Vegan cheese ?? Why not…

It is quite controversial if a certified cheesemaker starts making a cheese-like something from non-dairy products, but I was really curious of this new wave of food consumption and also a lot of vegetarian and vegan friends have been asking me when will I start to make a vegan version of cheese for them.

At first I was sceptical and a little bit denying about this as I  have been a cheese addict eversince I have known how to talk and also it made me angry that people call a plant based something cheese… but I am a quite open-minden person so I dug myself into to this new project see what vegan people call cheese.

It turned out that a vegan cheese requires a lot more ingredients that I thought, but all of them are easy to get in a supermarket and also if you have a Kithen Aid or a simple mixer you can make it in 2 hours , plus the 6-8 hours cooling them which can be handled puting the “cheese” to the fridge overnight.

 

To cut the long story short I was amazed how good this vegan cheese turned out and how glad my friends were  ( especially the ones with lactose intolerancy)  that I served this to them on or Sunday brunch 🙂

Anyway, here you go, the recipe… enjoy and let me know if you have another favouite recipe that you’d like to share 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sunflower seed
• 1/2 cup cashew nut
• 1/2 cup almond
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon curcuma
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika ( hot one for those who prefer it)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 filed onion
• 2-3 filed garlic
• 1/4 cup barm
• 1 cup almond milk or rice milk

To give it a texture:

• 1 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon agar-agar

 

Put all the ingredients to the plant based milk for 1-2 hours to soak a little bit so it will be easier to mix the nuts.   Start heating the water with the agar-agar  and let it boil until the agar-agar is fully melted.

Put the ingredrients in the Kitchen aid or mixer and add the agar-agar gradually until the mixture gets creamy. If you don’t find it creamy enought you can add some extra milk or water. 

Once the mixture is done put ot to a simple plastic box , bowl or any kind of shape you’d like to add to your cheese and let it settle in the fridge overnight .

Bon apétit ! 🙂

Source: http://veganreceptek.webnode.hu/products/fokhagymas-trappista-sajt-/

 

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

 

Sunday spinach-cheddar pie

Sunday Spinach- cheddar pie

Good evening!

I know that I have not posted for a while but I had been pretty busy recently, new work, new adventures  each day so its been pretty challenging  to convince myself to get  back to the kitchen… but, it was indeed more than releiving and energizing to grab the knife again and pamper myself with something cheesy and indulgent.

I usually eat a lot of spinach,..I am basically addicted o it…I love each form of these green leaves from eating it raw in a salad, mixing it with garlic or making a quick soup, but as I enjoy playing with different types of pies I really thought it would worth trying outit  in this form …and without any unbearable self-esteem this spinach – cheddar- cottage cheese pie has turned out to be more than I wished for for a relaxing  Sunday evening.

Why Sunday??? I think it is especially  important to finish a week in the most fullfilling way to be able to start the next Monday  with full energy and positive vibes, and also its not the worst thing to have some pie leftover to bring to work for lunch and remind yourself that you had made something delicious the other day. 🙂

This pie is even better on Mondays served cold…but be aware that your colleagues might ask for a bite.

Enjoy! 😉

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 25 dkg ( 2, 5 cups) wholegrain flour
• 8 dkg (0, 8 cup) butter
• 1 dl cold water
• salt
• 1 egg

Filling:

• 1 cup ( 10 dkg) of cottage cheese
• ½ cup of cheddar
• ½ cup of créme fresch
• 6 eggs
• salt
• pepper
• ½ onion
• 2 cups (20 dkg ) of spinach

Preparation:

• Put the flour in a big bowl, pulse it together with salt.
• Add butter and one egg and mix until it resembles a coarse meal.
• Slowly add water and process until a dough comes together.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill at least 30-40 minutes in the fridge before rolling out.

 

Meanwhile, prepare filling as follows:

• Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the chopped onion and cook it until transclucent, than add garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, until the garlic is just beginning to brown.

• Add the spinach to the pan, stir it with the olive oil, cover the pan and cook for 1 minute. Uncover and turn the spinach over again. Cover the pan and cook for an additional minute. (If you cannot find fresh spinach you can also use frozen ones.)

• Lightly whisk 6 eggs in a mixing bowl and add créme fresch, cottage cheese, cheddar, salt and pepper than pour the mixture on the spinach and stir it together.

The „final” steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F. ( 180 C)
• Take the chilled dough, roll it out and press it into the bottom of a 10-inch pie dish.
• Prick it with a fork all around, and put it in the oven for 10 minutes.
• Take it out from the oven, pour the filling in and put the pie back in the oven for 60 minutes, or until the filling is set.
• Allow it to cool for a bit before serving.

 

Beverage  pairing recommendation: I would highly recommend to have a pint of Guinness or a coffee stout along with the dish. The strength and creamyness harmonizes with the salty  and soft texture of the pie. If you are more of a wine person I’d advise to have a glass of Chardonnay.

Let me know if you have any comments to share, I hope you enjoy this tendering dish.

Trust me, you won’t regret this happy ending for the week. Stay cheesy and enjoy!!! 🙂

 

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/

 

 

 

Best Halloween leftover food ever a.k.a. Pumpkin Cheesecake

Halloween is over and there are extreme amount of leftovers from our scary pumpkins. So how to “recycle” the pumpkin after the party is over?  Pumpkin soup is boring, pumpkin bars can be interesting but not a big deal, pupmkin dip…No, I already made some….:)…But If you are also a cheese lover as I am you might think about making a mixture of these two delicious ingredients.

I was searching for a perfect pumpkin cheescake on my fav gastro blogs but it seems that inside Europe noone has ever thought about making something out of pumpkins, therefore the only options I found where from the US of course.  However this had raised some problems :

1. The old American recipes are totally different from the  average European taste .

2.  Most of the ingredients are products that we have never seen on the old continent 🙂

3. We  are just unable to digest that amount of sugar. 🙂 No offense, I love my American friends and their cuisine also, but I need something closer to healthy…. So after dealing with my thoughts for a couple of hours I decided to recreate the pumpkin cheesecake recipe from 3-4  recipes that I found online to fit my own taste.  ( You can find those ones at the bottom of the page as a reference)

So here you are, the almost healthy Halloween leftover Pumpkin Cheesecake ( named Rosie… no particular reason why I named her Rosie, but she definitelly smells and lookes like a Rosie 🙂 )

Ingredients

Crust :

• 250 gr / 8 ounces of oatmeal
• 100 gr / 5 ounces of melted butter
• 50 – 80 gr / 2-3 ounces of roasted peanut, unsalted
• 1 tbsp xilitol or cane sugar
• Pinch of salt

Filling:

• 1 package ( 200 gr / 7 ounces) of cream cheese
• 1 package ( 200 gr / 7 ounces ) of mascrapone
• 300 gr / 10 ounces of pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
• 2 dl / 0,8 cup  sour cream
• 3 tbsp xilitol or cane sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp Bourbon vanilla powder
• ¼ tsp ginger powder
• 1 tbsp of corn starch

Prepation:

For the crust:

Mix the oatmeal, the chopped nuts, a pinch of salt, the sugar and the melted butter. Put all the crust in a nine-inch spring form pan and press it down flat with your hands or a glass. Put the crust in the fridge while you are preparing the filling.

For the filling:

Beat cream cheese, mascarpone and the sour cream until smooth. Add the pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sugar and the spices. Add  corn starch and beat together until well combined.

Pour  the creamy filling into crust. Spread out evenly and place in oven the for 30-35 minutes on 180 Celsius ( 356 Farenheits) . Remove from the oven and let sit for 15-20 minutes.

You can serve it warm or you can either cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3- 4 hours. Refrigerating helps the cream stay strong and thick but I am sure that you can not wait hours to taste it.

Serve it with some pumpkin pieces and peanut.

I hope you enjoyed it and let me know if you have any ideas in mind how to fine-tune the recipe 🙂

References:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-cheesecake-recipe.html

http://rizsazzunk.cafeblog.hu/2014/07/28/3-ev-es-meg-egy-torta/

http://www.nlcafe.hu/gasztro/20150126/zabpehely-receptek/

The perfect cheesy brunch for a rainy Sunday :)

In general I am not a morning person but I definitelly prefer having a proper breakfast or a brunch than going out to fancy   restaurants. The whole atmosphere of these places are so mind-blowing and every time I am  having my coffee, croissant, sandwich, omlett or porridge out I feel like a real queen…its like giving yourself and early treat and having the best kick off for a perfect day. I think its really important to start a day positively and acknowledge as early as possible that you deserve to be given the best of everything…( inlcuding a shower, but that’s out of the point now…)So I decided to follow this rule each and every day and surprise myself in the morning…. also my friends if they are
fit enough to come over to my cave… actually it is better to be enjoyed with others, but you’ll never know who might show up:)

I had plenty of time to wonder a little bit ont he bus on the way back from work about the best brunch menu and I think I quite did a good job and created a list of delicious things that could fit to the autumn mood and a lazy Sunday. Of course homemade cheese took a great part in it and I also wanted to try out a farm-style fresh cheese recipe I recently found online…

Some of the dishes might need a little bit of preparation but I promise that this might help you and your friends to survive a rainy and cold Sunday.

So here is your perfect menu with YOUR homemade spicy farm-stlyle cheese, spicy pumpkin dip, fresh avocado cream and toast with garlic.

Farmer’s Cheese

• 1 gallon milk
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• Fresh oregano, thyme and basil
• 1 large pot
• Plastic colander
• Cheesecloth or old bandana

Heat your milk to a rolling boil. Turn off the heat and add vinegar. Leave the milk to settle for 25-30 minutes. Once the milk is separated, pour the whey and curds into your colander lined with cheesecloth over another large pot, but you also do it over the sink if you don’t want to keep the whey. ( I actually reheated the whey for extra 20 minutes and added vinegar again. The outcome was a more creamy and sweet ricotta like cheese.) So,  stir in salt and herbs to the curds, then tie up the cheesecloth with a twisting motion to press out whey. Place it back to the colander and allow to drain for an hour and voilá here’s your homemade cheese.

Spicy pumpkin dip… that’s easy also and you can prepare it while the milk is settling 🙂

• 1 small pumpkin
• ½ teaspoon coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt

Preheat the oven to 200 celsius, chop the pumpkin to 4 parts and put them to the oven for 25 minutes until they get a bit of roasted. Once it is done smash the pumpkin with a fork and stir it together with all the other ingredients until it gets creamy.

Avocado cream…

Peal the avocado and chop it to little pieces, add some salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of olive oil and stir.

It seems that everyhing is ready now to enjoy the morning … except coffee, but I won’t get into details about coffee making 🙂

And finally,  toast some bread, put some garlic on top ( optional) and enjoy the last day of the week 😉

I hope you have a good morning!

Source:

http://pocketpause.com/farmers-cheese-easiest-homemade-cheese-recipe/

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/spicy-pumpkin-dip-recipe.html

A romantic cheese date with yourself

In the last couple of weeks I could not stop eating pear and blue cheese and I was trying to find some new alternatives for their usage after having Pear and Blue cheese pie, Pear and blue cheese salad and blue cheese dip with crispy pear ( I will share it later). Anyway, after realising that although the previous recipes were all delicious I still needed to create a full dish that could serve as a perfect dinner. Easy, cheesy and filling so I started searching for the perfect combination and I guess I could find it. 🙂

The recipe requires quite a few ingredients since I made a new combination on 2 recipes I had found online, but it is ready in 50-70 minutes and its a real indulgence itself. So if you would like to give yourself or your other half a an easy but mouth-watering surprise, than here you are…

 

Chicken with Dijoni mustard and Pear, Walnut ,Blue cheese bake

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 pears, unpeeled, halved, and cored
• 1 Tbsp (15 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• 0,5 Tbsp (7-8 ml) Dijon mustard
• 0,5 Tbsp (7-8 ml) pure maple syrup or honey ( I used acacia honey)
• 0,5 Tbsp (7-8 ml) fresh squeezed lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup ( 5 dkg ) walnut
• 1/2 cup (10 dkg) crumbled blue cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 Celisus (approx. 390 Farenheit)

Lightly oil a baking dish.  Combine olive oil, Dijon mustard, maple syrup/ honey, and lemon juice in small bowl and whisk to blend. Place chicken breasts to baking pan, brush Dijon mixture over chicken breasts and sprinkle with a little salt and fresh pepper. Bake for 20 more minutes until juices run clear when chicken is pierced. Remove chicken to a heated platte
r and cover to keep warm.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 Celsius (approx. 375 F). Arrange the pears, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and thyme. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Spoon 2 teaspoons of crumbled cheese in the center of each pear half, return the pears to the oven and roast until they are tender and gold and the cheese is soft, about 8-10 more minutes. Also, put the walnuts on the baking sheet next to the pears and toast them in the oven until golden brown and fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. When the pears are cooked, put 2 of them on a serving plate and add 3 fairly thick slices of the chicken breast,  sprinkle the toasted walnuts and the tle cumbled cheese leftover  over the top. Serve hot.

If you would like to make this cheese date even more engaging you’ better add some booze to it;)

My personal recommendation would be a glass of Fuller’s London Black Cab stout or Pyromani from Roth Beer. Of course if you’d choose a more traditional combination and more of a wine person the best match would be a glass of Tokaji or Rajnai Riesling from the Frittmann winery.

Enjoy!;)
Did you like it? Please share your experience or any ides how the recipe could be improved.

Making of the Finnish fresh goat cheese

Well.. well. I have decided to make sort of a cheese trip around the world and discover different types of milks, cheeses, animals, procedures, traditional recipes and stories of my favourite food.

This time I chose Finland to dig myself into the middle of artisan goat cheese making and experience a little bit of the countryside lifestyle. However, it turned out that the little bit will mean the most nomad way I have ever encountered. No bathroom, no electricity, going to bed after sunset and waking up in a jurt to which we have to chop firewood every day.

At first I was scared or I would rather say terrified of the facilities around the place but slowly started to realize that as an uptown girl it is not necesarilly important to be in my convient and cosy cage all the time and I can still learn a lot of usefull skills about puritan, organic life and the rules of survival without electricity.

So to cut it all short, the story of my first goat cheese making is not  as simple as I expected J

At first I had to learn how to milk the goats for that valuable cheese base which is not so easy. All goats have a personallity and are extremely stubborn, so you actually have to fight with them to make them tied to their place and keep them calm while you are milking. In my case it required two other people to handle this outrageous situation . ( I am small and weak enough to fail in such situation alone). 

Finally I could manage to milk two goats but it is more or less not even 3 liters of milk, which is literally nothing for cheesemaking. Therefore my host and myself have decided to make cheese in every 5-6 days when we have enough milk to produce a normal amount.

I was pretty upset because the only reason I have come here for was cheesemaking, but I had to calm down a bit and wait until it is time for the real jo to be done.

It took a couple of days but finally my time has come and I could not wait to make fresh goat cheese. – I have to mention that goat’s milk is pretty nice and smooth added to your morning coffee too.

It was a shiny  and chilly morning in  the jurt and I jumped out of my sort of bed to enter the „ cheesemaking day” . The milk was already on the stove ( yes, stove) and my host was smiling as a little kid as she know how excited I was about the upcoming hours.

Method:

Well, it was not so scientific as I thought it would be. We heated the milk up to about 50-60 celsiu than added the „ secret liquid” and left  it
on the stove for like 30 minutes. After that we put the already hardening material to a cheese cloth, squeezed it for like 3-4 times and let it hung for a couple of hours. Then it was ready :O

Personal impression:
The fresh goat cheese was unbelievebaly creamy and little bit unsalty. I would say that it was rather a cottage cheese made of mozzarella and squeezed or some other cheese with not such a dominant caracter although it was a lot more unique than a normal cottage cheese made of  sheep’s or cow’s milk.

 Recommendation:

As the cheese itself is very smooth and soft I would recommend eating  with freshlymade chapati and a bit of lingonberry  ( its lingonberry season in Finland) or blueberry , accompanied by a glass of cold Chardonnay or  Rizling. Also it could serve on any salad or grilled softly in a pan with some balsamic vinegar.

The world famous mac ‘n’ cheese

I was always wondering about what could be so exciting about ’mac and cheese’ and why is it so delicious and so addictive that most of the americans consider it the best thing after PB&J. So I decided to try myself out the traditional mac’n’cheese recipe and experience this indulging pasta-cheese combo.

But before revealing the recipe and my score on a 1 to 10 scale here’s some historical background to know who or what is behind this not really extraordinary but delicious idea.

What is exactly mac’n’cheese?

It is actually macaroni and cheese ( what a surprise) – also called “mac and cheese” in American English; “macaroni pie” inCaribbean English; and “macaroni cheese” in the Canada, United Kingdom and New Zealand. The dish itself consists of cooked macaroni pasta and cheese, most commonly Cheddar cheese, though it can also incorporate other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, meat and vegetables.

Traditional macaroni and cheese is a casserole baked in the oven; however, it may be prepared in a sauce pan on top of the stove.  To be authentic I decided to bake the traditional one but soon I think I will have some mac’n’ cheese experiments with the other types.

Biref history

The origins are not 100% clarified, on say that it is English, the others insist on the Italian origins. What is actually known is for sure that pasta and cheese casseroles have been recorded in cookbooks as early as the 14th century’s Liber de Coquina, one of the oldest medieval cookbooks. What is controversial is that it is originally an Italian dish of parmesan and pasta but known in England since the 14th century, where a cheese and pasta casserole known as makerouns was recorded. It was made with fresh, hand-cut pasta which was sandwiched between a mixture of melted butter and cheese.

The first modern recipe for the dish was included in cookery writer Elizabeth Raffald’s 1769 book The Experienced English Housekeeper. In the United Kingdom, during the 2010s, it has become widespread as a meal and as a side order in both fast food and upmarket restaurant, furthermore in Canada the packaged Kraft mac’n’cheese is considered to be one of the national dishes.

American history

The American history of the pasta casserole goes back to the times of  Thomas Jefferson who encountered macaroni both in Paris and in northern Italy, where he drew a sketch of the pasta and wrote detailed notes on the extrusion process. He was such a mac’n’cheese addict that in 1793, he commissioned the American ambassador to Paris to purchase a pasta machine for making it. Afterwards, a recipe called “macaroni and cheese” appeared in the 1824 cookbook The Virginia Housewife one of the most influential cookbooks of the 19th century.

In the United States, July 14 has been branded as “National Macaroni and Cheese” day.

Also macaroni and cheese pizza can be found on restaurant menus and the original recipes has also changed a lot since the 14th century by adding extra ingredients sometimes including tomatoes, onions, tabasco, sautéed mushrooms, cooked gorund brief, hamburger meat, fried bacon, lobster, canned tuna or salmon, peas or broccoli.

The Canadian Mac

Macaroni and Cheese was brought to Canada by British immigrants, coming from other parts of the British Empire. Macaroni and cheese recipes have been attested in Canada since at least in 1845, which suggests a puff pastry lining (suggesting upper-class refinement) and a sauce of cream, egg yolks, mace, and mustard, and grated Parmesan or Cheshire cheese on top. Canadian Cheddar cheese was also becoming popularized at this time and was likely also used during that era.  Currently a variety of packaged mixes mixes which are prepared in a sauce pan on the stove or in a microwave over are available. They are usually modeled on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (known as Kraft Dinner in Canada), which was introduced in 1937.

Other side of the world

In Austria mac’n’ cheese is called Älplermagronen (Alpine herder’s macaroni), which is made of macaroni, cream, cheese, roasted onions, and in some recipes, potatoes. The cheese is often Emmental cheese or Appenzeller cheese and it is usually accompanied by apple sauce.

In Scotland, the dish is often presented in a pastry shell as macaroni cheese pie.

The recipe

Traditional Americam Mac and Cheese recipe :

• 2 cups of macaroni    
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 big onion, chopped fine
• 2  minced garlic cloves
• 2  tablespoons of flour
• 5-6 dl  milk  
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 15 dkg shredded young cheddar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 °C.
2. While making cheese mixture, cook pasta
3. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add the onion and garlic in butter until translucent.
4. Add flour to saucepan and stir to combine, leaving no dry flour bits.
5. Add milk all at once to saucepan along with black pepper and some salt.
6. Stir in the chedda until melted, and mixture is smooth.
7. Place cooked pata in a casserole dish. Stir in cheese mixture until combined and hint put some shredded cheddar on top.
8. Bake for approx. 20- 30 minutes or until top is lightly browned.
9. Cool for 10 minutes and serve.

Personal impression

After having the traditional recipre prepaired I would not say that it is going to be my favourite food but it definitely worth trying. If you are a cheddar lover and you need an easy to cook meal for you and maybe your flatmate, other half or anybody else, than it is going to be your life saving dish.

My opinion is that the recipe is good, delicious and filling but the taste is not a gastronomical breakthrough. If you like cheese that smells and have a really strong taste than I would recommend you to add extra goat or sheep cheese ( that is what I actually did, I added extra sheep milk cream cheese) and it would not desecrate the original recipe but will give you a satisfying feeling and will make you crave for some more.

What is your opinion? Let me know… 😉

Sources:

• www. foodnetwork.com
• Wikipedia
• http://www.tarasmulticulturaltable.com/alplermagronen-swiss-alpine-macaroni/
• http://www.allrecipes.com