Eating My Curds and Whey

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, my laptop died and took with it several draft postings. I’m still getting my new laptop setup and have to recreate a lot of my work.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Why?

I remember growing up that a few times my dad tried to make homemade cheese. It was a fascinating process, but I honestly don’t recall if any of them ever turned out. I’ll have to ask him about that. Anyway, I was reminded of this when I came across another food blogger’s post about making homemade ricotta cheese. Bingo! This was just the thing I needed to make my ravioli a little extra special and redeem myself for not making my own fresh pasta sheets (I'm a big fan of wonton wrappers!)

What?

This is ridiculously easy! If you can boil water, you can make ricotta. The only special equipment you need is cheese cloth, go figure. Mine came out very creamy, more like a cross between ricotta and cream cheese. I’m going to experiment with a little more stirring next time to encourage larger curds to form. I’m also wondering about if it’s possible to make goat’s milk ricotta?

I mixed half of my homemade ricotta with a little more cream and a little lemon zest and used it as filling for ravioli on Christmas Eve. See the final product, ravioli in brown butter and fried sage, at the bottom of the page. The cheese was deliciously rich and the lemon zest added brightness to the flavor.

How Much?

1 quart whole milk – $1.69

1 8oz carton heavy cream – $1.99

1 lemon – $0.70

Total – 4.38

The Recipe (from Gourmet, April ’06):

Homemade Ricotta

Ingredients
1 quart whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
Juice from ½ lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

Directions

1. Combine the milk, cream, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Separately, line a colander with cheesecloth and set it in a large bowl. Measure out the lemon juice and set it aside.

2. Bring the milk mixture to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally with a spatula to prevent scalding. Once the mixture has reached a steady simmer, add the lemon juice and stir gently with the spatula — quickly, just to blend. Let the mixture sit for about 1 minute, turning down the heat slightly so it stays at a simmer but doesn’t reach a hard, rolling boil. Stir with the spatula after about 1 minute, then let it sit another minute or two until it looks like most of the liquid has separated into curds and whey. (See note below.)

3. Drain the mixture into the cheesecloth-lined colander set over a bowl, and let it drain at room temperature for 1 hour. Transfer the ricotta to an airtight container and refrigerate.

Makes about 1 cup.

Note: My curds and whey seemed to take a bit longer to separate, so I added another couple tablespoons of lemon use. It worked out fine, and did not affect the flavor. I’ll try a little more patience next time.

About: Essensia!

Let me tell you "About:"... In addition to my recipe posts, I’m adding a new alternative post to my blog. My new “About:” posts will be shorter and focus on a single topic. I’m doing this because sometimes I’ll run across something (an ingredient, a restaurant, a wine, you name it) that doesn’t warrant a full out posting, but that I want to share with my friends and readers nonetheless. So…

Let me tell you About… Essensia!

Essensia is a delicious dessert wine my partner Gene and I discovered at a wine and cheese tasting several years ago. We like it so much that it’s rare we don’t have a bottle chilling in the refrigerator.

It is a sweet, honey-colored wine made from Orange Muscat grapes by the Quady Winery in California. Served cold, it pairs outrageously well with room-temp blue cheese (imported Societe is our favorite). It would also pair well with chocolate or fruit desserts. Most often we’ll just have a tiny glass all by itself at the end of the evening.

Essensia is available locally. Here in DC, I buy the 750ml bottles at Calvert-Woodley for between $21-$25. It also comes in 375ml bottles (great for gift giving).

Enjoy!!

It's Swellington!

Why?

My partner, Gene, inspired this dish. We’d been eating a lot of puff pastry this summer. A lot as compared to almost none over the past 15-years. Anyway, Gene suggested we “do something with it”. The something turned out to be a Salmon Wellington, salmon wrapped in puff pastry (immediately dubbed Swellington by our friend Lawrence.)

What?

Our first attempt came out rather comical in appearance but quite delicious in flavor. Comical in that we cut the salmon into long fillets. When wrapped in pastry they formed elegant packages about 7 – 8 inches long and a couple inches wide. Well the pastry was true to its name and buffed. The Swellington came out of the oven looking like fluffy femur bones; all knobby on the ends and slender in the middle. But as I mentioned the flavor was great. Each bite a mixture of buttery, golden, crispy pastry and rich, perfectly done, pink salmon. Yum!

How Much? (assuming you have white wine vinegar and butter on hand)

Salmon Fillets - $16.48

Buff Pastry - $3.99

Basil - $1.99

Onion - $0.59

White wine – $12.99 (the recipe only takes a cup, so drink the rest with dinner!)

Total – $36.04

The Recipe:

Salmon Wellington (aka Swellington)

Ingredients

1 17.3-ounce package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed

4 3/4-inch-thick 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets

1 tablespoon butter

6 tablespoons minced onion

2 tablespoons white wine or vermouth

4 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil, tarragon, or parsley (or combination)

1 egg beaten to blend (for glaze)

Sauce

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter, diced

Preparation

For the salmon:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

1) Melt butter in a small sauté pan. Add 4 tablespoons onion and sauté until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and stir in wine and 4 tablespoons of basil. Set aside.

2) Roll out each pastry sheet on lightly floured surface to 12-inch square. Cut each in half, forming four 12x6-inch rectangles. Place 1 salmon fillet (see note 1) in center of a rectangle, about 1 inch in from and parallel to a short edge (depending on the thickness of the fillet). Sprinkle each fillet with salt, pepper, and spread salmon evenly with a fourth of the onion/basil mixture.

3) Brush edges of rectangles with some glaze. Fold the short edges of pastry up and the long side over the top of the fillet enclosing it. Trim away any excess pastry and pinch to seal edges of pastry (see note 2). Repeat with remain fillets.

4) Place pastries on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Brush with glaze. Bake pastries until dough is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let stand 10 minutes.

For the sauce:

Meanwhile, boil ½ cup wine, vinegar and 2 tablespoons onion in heavy small saucepan until liquid is reduced to 6 tablespoons, about 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Add butter 1 piece at a time, whisking until melted before adding next piece. Whisk in remaining 2 teaspoons of fresh herbs. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

To Serve:

Spoon a quarter of the sauce onto a plate and place the Swellington along side and serve.

Note 1: If necessary, salmon fillets can be cut and pieced together from compact, even rectangular “brick” of salmon.

Note 2: Extra puff pastry can be used as decoration on top of the Swellington. Cut out shapes (like leaves, flowers, geometric shapes), moisten them with a bit of water and arrange on top of the Swellington.