Homemade Feta & Food 'n Flix

This month, after dipping my toes into the proverbial "kiddie pool" by making (what was almost too easy) Ricotta Cheese, I was feeling adventurous enough the attempt Feta cheese. And with the help and guidance of Heather over at Girlichef, who is a self-proclaimed "cheeseslut," and member of the fabulously inspiring team behind Forging Fromage, I knew I was in good hands. However, being as stubborn as I am...There, I said it. I stubbornly ventured to go-it alone and, to no surprise, wasn't very successful. My first attempt resulted in what's known in the cheese making world as a "bad batch," and an entire gallon of milk going down the drain.
The following day I was left with a half gallon of milk--enough for a half batch, new resolve, some valuable lessons learned and a willingness to try again. I reserved a couple of the tips I found helpful from other blogs and web sites, but stuck, for the most part, to just one recipe.
This time, I successfully made my very first piece of feta, albeit half the size I originally intended. I was, nonetheless, very proud.

I won't let you make the same mistakes I made.

1. Don't panic! Trust the process and stay the course.

2. Sterilize your equipment; Fill the the pot you're using with water, add measuring cup, spoon, knife and boil for five minutes. Carefully drain water from pot along with your tools. 30-60 minutes before cutting and draining cheese curds, boil cheese cloth in smaller pot. Drain, allow to cool enough to handle and squeeze out the excess water. Line colander with a double or triple layer damp cheesecloth.

2b. Wash surfaces with warm soapy water: Counter/ Table, your hands before handling cheese.

3. Some web sites suggest cutting the feta into slices (like I did), before salting, but to prevent over salting, only cut the feta in half. That's what I'll do next time.

4. Don't be discouraged; Anything you attempt for the first time (or 2nd or 3rd, in some cases) is bound to have some kinks. It's important to exercise patience and know that practice will pay off.

5. Let's do this!

Feta Cheese

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Girlichef, via 'The Home Creamery' by: Kathy Farrell-Kingsley

Tools:

Ultra-fine cheesecloth (Or butter muslin, Or sterilized unused hankerchief)
Table (butter) knife
Measuring Cup
Slotted spoon
Dish/Bowl that can hold feta and be covered

Ingredients:

Yield: 1 lb. Make at least 24 hours before needed.

1 gallon milk
1/4 c. cultured buttermilk (Or 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt with live cultures)
1/4 tsp. liquid rennet (or 1 half rennet tablet)
1/4 c. cool water (55-60 degrees F)
1/4 tsp. calcium chloride
coarse salt

*Note: I subtracted 1/4 cup milk from the gallon I was using to make homemade UN-cultured buttermilk (made with vinegar)and, much to my surprise, it worked out just fine.




















This is what a clean break looks like.
















After cutting lengthwise and crosswise into 1-inch squares.
















Stir to break curds and carefully pour into cheesecloth.








































1. In large heavy-bottomed pot, heat milk to 88 degrees over low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent milk from scalding. Heating milk to correct temperature will take about 10 minutes. Once the milk has been heated, stir in buttermilk OR yogurt. Place cover over pot and turn heat off. Leave pot undisturbed for 1 hour.

2. Either, break up to dissolve tablet or stir liquid rennet into cool water. Pour this mixture, and calcium chloride into into milk mixture. Stir for 60 seconds to dissolve. Milk will still be warm. Return cover over pot and allow to sit undisturbed for 1 to 3 hours, until coagulated. Mine took 3 hours.

3. After one hour, You can test for a "clean break" by inserting a very clean finger; Dip little (pinky) finger about 1-inch into coagulated mixture and pull up. If finger removes clean and liquid (whey) pools, you have a clean break. If not, allow to sit for another 2 hours.

4. Starting lengthwise and then crosswise, insert sterilized blade of table (butter) knife to cut curds into 1-inch squares. Stir mixture gently 3 or 4 times to break up curds. The temperature should still be at 88 degrees. Mine was not, so I turned the heat to low and allowed mixture to come to temperature. Turn heat off.

5. Place colander in a large bowl. Slowly pour curds into ultra-fine cheesecloth (or butter muslin) lined colander. Use a tool, such as a wooden spoon, to lay across colander and make a "bag" by tying the four ends of ultra-fine cheesecloth over the spoon, so that the bag is suspended higher than the liquid (whey) that is being released. At this point, a lot of the liquid should have been released. Temporarily place colander into clean sink. Transfer liquid remaining in bowl to a smaller bowl that can be covered and refrigerate. This will become our brine. Return colander to bowl, adjusting so that the ends of spoon are laying flat on either side of colander (or bowl). You could add folded dish towels to each side of the bowl and lay ends of spoon securely on towels for more height, if needed. Refrigerate cheese until drained, approximately 4-6 hours.

6. After 4-6 hours, remove bowl with cheese from refrigerator. Wash hands before handling cheese. Untie cheesecloth and remove ball of cheese. Yes, it's exciting and looks delicious, but don't eat it...yet.

7. Cut the ball of cheese evenly down the middle, giving you two halves. Transfer cheese halves to something that can be covered, such as a baking dish. Salt the entire surface of both halves of the cheese and cover dish. Allow dish to sit out at room temperature for 24 hours. I was skeptical, too, but trust me.

8. 24 hours later, you'll have cheese that is sitting in the liquid that has been drawn out by the salt. Carefully drain excess liquid; Salt surface of the cheese once more and cover dish. Allow cheese to sit at room temperature for 2 more hours.

After all the hard work and patience, you can eat your cheese now or, Stir in 3-5 tablespoons of salt to the brining liquid we reserved earlier and add pieces of cheese. Cover and refrigerate up to 4 weeks.

*Note: If you accidentally threw the brining liquid away (this happens), simply cover cheese with water that you've salted, cover and refrigerate.

Once you've removed the cheese from the cheesecloth, only cut mound into half and NOT into slices like I've done below. This will help prevent over-salting.

















After 24 hours, the salted cheese will be sitting in a pool of water. Heather had a lot of water, but I only had very little. That's okay! This was just after salting.
















After a full night and day, your cheese is ready to eat.
















Food 'n Flix

At the start of this post I mentioned Heather over at Girlichef, who guided me through my cheese making endeavor. Well, Heather has started a new blog called Food 'n Flix and was so kind to ask if I would co-host it with her. The premise is, once a month we'll feature a film that relates to food, either directly or indirectly, watch the film, and prepare a dish or dessert inspired by that month's film. Our first month is September and we'll be starting with the film 'Chocolat' starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. That means chocolate is the star ingredient. The best part is, everyone is welcome to join in and participate. We'd love to have you over to share in ideas, dishes, movie suggestions, and what's sure to be a lot of fun.

Homemade Ricotta & Coffee-Cannoli Ice Cream

Do you remember Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream, HERE, Or Chocolate-Walnut Fudge Cake, HERE, When we made our own buttermilk using lemon juice (or vinegar, as it were)? Well, homemade ricotta cheese is essentially buttermilk, in that, it begins by using the same process, but is heated to cause a reaction producing more curd (The solids that separate from the whey; liquid). You don't need any particular skill set, I.E. Cooking acumen, an ability to decipher and follow directions, a knack for keeping measurements straight...The latter two of which I'm spectacularly bad at. With only a few ingredients and simple steps, ANYONE can do this.

Add milk, cream, heat, stir, keep stirring, boil. Add lemon juice (or vinegar), stir gently as the curds (solids) separate from the whey (liquid). Remove from heat, cool, drain, done! The whole process takes about ten minutes. That's it.

You do not need any special equipment, like a thermometer. And if you have a fine mesh strainer (Or clean, preferably unused plain white t-shirt), you don't even need the cheesecloth.


Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Recipe Adapted from Eggs On Sunday And Gourmet on Epicurious

Note: I misread the measurements and doubled the amount of heavy cream to 1 cup and the lemon juice to 3 tablespoons, but it was absolutely delicious; creamy and perfect for desserts. This yielded me 2 and 1/4 cups Ricotta cheese. The original source for the recipe says it yielded 1 cup. If your yield is less than the amount needed for the ice cream recipe, simply make up the difference by adding more half and half or milk.

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

*This recipe doubles easily.






















Place colander or fine mesh strainer over large bowl, line colander with fine mesh cheesecloth. Set bowl aside. In separate small bowl, measure out lemon juice, set aside. In large heavy bottom saucepan, pour in milk, cream and add salt. Turn heat on between medium and high. Allow milk to come to a simmer while stirring consistently. Continue stirring occasionally to prevent the milk from scaling on the bottom of the pan.

When milk begins to come to a gentle (not rolling) boil, add in lemon juice and gently stir as the curds (solids) separate from the whey (liquid). Reduce heat to low and stir gently for another two minutes. Remove pan from heat. Allow to rest and cool for twenty minutes before draining. Once cooled, pour mixture into lined colander that's been placed over bowl. If the liquid that has drained is so much that it has risen and the cheesecloth is sitting in liquid, remove colander from bowl, empty liquid into sink, place colander back into bowl and continue to drain for 1 hour. If your liquid hasn't risen over the cheesecloth, proceed by allowing liquid to drain into bowl for 1 hour.

Note:If your milk starts to boil over, it's okay to remove pan from heat briefly, just until bubbling reduces. Reduce heat to low, add lemon juice and continue to stir gently over heat for two minutes.




















Store ricotta in an air tight container for up to two days; refrigerated.
















Coffee-Cannoli Ice Cream
Recipes' inspired and Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis And Canela Kitchen Recipes

Ingredients

1 & 3/4 cups homemade ricotta cheese
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup half and half
1 cup coffee simple syrup, recipe below
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 Bourbon Madagascar vanilla bean, Scraped (Optional)
1/2 Cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

In large bowl, whisk together ricotta, milk and cream until completely blended. To this, add in coffee simple syrup, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean caviar. Stir until blended. If you have an emulsion blender, blend this mixture until completely smooth. If not, stir until as smooth as possible. Pour mixture in air tight container and refrigerate until cold. Once mixture is cold, carefully pour into ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturers instructions. During the last 5 minutes of churning, add the chocolate chips. Or reserve for topping.



















Coffee Simple Syrup

*Note: I made coffee that was a 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon to 1 cup ratio.

3/4 Cup Coffee

3/4 Cup Sugar

In medium sauce pan, add coffee and sugar. Stir until combined. Over medium heat, bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat between medium and low and simmer for five minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Waffle Cones

This is where I level with you. I made attempted to make waffle cones, sans a waffle cone maker. This process involved tape, wax paper and a glue stick. You see where I'm going with this, right? Okay, so it wasn't a shining culinary moment. Next time I'll make traditional cannoli shell pieces. Moving on...

Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream (with homemade buttermilk) and Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Strawberries topped with toasted almond slivers and drizzled with honey, strawberry ice cream, strawberry sour cream coffee cake, strawberries at their pique ripeness, more sweet than tart, washed and allowed to come to room temperature, totally naked in a bowl, sigh. I LOVE strawberries! Wouldn't it be great if raindrops tasted like strawberries. Okay, so maybe that's pushing it, but rain does helps strawberries to grow. So in essence, strawberries taste a bit like rain.
That time of the year, when everything springs to life, ostensibly instantaneously, is a welcomed occasion here in New England. Colors and smells and tastes that have hidden themselves away from our finding become new and available to us again; Fresh and locally grown! Two days ago, I planted my first strawberries of the season. They've already begun budding. The reason I mentioned the rain earlier is because that's what we've been experiencing the past few days, and nearly all of April. Though, for some, this may be a downer, I offer for your consideration one glorious bright side...Strawberries! And the vast many things that grow verdant, plush, sweet and fragrant. Come in out of the rain, pull up a chair and I'll make you a sundae. You'll have no choice but to smile. And after one bite, you'll have a whole new appreciation for the magic of what falls from those April gray skies.


Making your own buttermilk is really simple.

All you'll need is:

1 cup whole milk

and either 1 & 3/4 tablespoons cream of tartar OR 1 tablespoon white vinegar OR 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Add one of the three to milk (cream of tartar, or white vinegar, or fresh lemon juice), stir and let stand for fifteen minutes at room temperature. After fifteen minutes the milk should have begun to curdle. Stir well before using.













*For this recipe, I used buttermilk made with lemon juice.














Homemade Strawberry Buttermilk Ice Cream

Recipe courtesy and Adapted from Joythebaker.com

Ingredients

2 cups cream or half and half Plus 1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup whole milk (to be mixed with cornstarch later)

1/2 cup buttermilk

Scant 3/4 cup sugar (just under 3/4 cup)

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup strawberries, cut into small cubes

2 Tablespoons sugar Plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (for macerating strawberries)


Fresh Strawberry Sauce

To make strawberry sauce, simply repeat the method of cutting strawberries into small cubes. Once you've cubed 3/4 cup of strawberries, place them in bowl with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice. Stir until incorporated. Cover bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Directions:

Clean strawberries under cold water. Cut strawberries into small cubes. Place strawberries in bowl with 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, stir. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Pour 1 1/2 cups of cream plus 1/2 cup of whole milk into a small sauce pan. Add the sugar and salt and heat the cream over medium low heat. Stir cream often to prevent it from scalding.
Now that your cream and 1/2 cup of milk is heating on the stove, measure out buttermilk and vanilla extract and set aside. Also measure out the remaining 1/2 cup of milk. Stir the cornstarch into this 1/2 cup of milk until smooth and all the lumps are dissolved.

At this point, the cream you've been heating should be gently steaming. You do not want it boiling, just hot and producing a gentle steam. While the cream is over medium low heat, add the milk and cornstarch mixture to same pan as cream. Stir continuously until cream starts to thicken. It should feel heavier on the spoon and appear thicker to the eye. *See picture below.














Once the milk and cornstarch mixture is added to the cream, it should only take a minute or two to thicken up. If not, keep stirring until it does.

Once the cream mixture is thick, remove from the heat, Add vanilla extract and 1/2cup of buttermilk. Stir to incorporate.

Strain the cream milk mixture into a large bowl, cover with plastic and allow to cool in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Once the mixture is cooled, remove from the refrigerator and stir in ONLY the accumulated juices from the strawberries and NOT the strawberries. Stir to incorporate juice and add cream mixture to your ice cream maker. *See pictures below.























Five to ten minutes before ice cream is done churning, add the remaining small cubes of strawberries to ice cream machine. When ice cream is done churning, place in freezer safe container, cover and allow to freeze for up to four hours.






















Homemade ice cream always tastes best after it's been allowed to "ripen". This is when the flavor has deepened.


My budding strawberry plants.