting ourselves into the risk of getting drunk. 🙂

So if you would like to :

a) munch on something when you are having some cups

b) want to prevent getting tipsy and singing Dua Lipa in a karaoke bar

c) just eat something very rich and flavoury and make sure you do not pick up someone (it is indeed extremely garlicy)

Then your optimal solution is marinated hermelin with rye bread toast …. and of course a pint of Czech beer.

Interested already?  There you go…

Ingredients:

• 4 rounds of Hermelin or Camembert cheese
• 1 onion& 1 purple onion ( semi-thick slices )
• 7-8 cloves garlic, sliced
• a few sprigs or rosemary
• a few sprigs of thyme
• 1 Tbsp paprika powder ( can be sweet and spicy as well)
• Approx. 2-3 dl of Sunflower or olive oil to cover (I used a mix of olive and just normal oil)
• 4 -5 bay leaves
• Pepper

Method

1. Pour a little oil into the base or a jar or sealable container
2. Put in some garlic.
3. Cut your cheese into half to make two rounds.
4. Lay all the cheese out and sprinkle with the paprika powder.
5. Place one piece of cheese into the bottom of your jar/container then a piece of onion and purple onion.
6. Layer it up and make sure you have cheese and onion in every layer
7. In a separate bowl mix up the oil with the herbs.
8. When you have finished the layering of the cheese pour in the oil mix, close the jar and put it in the fridge for 1-2 weeks (minimum 5 days) to marinade and let the flavors infuse to the cheese.
9. Serve alongside with cold beer and with toast. 🙂

GOOD APPETITE 🙂

source :

http://www.thekiwifruit.com/recipes/czech-marinated-hermelin-nakladany-hermelin/

Unforgetable Chocolate Stout Beer Cheescake

Chocolate Stout Beer Cheescake

The  weather is said to be good this weekend so I am pretty excited that I’ll have a chance to spend the Saturday out with friends in a park along with some delicious munchies.

It’s been raining in the last couple of weeks so having the Sun out and a nice, clean weather is something we have all been waiting for.Sunscreen, hats, and shorts are needed finally and we can soak in some solar energy aswell. It is really nice to have a ” nothing to do” type of day without internet anyway  and conversate with your hungovered friends while laying on blanket.

I have been thinking a lot about what to bring for this potluck as my friends usually make the same stuffs: dips, fresh bread, home-made marmalade and sausage – which is of course the best thing you could dream of on a Sunday -, however its not so pleasing if all of you bring the same foods… hahah…

So I am excited to make something extraordinary and mouth watering for the event, however I just can’t  ignore the fact that I have been having  extreme amounts of work at the office this week…. result: NO TIME FOR SOMETHING SURPRISINGLY GOURMET…but who cares, I’ll bake something that will combine all the things my friends are addicted to as well: beer, cheescake, fresh fruits, healthy living… I think it will work for all invitants… at least I hope… 😉

So here’s  the  Chocolate Stout beer cheesecake recipe I imagined …

I really hope that my pals will like it and please share with me what your friends and beloved ones thought about the recipe… Enjoy summer time!! 🙂

Ingredients 

• 1 cup oatmeal cookie crumbs
• 5 tbsp low fat, sugar free  cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp cane sugar
• 2 tbsp butter,melted
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 8 oz lowfat cream cheese
• 4 oz mascarpone
• 1/2 low fat natural yogurt
• 3 eggs
• hint of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 chopped apple
• 1 sliced apple
• 3/4 cup Guinness

Instructions

1. Mix the oatmeal cookie crumbs, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tbsp  cane sugar and melted butter together in a medium bowl.  Pour into the base on a 9-inch springform pan and press down into the bottom of it. Store in the freezer for 1-2 hours or  while you make the filling. The longer it stays in the freezer the better it gets.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F ( 180 celsius) .
3. In a separate big bowl mix 2 tbsp cocoa powder and heavy cream, stirring together until combined.
4. Add the cream cheese, mascarpone, mix in 1 tbsp of cane sugar, yogurt, eggs, vanilla extract, chopped apple and the Guinness.
5. Pour this mixture into the springform pan and decorate the top with some sliced apple.
6. Bake for 50- 60 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the cheesecake in the oven, with a wooden spoon in the oven door to hold it slightly ajar. Let sit for 60 minutes.
7. Chill in the fridge overnight before serving.

Enjoy+Enjoy+ Enjoy 🙂

 

Source: 

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Guinness-Chocolate-Cheesecake-1448304?columns=4&position=67%2F69

 

Cheesy outdoors spring picnic #1

Cheesy outdoors spring picnic #1

I have not written anything for a long time since I had a lot of work and Spring has also started here therefore I tried to spend as much time out in the nature as possible.

I really had to abandon my kitchen for a while but the  thought of creating cheesy recipes for sunny outdoors events inspired me a lot.  You know you don’t always have to create something totally mind-blowing if you would like to both enjoy good weather and your favourite ingredients . 🙂

So what I figured out for a perfect picnic is…. ok, I have several ideas so lets make a series of outdoors indulgence and let  ourselves be as greedy as possible on cold beer and tasty cheese….yummmm

The 1st recipe to be shared is a Stout beer  bread based grilled cheese with fresh rucola salad.

If you only wish to have the salad or the grilled cheese on its own, its totally fine of course, but the 2 dishes together would make a match made in heaven for a Sunday eat-out with your friends or family.

So here you are… the magnificent grilled cheese and the salad….:)

STEP #1 – Preaparation of stout beer bread:

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups  of rye flour ( 350 gramms)
• ‘/4 cup milk ( 0, 5 dl )
• 1 tablespoons cane sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 package yeast
• 1 cup Stout or Porter beer ( I used Guinness)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1  tablespoon honey
• 1 egg

Preparation:

1. Put the yeast to the slightly warm milk for 4-5 minutes  ( my grandma always said it should be just as warm as your hand)  to ferment it a little bit.

2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl till thoroughly mixed.

3. Get a small sauce pan and warm the beer on the stove, then add the butter and the honey until they are melt together ( Warning! don’t let it boil)

4. Crack the egg in with the dry ingredients, then  pour in the warmed beer/butter/honey mixture and stir till you get a mixed, slightly sticky dough

5. After you mix everything together, let the dough raise for 30- 40  mins. To help the raising cover  the bowl with a kitchen towel and put some blankets on it or put next to a heater.

6. After 30 mins of rising flour knead the dough for an additional 2-3 minutes , add extra flour if needed but its not necessary.

7. Put some butter to the bread pan to grease it and place the dough in the pan. Let it raise for an addititional 20-25 minutes back under the blankets.

8. Preheat the owen to 375 Farenheits and bake the bread for 30-35 minutes till the top is golden brown. You can also check with  a needle if the dough is ready inside. As the rye flour itself  is darker than plain flour it might get tricky if you are only checking the color changes of the crust.

STEP #2. – Stout bread Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

• 2 slices of the freshlybaked stour beer bread
• ‘ tablespoon butter
• ruccola
• 4 slices of Old Amsterdam Gouda Cheese

Preparation:

1 . Heat 1 tablespoon  butter in a cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.

2.  Put some butter, ruccola and the Old Amsterdam cheese together as a sandwich

3.Press the sandwich slightly and place it in the skillet. Cook until golden on the bottom, 3 minutes.

4.Flip, adding more butter to the pan if needed, and cook until the other side is golden and the cheese melts, 3 minutes.

STEP #3 – Fresh ruccola salad:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of ruccola ( approx. 250  gramms)
• 1 box of blueberries ( 100 gramms)
• 2 pears ( the type does not matter, its delicious with all )

Dressing :

• juice of a half lemon
• 2 tablespoons of  honey
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil ( extra virgin)

Prearation:

Well there is not much to say. Mix the ingredients of the salad. Mix the ingredients of the dressing and pour it on the salad.  … Ready to be served 🙂

 

 

And here  you go, the perfect picninc menu to be enjoyed with a bottle of stout beer  and ones you’d like to share it with.

Have a nice sunny Sunday and let me know it the recipes worked for you as well ….:)

 

 

Source:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Awesome-Beer-Bread-with-Yeast/?ALLSTEPS

 

Amazingly boozy Cheddar-Stout muffin

I have been hunting for good cheese and beer recipes  for a long time but it seemed  that the only chance I have is to  either start eating stout beer- cheddar dips in a thousand versions or start inventing new things myself.

I actually  did start to feel down about not finding any creative options for the usage of my 2 favourite ingredients together when I bumped into my new idol’s blog just randomly.  Beeroness herself is a really inventive lady whose aim is to show all sides of beer and open people’s eyes to the zillion opportunities a beer can offer even as a drink or a proper meal.

So I started browsing in her recipes and could not decide where to begin actually. The exploration of the goodies just got me too excited to decide  which one should be the first.  Thank God I was already extremely hungry so I  saw the words  „ stout” and „bread” and „muffin”… totally hooked on it…

So here you are the recipe from Beeroness , of course a little bit modified to totally fit my needs, but I would like to thank this awesome lady for creating the basic idea of the beer-cheese muffin :).  Originally its with all purpose flour and  Lagunitas Red, an imperial red ale, but unfortunately it was only a limited edition, so I had no chance to get it anyway.

So I shut my mouth …. here is my version, the Cheedar- Imperial  Stout  bread muffin with Tarragon Pear souce.

Ingredients

For 10-12 muffins:

• 1 1/2 cups flour whole grain flour
• 1 tbsp cain sugar or Xilitol
• 2 tsp baking powder ( half a package)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup shredded  red cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup shredded Mimolette cheese
• 2 tbsp chopped   leek
• 1/4 cup melted butter + 2 additional tsp
• 6 oz / 1.8 dl  Agressor Imperial Stout beer 

For the sauce:

• 4 pears
• 1 tsp tarragon
• 1 tsp cain sugar or Xilitol

How to?

Preheat oven to 350 F ( 180 C) .

In a bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cheese and onions, stir until well combined. Pour in the melted butter plus the beer, stir until just combined.

Put muffin papers in the muffins tins and pour the dough  into it until each  is about 1/2 full. Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter on the tops of the muffins, dividing evenly between each muffin. Top with additional shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 F ( 180 C)  for 18-20 minutes.

 

Meanwhile chop the pears to small pieces and put in a pot with the tarragon, sugar and a 1 tbsp of water and simmer it together until the pear gets almost creamy.

Put 2 muffins and 2 tbsps of sauce on a plate,  serve immediately.

                                                     Good Appetite! 🙂

Don’t hesitate to make any comments or ammendments on the recipe.

Source: http://thebeeroness.com/2012/05/31/cheddar-beer-bread-muffins/