Rerun Series: Mozzarella

Sundays are for reposts this blogging month, especially since some are so old, they deserve to be rerun, and also because some of you are new here, you need to make these things! Now!

I linked to this post when I was talking about homemade pizza. This is how to make mozzarella at home. It is so easy--20 minutes give you what you crave. I know some people don't have access to good, non-ultra pasteurized milk, so I've also tested the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company's dried milk method: and it really really works. You mix up a gallon of milk from dry milk powder. Pour off (and save to consume!!) two cups of that and ADD 2 cups of heavy cream. Then make the cheese just like you do in the method below. Click here to get the full instructions for mozzarella from dried milk.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Make Mine Mozz...

So in the past year, I've decided to take up cheesemaking...you know. In my spare time. I taught a class just the other night and planned on posting fotos and blogging about the class--two people had cameras.

Two cameras had dead batteries.

And since I was teaching, I couldn't exactly run down to apartment and grab MY camera. And besides: I was teaching! Can't shoot fotos of my own self teaching.

All that aside, it was a great class (but, oh, btw, Walgreens? Your Pet milk was the BEST inexpensive brand. I am not so in love with the new brand.), everyone went home with nearly a pound of their own fresh mozzarella and, I hope, plans to make more. And, hopefully word of me teaching cooking classes will spread and spread. We are already talking pasta making, pizza making, bread making and so much more!!

Here's a post I wrote a few months (August, 2010) back about my obsession (and click on the cheese making party in Italy link. I could watch it over and over...):

Obsession and Batch #5

Batch #5

I--perhaps we all do this--I go through bouts of obsession. I've been obsessed with scuba diving. Learning a language. Reading every last book an author has written (Rumer Godden. Still working on that). Knitting. Watercolors.

Obsessions can be lovely things (um, when not destructive, let me clarify). Obsessions consume you so you drink up and drink in everything you can about your new love. Revelations come to you--once I realized every single pattern in knitting was simply a variation of knit or purl, I knitted some incredibly complex things for a beginner--because I was no longer intimidated.

This month's current obsession has been fresh homemade mozzarella. I was late to the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle party. That's the book by Barbara Kingsolver, the one where she and her family "retire" (in quotes--retire to work incredibly hard) to a farm in southwest Virginia. For one year, the family decides to eat entirely local and forgo anything not local (I think everyone got to pick a luxury item--coffee, for example). In the course of the year, they learn to make mozzarella--and it sounds incredibly simple.

So since I obsess about things, especially about the food I read about in books, I decided I need to make mozzarella. And in the course of that decision? I also committed to TEACH a class about mozzarella making.

How hard can it be, right? (And that? That's my life's mantra.) The only ingredients are whole milk, citric acid, rennet and salt. That's IT.

Well. Batch #1. Nice, but solid--too much like string cheese texture (firmer than fresh; too dry). Batch #2. Although the bottle was marked NOT ultra-pasteurized, the milk just curdled. Some reading says even those milks are occasionally over heated and could have been too much like ultra pasteurized. I actually went right out that evening and bought yet another gallon (for Batch #3) of a different brand. I was gentler. I kneaded. I drained the whey (the liquid left over when the cheese curdles. I have seen a lot of curds and whey this week.), I kneaded again...it stretched some and still? Still too hard and dry (not hard--cheese for sure, but not that soft, lovely cheese that is fresh mozz.)...Yesterday I made another batch (Batch #4), still with the inexpensive, store brand not ultra-pasteurized. I went upstairs into the lovely kitchen we have (where I'll be making the mozz in two weeks time)...STILL not what I would be proud of--yes, still cheese, still tasty but NOT RIGHT.

In the meantime I found a video of Paula Harris, the Cheese Maven, on the website at New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I watched it once. I watched it twice. She uses gloves. (What, was I too proud to wear gloves? Did I think that real cheesemakers don't use gloves? If I did think that then I was wrong, but maybe I was trying to be this guy at a cheesemaking party in Italy. I so wish I had  been invited to that party...that water looks intensely hot and that cheese looks incredibly tender and delicious...those guys are appreciating their food. I love Italians...But I digress.)

Yesterday I went to Earth Fare. I bought a gallon of milk in glass jars from Virginia and another gallon of milk from a farm just south of here in South Carolina.

I could hardly wait to try it. It was perfection. The curds came together and stretched just the way they were supposed to. I used the gloves and quickly folded and kneaded, distributing the heat through the cheese. It turned glossy. It stayed soft. I tasted it and quickly ran it down to the office here in the building so everyone could taste warm mozzarella cheese.

Obsession? Conquered. Now to do it over and over and over again. Maybe my next career will be cheesemaker and cheesemonger. Cool.

Now I think I need a big burger. I haven't eaten meat since I started my mozzarella batches.

The Mozzarella Obsession

1.5 tsp. citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water (most bottled waters: Poland Springs works) (have ready)
1 gallon whole milk, NOT ultra pasteurized and coming from as close to home as possible (I am completely convinced that this will give you the best, non-string-cheese-like results)
1/4 rennet tablet dissolved in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water (have ready)
1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt (not iodized)

Equipment: large stainless steel stockpot, slotted spoon, thermometer (get one that reads as low as 80 to 100 degrees F), colander, bowl (microwave safe), gloves (You can find everything at NE Cheese Supply Co.--well, maybe not the gloves, but I haven't checked...def. the citric acid, the rennet, a thermometer....)

1. Stir dissolved citric acid into milk in stock pot. Place over medium heat, stir to distribute citric acid and clip thermometer to side of pot. (No clip? Just keep testing milk as it heats. Don't walk away!) Stir gently now and then or simply jiggle the pot (learned that from Paula Harris video).

2.When milk reaches 88 to 90 degrees F, add dissolved rennet and stir thoroughly, but gently and only for several seconds. Reduce heat to low. Now DON'T TOUCH THE POT. Set timer for 5 minutes. When you check the milk after 5 minutes, it should have come together in a smooth mass, looking very much like yogurt.Turn heat off.

3. Use long knife and cut the solidified milk into cubes. Place colander over a bowl and place bowl right next to stockpot. Use slotted spoon to get all the curds into the strainer. Gently tilt strainer, letting whey run off as much as possible. Dump whey back into stockpot and gently turn curds into bowl.

4. Start folding curds over on themselves (do this in the bowl--it keeps the mess down)--you are encouraging them to form one piece, although curds will still escape. Fold over a few times. Drain whey again. Place bowl in micowave for 1 minute (on high). Put your gloves on and (with cheese curds still in the bowl) fold curds over again and again, working quickly to distribute heat evenly through cheese. It should be coming together even more. Drain as needed.

5. Place bowl back in microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. With your gloves still on, fold cheese over and over again, draining several times. Pat cheese ball a bit flat and sprinkle with salt. Fold over on itself several times again.

6. Place bowl back in microwave for another 30 seconds on high. With gloves STILL on, fold over and over on itself again--at this point the cheese should no longer look "curdy" but should look smooth. It will be stretchy, too--fold over and over on itself (in or out of bowl at this point--there's no more whey coming out of the ball now) until the mozzarella cheese is smooth and shiny. Shape into ball, place on plate. Slice and eat warm RIGHT AWAY or wrap it tightly in plastic and chill.

Practice makes perfect. Batch #6 Chez Babette will be tomorrow. No, I am NOT tired of mozzarella yet.

DEFINITELY check the Paula Harris video out...seeing is believing.

Make Mine Mozz...

So in the past year, I've decided to take up cheesemaking...you know. In my spare time. I taught a class just the other night and planned on posting fotos and blogging about the class--two people had cameras.

Two cameras had dead batteries.

And since I was teaching, I couldn't exactly run down to apartment and grab MY camera. And besides: I was teaching! Can't shoot fotos of my own self teaching.

All that aside, it was a great class (but, oh, btw, Walgreens? Your Pet milk was the BEST inexpensive brand. I am not so in love with the new brand.), everyone went home with nearly a pound of their own fresh mozzarella and, I hope, plans to make more. And, hopefully word of me teaching cooking classes will spread and spread. We are already talking pasta making, pizza making, bread making and so much more!!

Here's a post I wrote a few months (August, 2010) back about my obsession (and click on the cheese making party in Italy link. I could watch it over and over...):

Obsession and Batch #5

Batch #5

I--perhaps we all do this--I go through bouts of obsession. I've been obsessed with scuba diving. Learning a language. Reading every last book an author has written (Rumer Godden. Still working on that). Knitting. Watercolors.

Obsessions can be lovely things (um, when not destructive, let me clarify). Obsessions consume you so you drink up and drink in everything you can about your new love. Revelations come to you--once I realized every single pattern in knitting was simply a variation of knit or purl, I knitted some incredibly complex things for a beginner--because I was no longer intimidated.

This month's current obsession has been fresh homemade mozzarella. I was late to the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle party. That's the book by Barbara Kingsolver, the one where she and her family "retire" (in quotes--retire to work incredibly hard) to a farm in southwest Virginia. For one year, the family decides to eat entirely local and forgo anything not local (I think everyone got to pick a luxury item--coffee, for example). In the course of the year, they learn to make mozzarella--and it sounds incredibly simple.

So since I obsess about things, especially about the food I read about in books, I decided I need to make mozzarella. And in the course of that decision? I also committed to TEACH a class about mozzarella making.

How hard can it be, right? (And that? That's my life's mantra.) The only ingredients are whole milk, citric acid, rennet and salt. That's IT.

Well. Batch #1. Nice, but solid--too much like string cheese texture (firmer than fresh; too dry). Batch #2. Although the bottle was marked NOT ultra-pasteurized, the milk just curdled. Some reading says even those milks are occasionally over heated and could have been too much like ultra pasteurized. I actually went right out that evening and bought yet another gallon (for Batch #3) of a different brand. I was gentler. I kneaded. I drained the whey (the liquid left over when the cheese curdles. I have seen a lot of curds and whey this week.), I kneaded again...it stretched some and still? Still too hard and dry (not hard--cheese for sure, but not that soft, lovely cheese that is fresh mozz.)...Yesterday I made another batch (Batch #4), still with the inexpensive, store brand not ultra-pasteurized. I went upstairs into the lovely kitchen we have (where I'll be making the mozz in two weeks time)...STILL not what I would be proud of--yes, still cheese, still tasty but NOT RIGHT.

In the meantime I found a video of Paula Harris, the Cheese Maven, on the website at New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I watched it once. I watched it twice. She uses gloves. (What, was I too proud to wear gloves? Did I think that real cheesemakers don't use gloves? If I did think that then I was wrong, but maybe I was trying to be this guy at a cheesemaking party in Italy. I so wish I had  been invited to that party...that water looks intensely hot and that cheese looks incredibly tender and delicious...those guys are appreciating their food. I love Italians...But I digress.)

Yesterday I went to Earth Fare. I bought a gallon of milk in glass jars from Virginia and another gallon of milk from a farm just south of here in South Carolina.

I could hardly wait to try it. It was perfection. The curds came together and stretched just the way they were supposed to. I used the gloves and quickly folded and kneaded, distributing the heat through the cheese. It turned glossy. It stayed soft. I tasted it and quickly ran it down to the office here in the building so everyone could taste warm mozzarella cheese.

Obsession? Conquered. Now to do it over and over and over again. Maybe my next career will be cheesemaker and cheesemonger. Cool.

Now I think I need a big burger. I haven't eaten meat since I started my mozzarella batches.

The Mozzarella Obsession

1.5 tsp. citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water (most bottled waters: Poland Springs works) (have ready)
1 gallon whole milk, NOT ultra pasteurized and coming from as close to home as possible (I am completely convinced that this will give you the best, non-string-cheese-like results)
1/4 rennet tablet dissolved in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water (have ready)
1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt (not iodized)

Equipment: large stainless steel stockpot, slotted spoon, thermometer (get one that reads as low as 80 to 100 degrees F), colander, bowl (microwave safe), gloves (You can find everything at NE Cheese Supply Co.--well, maybe not the gloves, but I haven't checked...def. the citric acid, the rennet, a thermometer....)

1. Stir dissolved citric acid into milk in stock pot. Place over medium heat, stir to distribute citric acid and clip thermometer to side of pot. (No clip? Just keep testing milk as it heats. Don't walk away!) Stir gently now and then or simply jiggle the pot (learned that from Paula Harris video).

2.When milk reaches 88 to 90 degrees F, add dissolved rennet and stir thoroughly, but gently and only for several seconds. Reduce heat to low. Now DON'T TOUCH THE POT. Set timer for 5 minutes. When you check the milk after 5 minutes, it should have come together in a smooth mass, looking very much like yogurt.Turn heat off.

3. Use long knife and cut the solidified milk into cubes. Place colander over a bowl and place bowl right next to stockpot. Use slotted spoon to get all the curds into the strainer. Gently tilt strainer, letting whey run off as much as possible. Dump whey back into stockpot and gently turn curds into bowl.

4. Start folding curds over on themselves (do this in the bowl--it keeps the mess down)--you are encouraging them to form one piece, although curds will still escape. Fold over a few times. Drain whey again. Place bowl in micowave for 1 minute (on high). Put your gloves on and (with cheese curds still in the bowl) fold curds over again and again, working quickly to distribute heat evenly through cheese. It should be coming together even more. Drain as needed.

5. Place bowl back in microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. With your gloves still on, fold cheese over and over again, draining several times. Pat cheese ball a bit flat and sprinkle with salt. Fold over on itself several times again.

6. Place bowl back in microwave for another 30 seconds on high. With gloves STILL on, fold over and over on itself again--at this point the cheese should no longer look "curdy" but should look smooth. It will be stretchy, too--fold over and over on itself (in or out of bowl at this point--there's no more whey coming out of the ball now) until the mozzarella cheese is smooth and shiny. Shape into ball, place on plate. Slice and eat warm RIGHT AWAY or wrap it tightly in plastic and chill.

Practice makes perfect. Batch #6 Chez Babette will be tomorrow. No, I am NOT tired of mozzarella yet.

DEFINITELY check the Paula Harris video out...seeing is believing.

Obsession and Batch #5

Batch #5

I--perhaps we all do this--I go through bouts of obsession. I've been obsessed with scuba diving. Learning a language. Reading every last book an author has written (Rumer Godden. Still working on that). Knitting. Watercolors.

Obsessions can be lovely things (um, when not destructive, let me clarify). Obsessions consume you so you drink up and drink in everything you can about your new love. Revelations come to you--once I realized every single pattern in knitting was simply a variation of knit or purl, I knitted some incredibly complex things for a beginner--because I was no longer intimidated.

This month's current obsession has been fresh homemade mozzarella. I was late to the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle party. That's the book by Barbara Kingsolver, the one where she and her family "retire" (in quotes--retire to work incredibly hard) to a farm in southwest Virginia. For one year, the family decides to eat entirely local and forgo anything not local (I think everyone got to pick a luxury item--coffee, for example). In the course of the year, they learn to make mozzarella--and it sounds incredibly simple.

So since I obsess about things, especially about the food I read about in books, I decided I need to make mozzarella. And in the course of that decision? I also committed to TEACH a class about mozzarella making.

How hard can it be, right? (And that? That's my life's mantra.) The only ingredients are whole milk, citric acid, rennet and salt. That's IT.

Well. Batch #1. Nice, but solid--too much like string cheese texture (firmer than fresh; too dry). Batch #2. Although the bottle was marked NOT ultra-pasteurized, the milk just curdled. Some reading says even those milks are occasionally over heated and could have been too much like ultra pasteurized. I actually went right out that evening and bought yet another gallon (for Batch #3) of a different brand. I was gentler. I kneaded. I drained the whey (the liquid left over when the cheese curdles. I have seen a lot of curds and whey this week.), I kneaded again...it stretched some and still? Still too hard and dry (not hard--cheese for sure, but not that soft, lovely cheese that is fresh mozz.)...Yesterday I made another batch (Batch #4), still with the inexpensive, store brand not ultra-pasteurized. I went upstairs into the lovely kitchen we have (where I'll be making the mozz in two weeks time)...STILL not what I would be proud of--yes, still cheese, still tasty but NOT RIGHT.

In the meantime I found a video of Paula Harris, the Cheese Maven, on the website at New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I watched it once. I watched it twice. She uses gloves. (What, was I too proud to wear gloves? Did I think that real cheesemakers don't use gloves? If I did think that then I was wrong, but maybe I was trying to be this guy at a cheesemaking party in Italy. I so wish I had  been invited to that party...that water looks intensely hot and that cheese looks incredibly tender and delicious...those guys are appreciating their food. I love Italians...But I digress.)

Yesterday I went to Earth Fare. I bought a gallon of milk in glass jars from Virginia and another gallon of milk from a farm just south of here in South Carolina.

I could hardly wait to try it. It was perfection. The curds came together and stretched just the way they were supposed to. I used the gloves and quickly folded and kneaded, distributing the heat through the cheese. It turned glossy. It stayed soft. I tasted it and quickly ran it down to the office here in the building so everyone could taste warm mozzarella cheese.

Obsession? Conquered. Now to do it over and over and over again. Maybe my next career will be cheesemaker and cheesemonger. Cool.

Last Night's Dinner...and lunch...and breakfast

Now I think I need a big burger. I haven't eaten meat since I started my mozzarella batches.

The Mozzarella Obsession

1.5 tsp. citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water (most bottled waters: Poland Springs works) (have ready)
1 gallon whole milk, NOT ultra pasteurized and coming from as close to home as possible (I am completely convinced that this will give you the best, non-string-cheese-like results)
1/4 rennet tablet dissolved in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water (have ready)
1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt (not iodized)

Equipment: large stainless steel stockpot, slotted spoon, thermometer (get one that reads as low as 80 to 100 degrees F), colander, bowl (microwave safe), gloves (You can find everything at NE Cheese Supply Co.--well, maybe not the gloves, but I haven't checked...def. the citric acid, the rennet, a thermometer....)

1. Stir dissolved citric acid into milk in stock pot. Place over medium heat, stir to distribute citric acid and clip thermometer to side of pot. (No clip? Just keep testing milk as it heats. Don't walk away!) Stir gently now and then or simply jiggle the pot (learned that from Paula Harris video).

2.When milk reaches 88 to 90 degrees F, add dissolved rennet and stir thoroughly, but gently and only for several seconds. Reduce heat to low. Now DON'T TOUCH THE POT. Set timer for 5 minutes. When you check the milk after 5 minutes, it should have come together in a smooth mass, looking very much like yogurt.Turn heat off.

3. Use long knife and cut the solidified milk into cubes. Place colander over a bowl and place bowl right next to stockpot. Use slotted spoon to get all the curds into the strainer. Gently tilt strainer, letting whey run off as much as possible. Dump whey back into stockpot and gently turn curds into bowl.

4. Start folding curds over on themselves (do this in the bowl--it keeps the mess down)--you are encouraging them to form one piece, although curds will still escape. Fold over a few times. Drain whey again. Place bowl in micowave for 1 minute (on high). Put your gloves on and (with cheese curds still in the bowl) fold curds over again and again, working quickly to distribute heat evenly through cheese. It should be coming together even more. Drain as needed.

5. Place bowl back in microwave and heat on high for 30 seconds. With your gloves still on, fold cheese over and over again, draining several times. Pat cheese ball a bit flat and sprinkle with salt. Fold over on itself several times again.

6. Place bowl back in microwave for another 30 seconds on high. With gloves STILL on, fold over and over on itself again--at this point the cheese should no longer look "curdy" but should look smooth. It will be stretchy, too--fold over and over on itself (in or out of bowl at this point--there's no more whey coming out of the ball now) until the mozzarella cheese is smooth and shiny. Shape into ball, place on plate. Slice and eat warm RIGHT AWAY or wrap it tightly in plastic and chill.

Practice makes perfect. Batch #6 Chez Babette will be tomorrow. No, I am NOT tired of mozzarella yet.

DEFINITELY check the Paula Harris video out...seeing is believing.

Babette's Great Food Events, 2010

So this week is often the week of lists all around the world, right? As we say good-bye to one year, welcome another, we get to look back on the highs and lows of the past 365 days...which brought me to thinking about the good things in the food world I've done--or discovered--this year. So here, in no particular order,

1. Backyard beekeepers. I met someone who has been keeping hives in his back yard for decades (first his father, then this guy), which led me to pitch a story to Edible Piedmont about the back yard beekeepers in Charlotte, NC, my new hometown. I got to taste some great honey, but more important, I got to talk to people who have incredible passion for what they are doing. In almost all cases, they are doing this as a hobby. They sell some, but mostly they lay out money so they can coax bees into filling the hives with honey. I spent a lot of hours learning about bees, even attending a "bee school" field day. I got closer to bees than I ever thought I'd get. I was looking at every space thinking, "I could put a hive there." That was a fun story.

2. Another local story that put me into the heart of the food scene in Charlotte was also for Edible Piedmont. I got to meet and interview Cassie Parsons and Natalie Veres, who own Grateful Growers Farm in Denver, NC. They've started one of the few food trucks in Charlotte (this town being a little slow, due to INCREDIBLE red tape surrounding opening such a truck), Harvest Moon Grille, which sells lunch meals made with truly local ingredients--60 miles or less (I think unless they are talking about flour, for example). While talking to Cassie at the truck, I got to meet Peter Reinhardt, whose books I own. I visited the farm. I spent an evening at the farm when they hosted a fund raiser and we dined under the stars, where we met new friends, with whom we've done a few things since. I've made mozzarella twice for the restaurant they've opened, Harvest Moon Grille in the Dunhill Hotel in Charlotte...AND I may teach a kids cooking class at the restaurant in January. I've said before I love food people and this is just one example of that.

3. I got to cook for Guy Fieri at the Super Bowl in Miami in February. A call came out of the blue in late January: was I interested in food styling for a Guy Fieri/Ritz Cracker segment on Super Bowl Sunday? Oh, yes. After a week of TV segments for Laura's Lean Beef, I spent three days doing some nonstop cooking and prep work under...hmm,  let's say not great conditions. My knives got stolen. I was on my feet for HOURS (oh, how I'd forgotten those restaurant days). I cooked Guy's recipes for Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher (go Steelers!)--and more. Can't even recall. Got a fun photo with the team (that's me, "Kleetus" and Guy). Oh, and bragging rights.


4. Here's a sad one: Florida Table folded. And since they changed web hosts, they DELETED the entire Florida Table website and archives. I still can't quite believe that, but there you go. It was bad enough they folded and I lost the food editor job I loved so much for the past three years, but then to delete all those beautiful photos, stories, etc...sigh. They tried hard, but for whatever reason, the magazine just couldn't keep going. I loved the people I met and the work I did.

5. I learned to make mozzarella cheese! (Inspired by Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver) I got the needed rennet and citric acid (from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company) and cheese curded my way to fabulous, warm mozzarella. Actually, I committed to TEACHING A CLASS in cheese making (at our apartment building) before I'd even made batch one. (Have I ever told you my motto: how hard can it be?...and that's why I said, Sure! I'll teach a class!)...which meant in the two weeks after I got back from the Late July vacation to California (San Luis Obispo area: loved loved loved it), I made about eight batches of mozzarella and only really ruined ONE...I taught the class, it was a huge success (sent everyone home with about a pound of mozzarella) and have made mozzarella fairly frequently since then. (And for Harvest Moon Grille at the Dunhill: see above.)

Teaching a class of 10 to make fresh mozzarella

6. I successfully completed the Blogathon. I was worried. Very worried. Daily posts for the entire month. But blogging is like so many things: the more you do it, the easier it gets. It became a habit, one I need to recommit to (is that a resolution in the making? Or just a good idea???)--I enjoyed doing it, I read new blogs, I got new readers. No down sides whatsoever.

7. I made Marcella Hazan's lasagne. This was SUCH a big hit. In fact, it may have pushed lasagne into one of my favorite meals. THIS lasagne to be exact. And then, after I'd blogged the whole event? I got a comment from Marcella. That just made my day. And I've made the lasagne again. Worth it. In fact, her book, Essentials of Italian Cooking is one I reach for more and more frequently these days.


There were, of course other highs--Alton Brown's pumpkin pie from real pumpkin was an absolute runaway favorite (we voted) at Thanksgiving.  I had the most incredible solo dinner at Blue Hill NYC.
I read A Homemade Life and the recipe for creamed cabbage changed our veggie-eating habits forever. I wrote about rules you should break in the kitchen. I returned to canning and made the BEST peach jam EVER. I bragged about my garlic bread domination.

It was a good year in food. I'll try to make 2011 even better.

Monday, Monday

Monday holds promise, doesn't it? I had a great breakfast with a great writer and friend yesterday and came away with ideas stewing in my head, ideas for writing more and working more, especially doing some cooking classes, which I do just love to do. The computer screen and I have a tough relationship. I prefer the company of real people, and giving classes does that for me.

Here's the thing--there are a lot of basics that would make for good classes. It doesn't have to be super fancy. I have friends who have asked about sauces and stocks, for example. That is a class right there.

I also love to make mozzarella cheese and pasta--both are so simple, it's worth it to make the effort. To that end, I have a tip for some of you who may be struggling to find good milk (not pasteurized to the point of being unusable for mozzarella).

The tip? Use the dry milk method on New England Cheesemaking Supply Co's website. It was quite the revelation after I wasted a gallon of milk and ended up with nothing but crumbling curds. In a nutshell, mix up a gallon of milk from powder. Remove 1 pint (a.k.a. 2 cups) of the milk (keep it for something else, right?) and replace that pint with a pint of top quality heavy cream. Then proceed as usual, with citric acid and rennet. The batch I made was one of my best.

For more mozzarella madness, here's a link to my post on my obsession with mozzarella when it first started..

What cooking classes have you taken, given or wanted to take? Let me know. I'll start compiling my list of classes to offer.

Pizza in Punxsutawney...a little Bit of Paradise

Behold. The Pizza Oven...

There is something to be said for a place where you can have plenty of land. You know. Land where you can build a pizza oven.

You know what else you get with a lot of space? An  Aga. Just saying. I love Punxsutawney.

Friends F and S indulged me in inviting myself to their home in Punxsy to make pizza in the oven. F built the oven, the stone walls, the stone house..but it was that pizza oven I was after.

F built a fire early in the day so by the time we arrived, the coals were glowing hot. I brought the dough and a few toppings. They had some great mozzarella cheese, homemade sausage, basil from the garden.

Take some basil. And green beans. And oregano. And...and...and...

And that oven.

I practiced on a little foccacia.

It seemed easy enough. But as I made bigger pizzas, it was tougher to get them off the peel and onto the floor of the oven. I lost some toppings into the oven. Oops.

But with practice? I got this.

I use Carol Field's pizza dough. I cannot get it thin enough--or could not last night...I plan on learning to toss pizza dough, so I think I can conquer that problem. How hard can it be, right?

Here are two winning combos and my secret ingredient for really great pizza:

Stretch your dough. Brush the dough with EVOO mixed with anchovy past, just a touch. No one will know but you, and it makes it awesome.

I like to sprinkle just a little parmesan cheese on next in case toppings are wet-ish.

Great topping number 1:
Fresh marinated mozzarella (oil drained--we used mozzarella bocconcini from Costco), homemade sopresata, and drained and chopped artichoke hearts. I chopped the artichokes and drained them on paper towels while we waited to make the pizzas. I tore the mozzarella as I put it on so it was not too big.

Great topping number 2:
Red onion, thinly sliced and sauteed. Red bell pepper, thinly sliced and sauteed. Smoked gouda.
Prep the dough the same way (anchovy olive oil, sprinkle of parm) and top.

I think we cooked a little too late--my host thought the oven should have been hotter, and for the very last pizza, he raked the coals (I should have paid more attention) and the pizza cooked a lot more quickly...I liked turning the pizza in the oven with the peel--once it was in, if I waited about a minute, it was easy to lift and turn the pizza to take advantage of the coals.

Awesome night--thanks, my friends!!
Until we cook again...

Pizza in Punxsutawney

Behold. The Pizza Oven...

There is something to be said for a place where you can have plenty of land. You know. Land where you can build a pizza oven.

You know what else you get with a lot of space? An  Aga. Just saying. I love Punxsutawney.

Friends F and S indulged me in inviting myself to their home in Punxy to make pizza in the oven. F built the oven, the stone walls, the stone house..but it was that pizza oven I was after.

F built a fire early in the day so by the time we arrived, the coals were glowing hot. I brought the dough and a few toppings. They had some great mozzarella cheese, homemade sausage, basil from the garden.

Take some basil. And green beans. And oregano. And...and...and...

And that oven.

I practiced on a little foccacia.

It seemed easy enough. But as I made bigger pizzas, it was tougher to get them off the peel and onto the floor of the oven. I lost some toppings into the oven. Oops.

But with practice? I got this.

I use Carol Field's pizza dough. I cannot get it thin enough--or could not last night...I plan on learning to toss pizza dough, so I think I can conquer that problem. How hard can it be, right?



Here are two winning combos and my secret ingredient for really great pizza:

Stretch your dough. Brush the dough with EVOO mixed with anchovy past, just a touch. No one will know but you, and it makes it awesome.

I like to sprinkle just a little parmesan cheese on next in case toppings are wet-ish.

Great topping number 1:
Fresh marinated mozzarella (oil drained--we used mozzarella bocconcini from Costco), homemade sopresata, and drained and chopped artichoke hearts. I chopped the artichokes and drained them on paper towels while we waited to make the pizzas. I tore the mozzarella as I put it on so it was not too big.

Great topping number 2:
Red onion, thinly sliced and sauteed. Red bell pepper, thinly sliced and sauteed. Smoked gouda.
Prep the dough the same way (anchovy olive oil, sprinkle of parm) and top.

I think we cooked a little too late--my host thought the oven should have been hotter, and for the very last pizza, he raked the coals (I should have paid more attention) and the pizza cooked a lot more quickly...I liked turning the pizza in the oven with the peel--once it was in, if I waited about a minute, it was easy to lift and turn the pizza to take advantage of the coals.

Awesome night--thanks, my friends!!
Until we cook again...

Mozzarella Madness

Everyone Works on Their Own Batch of Mozz

You've read about my obsession. Well, Tuesday night was the class. And what fun. The Residence provided some bread, fresh basil, sundried tomatoes in oil and vino. I came with the whole milk (and rennet, citric acid, water and salt)....

I quickly did one batch so everyone could see how easy it really is. I gave out papers with instructions and contact info for New England Cheese Supply Company. Then I poured 5 more gallons of milk into five pots on the stove (that was a trick, coming up with five pots to use--thank you to Lauren and to Michelle Marie (she of lasagne post fame)--I couldn't have done it without you two). Here's how I managed to have five gallons of milk turning into mozzarella at (nearly) the same time. As the pots heated, I had everyone mix their citric acid into the non-chlorinated water, then I stirred it into the milk..(Ha. That was a little nervy--at one point I was worried people were handing me rennet and not citric acid! But my students were brilliant. No worries.)

As each pot reached 90 degrees, I ran it over to a hot pad at each station (two people per station, one had three--a dad and his two daughters...how great was that?), where my students swirled the rennet (which they had dissolved in water already) into the milk. And then: Step away from the pot.

I think I had almost everyone give it another minute (easier to have it too firm than soft)..while it was hectic, we all got mozzarella cheese in the end. We enjoyed warm mozzarella cheese bruschetta with some wine and great company and people seemed to LOVE it.

Next up? Pasta making? Marcella's Lasagne making? Pizzas? I would love to teach a class every week!

(Ps. Thanks go to Eric for taking these shots...everyone pitched in!)

Burrata Dinner: October 31, 2007

It might be a day or two before I get into the groove...ideally I’d have a beautiful picture of tonight’s dinner here...we had lovely burrata, tomatoes, a bit of onion, olive oil and fresh basil from my garden.

We ate it too quickly. By the time I remembered I want to photograph my dinners...well, you see what was left.

But it’s worth talking about burrata, a mixture of mozzarella and cream. The outer “shell” is pure mozzarella. The inside is this creamy mix of mozzarella and cream. It is smooth, rich, decadent and somehow wholesome all at the same time. This dish was basic food, good ingredients at their finest. The pound of cheese wasn’t cheap ($15.99 at our local cheese shop, The Cheese Course), but worth it. And don’t tell: I saved a tiny bit for my lunch tomorrow. I bet I’ll be the only one lunching on burrata.

Whew--My month in food...

Last time I posted, I'd made Dorie's pumpkin flans and chicken...that seems so long ago...I've been cooking, but I'm sorry to say I haven't been writing about my cooking...or even thinking about writing about my cooking. Bummer, that. I still want to make that semolina cake, and I will certainly be catching up on December's recipes...please, it's a win-win situation.

So a recap of the past month.
I actually did keep up with Dorie one more week and put together the most awesome potato gratin. This dish is proof that simplicity is sublime. Or, as my neighbor Lauren put it: potato crack. (See how others fared here. You'll see links to other recipes, too.)















I bought a grinder attachment and played with sausage recipes, something I'd always wanted to do...and now maybe I'll be one of those people who grind their own beef for burgers.

I finally hung these fabulous little framed ....fun-ness that I bought when I had my weekend with the girls in Delaware...I love these little pieces of art. They make me smile:

That definitely sums up time with college friends. We dance. We have fun...well, the pork one? That just made me smile, because you KNOW I always say bacon makes everything better. And I should do all of the above far more often.

Before I knew it, Thanksgiving was here and I had a lot of family come into town, which I loved. But if you can believe it, I barely took any photos. (Yes, of course the Thanksgiving dinner was lovely. Best gravy EVER. A Trader Joe's Brined Turkey: FABULOUS. Cranberry sauce made with port wine, the bottle I've been lugging around for...a few years. That was certainly a good use of port wine.)The one thing I did get a shot of was the day after's Turkey and Wild Rice Soup. I'd come home from my Minnesota trip with a pound of wild rice. After eating it so many places, I wanted to eat some at home, too. So Turkey and Wild Rice Soup it would be...I will write the recipe (ahem. as I recall it) in the next post, but this was so good.

I made a bunch, but it was like we couldn't get enough of it. I savored THOSE leftovers for days. Sammy did justice to the turkey sandwich as often as he could. We made good use of that turkey.

The days since then have been filled mostly with work. I had a ton of it and my goal was to be done with it ALL so I could really enjoy the weeks around the holidays. Then in the middle of it all, I committed to heading into the Dunhill Hotel here in Charlotte to make fresh mozzarella in the new Harvest Moon Grille restaurant there. So twice now, I've shown up at 7.15 a.m., banged out 6 pounds of mozzarella and headed home. It is definitely fun being in the restaurant kitchen. It really feels like home, but at the same time, 10 hours a day might not look so appealing. One good thing coming from that is that I'll likely be teaching a kids class at the hotel in mid-January. I think the theme will be "Eat Your Science Experiment" and we'll make some mozzarella cheese, pizza dough and end with pizza. Cool, right? 2011 is the year I do more teaching, which I love to do.

For now, the tree is up, some presents are wrapped, Ian is home, Bryn will be off soon. I want to bake, to cook (our dinner will be Beef Wellington. Tenderloin already in the fridge ready to be broken down. What? It was the least expensive option. Who knows what goodness will come of it all?). Some friends will make it for dinner on Christmas Day and maybe we'll revive the tradition of Boxing Day Steak Pie Open House...that would make me happy. Then I could eat pork, have more fun and dance, baby dance. Sweet.

Food Memories

My wordle from the end of May 2011, the month David died...

My little brother David died very suddenly this past May. He was 47.

David was a real intellectual. He had big ideas and frankly, I am sure I didn't always even understand what he was talking about, and we often butted heads over ideas and issues. But we did share one passion: cooking. Any heated debates were quickly forgotten at the dinner table when we--quite literally--broke bread. We would thoughtfully taste, chew and discuss the merits of the loaf at hand, no matter what we'd been arguing about during the day. 

David was a bread baker better than any of us, his recipes spreadsheets (formulas, really, weighing in humidity, type of wheat, etc.) that I didn't really understand. In fact, we found his spread sheets on bread and those are pages I will treasure always. Even if I can't bake from them.

Early in the year, in February, I got an email from David asking for savory chocolate recipes. He was on his way to a Slow Food dinner in Redlands, California, where he lived, and the theme was chocolate. He was determined to do something different. 

I had just written a short online piece about where to find great chocolate recipes and one website had stuck with me, a site with a lot of savory dishes. After we traded a few ideas talking about possibilities, he tweaked a recipe, making corn cakes topped with his own version of Mexican mole-style chicken and some cheese. 

His report back captures David's personality for those of us who knew him and still makes us chuckle, especially reading of his scorn for American cheese "food":
Topped a tablespoon of cornbread batter with a bigger spoon of the chicken mix.  Topped that with a modest amount of mozzarella cheese since I had some handy already shredded -- bad move; should have used the local Monterey jack I bought for the purpose, which is very tasty, or had I thought of it, better still would be supermarket-humble Havarti (which is a great American cheese, IMO, if inexpensive and widely available...at least it's cheese compared to prevalent and therefore so-called American "pasteurized-process cheese food").  15 minutes in the oven and they were done.

He signed off "mangia, mangia."

Three months after those emails, I found myself in his house, my first time in Redlands, but he wasn't there. His death was heartbreakingly sudden and being there was unspeakably sad and difficult.

We spent a week at his house, cleaning it out, preparing details of the memorial we would hold, sometimes finding laughter in our memories, admiring his garden full of wildflowers, touching pots and pans he touched, always aching for his presence.

One day I peered into the freezer and found a batch of little corn cakes, wrapped in foil and plastic, perhaps a little freezer burned. I knew exactly what they were. I pulled them out, heated them up and had a couple for lunch one day, remembering the process, remembering David, and happy to taste, one last time, one of his creations.

Photos From Paradise

The salad course...greens, eggs, tomatoes, flowers. Who needs anything else?

Squash blossoms with mozzarella..hot and crispy and melty and yummy

Gabriele welcomes us to Dinner In Paradise before the tour


Jim Denevan talks about Outstanding in the Field
Leah from Outstanding in the Field gets to work..
A board listing all the local contributors for the October 1 Dinner in Paradise
Flowers at the Farm...

It's Hot

Plus it is World Cup and I am tired of cooking. I need cold dishes stat:

Balsamic vinaigrette coleslaw: toss very thinly sliced cabbage with thinly sliced onion and some homemade balsamic vinaigrette and some celery salt. Let marinate and enjoy.

Caprese salad and all variations: fresh tomatoes mozzarella and basil. Same on a roll. Use pesto instead of basil. Try it on a pizza. Chop it up and toss in a bowl with lettuce.

Greek salad with plenty of oregano, feta and lemon and kalamata olives

Any salad, maybe with some sliced ripe strawberries.

Yogurt with homemade granola and frozen blueberries to cool me off.

Leftovers.

Cold plate of pate, cheese, olives, marinated roasted peppers and great bread.

What do you eat when it is hot out and World Cup is on?

Pizza For Breakfast

Breakfast is Served

I am a creature of habit, a tendency that shows most strongly in the morning. I wake up without an alarm, pretty early most of the time. I get up, warm up some milk, make a cappuccino using the machine I've had for a couple of decades, at least (well done, Krups: the most basic model years ago, it still makes some of the best espresso I know). While that is brewing, I unload the dishwasher (this is how I know the job I despise only really takes three minutes of my life--I need to stop the whining), and get started on either the egg I eat (scrambled lightly, still soft) or the current fave, plain Greek yogurt with a tablespoon full of my homemade Granola Gold, a touch of honey and a heap of frozen blueberries (Frozen berries? they never go moldy on me, thank-you-very-much). Then I steam the milk, pour the espresso, grab my breakfast and, if the weather is nice enough, head outside for my breakfast, some quiet time and maybe some catching up on email.

Ah, but today I broke from routine. Because last night I made pizza. The dough is from Carole Field's The Italian Baker, the same recipe I've used for years (I can say it by heart: 1 package yeast, 1.5 cups plus 1 T warm water, 1.5 teaspoons sugar, 2 T olive oil, 550 g flour and 8 g salt--actually I have to get back to you on the salt!). I had fresh mozzarella (not my own, homemade, alas). Some great harvati, a homemade sauce, also from Ms. Field. If you prep the dough during the day, it's really quick to roll out half the dough, grill it (my preferred method these days), top it and ...BAM! Really good pizza.

Anyway, fast forward to this morning. There was still pizza left from last night. That means good bread, good cheese and a touch of homemade sauce. Bread, cheese, a vegetable (tomato and onion equals a veg in my book).

I would say homemade pizza is an ideal breakfast. And it was. Some habits just deserve to be broken.   Now and then, anyway. Tomorrow? I'm already looking forward to yogurt.

Mangia.

Baking Bread In Memory: David and Tea

I've lost these two in the past three years. Miss them both. Three years ago today, David died. So I  bake on May 20. Today, I might be on overload, making bread AND pizza. But it makes me happy and makes think of David. The spiral form (in the photo below) is one he used...the essay is one I wrote and read at his memorial service in September, 2011.

Before you go on and read below, do this--it is taken from something I wrote on May 31, 2011:

So today, please go open a bottle of wine you may have been saving for a special day. Pitch the sliced bread and either bake a loaf or go get REAL bread, good bread. Drizzle out a bit of really good olive oil, and savor it all with family and friends. Because today? Today is a special day. 

Remembering David

My little brother David died very suddenly this past May. He was 47.

David was a real intellectual. He had big ideas and frankly, I am sure I didn't always even understand what he was talking about, and we often butted heads over ideas and issues. But we did share one passion: cooking. Any heated debates were quickly forgotten at the dinner table when we--quite literally--broke bread. We would thoughtfully taste, chew and discuss the merits of the loaf at hand, no matter what we'd been arguing about during the day. 

David was a bread baker better than any of us, his recipes spreadsheets (formulas, really, weighing in humidity, type of wheat, etc.) that I didn't really understand. In fact, we found his spread sheets on bread and those are pages I will treasure always. Even if I can't bake from them.
Early in the year, in February, I got an email from David asking for savory chocolate recipes. He was on his way to a Slow Food dinner in Redlands, California, where he lived, and the theme was chocolate. He was determined to do something different. 

I had just written a short online piece about where to find great chocolate recipes and one website had stuck with me, a site with a lot of savory dishes. After we traded a few ideas talking about possibilities, he tweaked a recipe, making corn cakes topped with his own version of Mexican mole-style chicken and some cheese. 

His report back captures David's personality for those of us who knew him and still makes us chuckle, especially reading of his scorn for American cheese "food":
Topped a tablespoon of cornbread batter with a bigger spoon of the chicken mix.  Topped that with a modest amount of mozzarella cheese since I had some handy already shredded -- bad move; should have used the local Monterey jack I bought for the purpose, which is very tasty, or had I thought of it, better still would be supermarket-humble Havarti (which is a great American cheese, IMO, if inexpensive and widely available...at least it's cheese compared to prevalent and therefore so-called American "pasteurized-process cheese food").  15 minutes in the oven and they were done.

He signed off "mangia, mangia."

Three months after those emails, I found myself in his house, my first time in Redlands, but he wasn't there. His death was heartbreakingly sudden and being there was unspeakably sad and difficult.

We spent a week at his house, cleaning it out, preparing details of the memorial we would hold, sometimes finding laughter in our memories, admiring his garden full of wildflowers, touching pots and pans he touched, always aching for his presence.

One day I peered into the freezer and found a batch of little corn cakes, wrapped in foil and plastic, perhaps a little freezer burned. I knew exactly what they were. I pulled them out, heated them up and had a couple for lunch one day, remembering the process, remembering David, and happy to taste, one last time, one of his creations.