cheese

Cheese & Apple Salad

Apples: cut into smallish pieces. Cheese: choose sharp cheese, like goat cheese or sharp cheddar. Cut into small pieces, smaller than the apple pieces, or crumble. You want about half the amount of the apple. Drizzle of honey: I used about 1 Tbls. per apple in the salad. Sprinkling of herbs: choose mild, sweetish herbs, like fennel seed or leaves, poppy seed, lavender buds, or mint.

#apple #cheese #fennel #glutenfree #honey #lavender #mint #poppyseed #salad #side #vegetarian

Cheese & Onion Flan

Crust: 1 cup flour 1 tsp dried ground tomato ½ tsp dill weed 6 Tbsp butter ½ tsp salt ¼ cup water

Filling: 5 eggs 1 ¼ cup milk 1 ½ cups diced onion 1 Tbsp oil ¾ cup cheese, shredded or cubed small 1 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Put the onion and oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Cover and let cook until they are translucent.

Stir together the flour and spices for the crust. Cut in the butter until there are no more large chunks. Dissolve the salt in the water and stir into the flour mixture until it forms a dough. Press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9” square or circular baking pan. (Or you can roll the crust out on a floured surface.) Chill until needed.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and pepper until it is completely mixed, then stir in the cheese.

Spread the onions in the bottom of the crust. Pour in the egg mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until top and crust are lightly browned.

#breakfast #butter #cheese #dill #egg #main #milk #onion #pepper #salt #tomato #vegetarian #wheatflour

Cheese & Mushroom Flan

Crust: 6 Tbsp butter 1 ½ cups flour ¼ cup milk ½ tsp dried sage, crushed

Filling: 3 cups mushrooms, chopped 4 garlic cloves, chopped ½ tsp salt ½ tsp black pepper ½ tsp dried fennel leaves 4 eggs 1 ½ cups milk 2 Tbsp flour 1 cup cheese, shredded or cut into chunks butter

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

Mix the flour and sage. Cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly. Stir in enough milk to make a dough that holds together but is not too wet. You can press the dough into a pie tin, or refrigerate it, then roll it out to make the crust.

Melt some butter in a large skillet over medium heat, and add the onions and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until the garlic has started to brown. Pour this mixture into the pie crust.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, flour, seasonings, and cheese, until the eggs are thoroughly mixed. Pour into the pie crust.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is browned and the filling is solid in the center.

#breakfast #butter #cheese #egg #fennel #garlic #main #milk #mushroom #pepper #sage #salt #vegetarian #wheatflour

Vegetable Soup

2 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp flour or corn starch 3 cups water or vegetable stock 1 tsp salt ¾ cup carrots, chopped 1 ¼ cup potatoes, cut into largish chunks 2 Tbsp grated cheddar cheese 2 Tbsp minced bell peppers ½ tsp ground black pepper ¼ tsp mint 1 tsp fennel leaves ½ tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp basil pinch of lavender buds 1 cup (packed) spinach ½ cup cauliflower florets, chopped

Melt the butter and the flour together over medium heat. Stir in the water/vegetable stock and whisk. Add the salt, carrots, potatoes, cheese, and bell pepper. Simmer until the potatoes are soft. (This takes a while.)

Add all the rest of the ingredients, and cook until the spinach is wilted and shrunk.

#basil #bellpepper #butter #carrot #cauliflower #cheddar #cheese #cornstarch #fennel #glutenfree #lavender #main #mint #potato #salt #soup #soupstock #spinach #vegetarian #wheatflour

Winter Salad

1 cup grated apple 2 cups grated carrot 2 tsp fennel seeds 1 cup chopped pears ½ cup chopped celery ½ cup chopped nuts ½ cup grated cheese 1 tsp lavender buds ¼ cup plain yogurt

Combine all ingredients and chill.

#apple #carrot #celery #cheese #fennel #glutenfree #lavender #nuts #pear #salad #side #vegetarian #yogurt

Mozzarella

Makes about 12 oz. of cheese.

1 gallon milk 2 tsp citric acid or lemon juice 1/8 – ¼ tsp rennet

Pour the milk into a large pot. Dissolve the citric acid in a bit of cool water and stir into the milk, or stir the lemon juice directly into the milk. Stir well. Heat the milk slowly to 90° F (use a food thermometer). Try not to let it get above 90°. Once it reaches that point, you can turn off the heat.

Dilute the rennet in a few Tbsp of cool water. My rennet is extra strength that says 1/8 tsp will work on 2 gallons of milk, so I try to approximate ½ of a 1/8 tsp measure. If your rennet doesn't have a suggested ratio on the container, using ¼ tsp should be fine.

Stir the rennet dilution into the milk. Let sit until a curd forms, this usually takes 5-10 minutes. Check the curd by sticking in your finger and pulling it out horizontally. Your finger should come out mostly clean with the curd splitting apart around it. You can also check by pulling the curd away from the edge of the pot and having clear whey fill in the space.

Take a long, sharp knife and cut a grid pattern in the curd all the way to the bottom of the pot. Cut several more lines that slant through the depth of the curd. Let rest for a few minutes. The curd should be thick enough that you see the lines you cut, and the cuts will be filled with clear whey.

Line a large colander with cloth (in my experience the commercial cheesecloth is too gauzy, and normal muslin or light linen works better) and place the colander over a larger bowl. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the curd into the bowl. You're using the cloth to strain out the whey, which you'll put back into the pot and heat the whey in the pot to about 175° F.

Take a few Tbsp of the whey and mix with ice water and a few Tbsp of salt in a bowl.

Add salt to the curd to taste.

The stretching and kneading that follows is what makes this into mozzarella.

Knead the curd to work off more whey, depending on how dry you want the final cheese to be. Then bundle up the curd in the cloth and hang it in the pot of hot whey to warm it up. It needs to be almost too hot to touch when you take it out. Take it out, open the cloth, and knead and stretch the curd. When it gets cool, bundle it in the cloth, heat it up in the whey, take it out and continue to knead it. Continue doing this.

Eventually when you pull at it, it will start forming the stretchy grain that mozzarella is known for. When it's all smooth, stretchy grain instead of the little cottage-cheesy curd texture, start forming it into a nice ball of cheese by tucking the edges under to the middle. Then immerse the ball of cheese in the cold brine you made earlier, which sets the cheese.

You can store the cheese in the brine, or just in a plastic bag or container. As this is a fresh, all-natural, soft cheese, it should be eaten within a few days of being made.

#cheese #citricacid #glutenfree #lemonjuice #milk #rennet #vegetarian

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

1 Tbsp butter 6 eggs ½ cup milk ½ tsp ground pepper ½ cup grated cheese

Put the butter in a skillet over low heat. As it melts, beat the milk, eggs, and pepper together until mostly homogeneous. Stir in the cheese.

Increase heat to medium high. Pour the eggs into the skillet and let sit for about a minute. Gently scrape along the bottom of the skillet with the flat edge of a spatula. Let sit again for about 30 seconds, then scrape again. As it loses liquid, stir it more frequently until it is all cooked.

For larger clumps and a stronger egg flavor, reduce milk to ¼ cup.

#breakfast #butter #cheese #egg #glutenfree #main #milk #pepper #vegetarian

Drop Biscuits

2 ¾ cup flour 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 3 Tbsp Olive oil 3 Tbsp Coconut oil or butter 1 ½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Stir the flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in the butter, or grate it & stir it in. Stir in the milk. For whole wheat flour, you might need 1 or 2 more Tbsp of milk. It should be a very soft, sticky dough. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 12.

Variations:

Reduce the salt to ½ tsp. Add a bit of honey or sugar, and other things like nuts, oats, and dried fruit to make scones.

Use olive oil instead of butter. Add 1 tsp rosemary and 1 tsp black pepper and roll out into thin pizza crusts (recipe is enough for 2 medium-large pizzas). It makes a nice crackery crust.

Make vegan by using coconut oil instead of butter and water instead of milk. The biscuits still turn out soft and fluffy.

Add ¾ cup of grated cheese.

#bakingpowder #biscuit #butter #cheese #coconutoil #driedfruit #honey #milk #nuts #oats #oliveoil #pepper #rosemary #salt #scone #side #sugar #vegan #vegetarian #wheatflour