Tag Archives: cheese

Risotto de Avanzi! (or National Clean Out Your Fridge Day)

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Have you not heard? Okay, maybe I made this one up.  Tomorrow is Haymarket day, though, so it’s leftovers tonight.  Don’t tell the family; they hate leftovers.  They have to be disguised. The kids are happy with noodle bowls.  Not Grumpy, he wants real food.  For Grumpy, I will  prepare Risotto  de Avanzi!  Fancy, huh? It’s Italian for risotto of leftovers. Awesome!

This is one of my favorite dishes to make in a hurry, and for getting rid of leftovers.  Two good things! It tastes good, and you can put almost anything into this one.  Here’s a look at what I found:Clockwise from top: chicken, rice,cream,broth,about 1/2 cup each frozen peas and spinach, butter, cheese, leeks and wine.  Now, I may not always have fresh things to use up.  Last week I had leeks, so I chopped the leftovers and froze them.  The cream – without this I could use evaporated milk, sour cream or thickened milk.Vegetables can be whatever you want.  I also have some squash that didn’t make the photo shoot (here it is in the microwave).  For rice, my favorite is arborio.  Okay- that’s not true! My favorite is any rice that’s leftover (already cooked). That seriously cuts down on cooking time and the fam can’t tell the difference! Tonight I have no rice leftover, so I start by sauteing the leeks until soft. If you don’t have leeks, you can use onions or garlic.  Or both.  Whatever you like.  Then I add the rice and some wine.  What kind? Well, being a connoisseur and all, I drink white wine from a box. No, I’m not kidding.  It’s in the fridge most of the time, and it tastes just fine.  Oh- where do I get it…well this one came from Walmart! It’s called Oak Leaf chardonnay.  And it’s way better than 2 buck chuck. So that glass of wine in the photo; about half of it went into the rice and leeks.  After the wine cooks down I start adding the broth. I actually used about a quart of broth. If you use precooked rice just cut way back on the broth. And the wine (if you want).  After all the broth is mostly cooked in it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients: There’s some squash, peas, spinach and chicken. There’s a healthy splash of cream in the center. Mix that it, then stir in some grated cheese. I used Parmesan.  I think.  (It smells like it anyway). After you’ve stirred it all in and heated it enough that it’s all cooked (or reheated all through) you can dish it up, add some more grated cheese and a good dose of black pepper.  This is a big hit with Grumpy.  He’s already in a pretty good mood, though. Know why? I also made a pie.  I’ll tell you more about that pie tomorrow!

 

Buttermilk Calamity..or An Accidental Cheese

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In the last post (Living on the edge…) I mentioned that I buy fresh (raw) milk at a small farm for my family.  I take off most of the cream to make butter.  This leaves buttermilk. And buttermilk is not where cheese comes from, right?

Have you ever actually poured buttermilk in a glass and sipped it?  Me either.  I can’t bring myself to try it.  It just sounds bad.  My father drank buttermilk.  He swore it was good.  He also said that about headcheese.  Lots of people seem to like headcheese, but it kind of canceled his vote with me, you know?

But back to buttermilk.  It doesn’t look good.  It doesn’t smell good.   After extracting the butter (and this is the current crop- luscious!) I end up with a big batch of buttermilk.  I can use it for fried chicken ( I’ll explain that another day with photos).  We don’t use up much this way since we don’t have fried chicken every week.  Hypothetically I use it for salad dressing too, but in reality we use very little salad dressing.  My kids like things “nekked”.  So all this buttermilk sits in the freezer.

The Buttermilk Calamity:  Tonight I took out just a bit to thaw.  It helps to put a little in with the cream before you start shaking the butter out.  I put that little bit into the microwave (cause I didn’t have my thinking cap on) and set it to thaw for about 3 minutes (see what I mean).  So when I noticed that it was boiling I took it out.  Then I realized that it had separated.  What was buttermilk, now looked like “curds and whey”. It kind of looked bad.  Like really bad.

It didn’t smell bad.  It smelled somehow familiar, and really, really good!  I grabbed a fork and tasted a little of the curd (yeah- I’m like that).  It was cheese! An accidental cheese.  And It was great! I also had the hubby taste it (he tried not to- the wuss!).  After I lovingly encouraged him (to stop being a baby) he tasted it.  He agreed- it’s like some sort of mild, buttery fresh mozzarella flavor.  I then googled “heat buttermilk make cheese” and discovered that there are many recipes for “farmer’s cheese”.  They all seem to be mainly milk, buttermilk and salt (occasionally vinegar).   Here is a link to a video of Matt and Ted Lee making  Buttermilk Fresh Cheese on the Martha Stewart show.   Don’t worry, Martha and I have an understanding.  Like: when there are links all over the video allowing you to share it, I understand that it’s probably okay to share.  So here it is.  Courtesy of  Matt and Ted, via Martha.  BTW, Matt and Ted have a truly brilliant cookbook: The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern.

So, if you have a Buttermilk calamity of your own (well, it could happen!) remember that it’s not a total waste.  Grab some crackers, put your feet up and enjoy a cheese break! .

Domestic Slut (not), Feta and New Friends

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I’m not the world’s best domestic slut.  I clean once a week, on Wednesdays, when I can.  When I can’t, I settle for taking care of whatever offends me, if it can be managed quickly.  You’d be amazed at what no longer offends. The kitchen is special to me.  It’s my place.  It has to be clean when I go to bed.  Bathrooms- they kind of need a regular quickie.  That stack of clean laundry: it could grow mushrooms before I get it put away.  My desk…oh my.

I’d rather have a clean house.  It would be lovely.  It doesn’t come before work.  I work a lot.  Work really interferes with cleaning.   If it weren’t for work, life would be so easy.  Or clean.  Okay, maybe.  My desire for a clean house doesn’t come before my children (or their incessant need for taxi service).  Cleaning does compete with reading, writing and gardening.  In other words: I kind of need a keeper.  I do go through long periods of time when my house is tidy.  This isn’t one.  I like having the holidays at my home.   I like having company anytime.  It forces me to clean.  I also get to bake.  Clean house, fresh baked goodies. Woohoo.

I must be slipping.  This week, I invited a friend over for lunch.  A new friend, whose not seen my home and isn’t used to my haphazard domestic tactics.   And I didn’t clean.   Like, not a good cleaning for the last 2 weeks.  As my hubby says ” Well,  she sure can’t accuse us of putting on airs”.  She was a saint.  I had managed to prepare a salad, to which she contributed a lovely, fresh, locally made feta cheese.  Actually, her neighbor raises the goats that made the milk that made the cheese that made the salad that Jack built…they are at http://www.valleyviewcheese.com/ .  Their farm looks lovely.  It seems that when they are young the goats have the run of the place, including the kitchen.  I can just picture baby goats scampering around in my kitchen.  Hypothetically, I even like that picture.  Valley View Farm sells cheese, eggs, honey and syrup (more than goats are roaming there!).  They also have kids for sale in the spring.  I mean the goat kind.

The salad we had is an old favorite of mine. Healthy, lemony and light.  I’m going to give the ingredients first for a change:

8 oz shaped pasta. If you want to go really healthy, use whole wheat.  Or, do what I did: cook 7 grain pasta.  Then, after you taste it, give it to the dogs and start over with yummy, semolina pasta. Really.

1 (or 2) can(s) of artichokes hearts (in water; or you can substitute with fresh steamed.  In fact- this is sooo much better.  But, who has those on hand?).  If you LOVE artichokes, put one whole drained can into the blender for dressing, then chop the other can for the salad.  If not, 1/2 can to each.

Juice and zest of one lemon

2 Tblsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 lb washed baby spinach

1 box grape tomatoes (or, if you forget to stop at the market, any tomato)

Feta…as much or as little as you like. Creamy, homemade or fat free.  Your choice.

First I boiled 8 oz of shaped pasta to el dente, drain and cool. 

Then, in a blender, mix 1/2 can of artichoke hearts (I actually prefer to double the chokes in the recipe, using a can in the dressing and a can in the salad) with olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.  The result is a creamy, aromatic dressing that (of course) I forgot to photograph.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the feta.  Pour/scrape on the dressing and toss to coat.  Sprinkle on feta and voila!  Lemony-garlicky-artichoky spinach and pasta salad.  It might deserve to be served in an immaculate and picturesque terrace anywhere.  But, it’s not.  So clear off the table, make yourself at home and dig in.   You’re family now.

Was Chickens, then Border Collies, now MiniMoos

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Perhaps it’s the stress that makes me this way.  Life gets crazy, and my mind drifts to thoughts of peaceful farms with chickens roaming under the watchful eye of a rooster or two (they think they’re in charge).  In this little vignette is a pair of Border Collies  (who really are in charge). Then I picture goats. 

I never really thought of goats in my  perfect dream world before.  Lately, though, they seem to belong.  What do you do with goats?  I know you can milk them.  People say that the milk tastes just like cows milk.  No offense, but this kind of reminds me of how people say that frog/snake/rats taste just like chicken (have you also noticed that people say “no offense” just before they say offensive things?).  Goat milk is naturally homogenized.  You don’t get the cream separating, it’s all whole milk all the time.  No cream.  No butter.  No ice cream (could you even eat goat ice cream?).  .

Anyway, this is something to consider before becoming a goat herder.  Then I thought “Maybe we should have a cow”.  I thought this.  Even though, at this time, we are renting a lovely old Victorian home in downtown Mayberry.  I do like to think ahead.  I’d love to have a Jersey cow.  We get Jersey milk now.  The milk is so rich; even after we take off the cream (we make butter with it), the remaining milk tastes like whole milk.  Or maybe 3%.  Which probably is whole. Then I found out that one cow, even by conservative measures, would yield multiple gallons of milk.  Every day.  I’d need multiple acres of pasture for her.  And what if she were lonely? Ugh!  I’d pretty much put the idea of a cow on the back burner. 

Then I got an email.  From my sister in law Theresa.  I think she’s my favorite relative.  You know what she sent?  A link (***).  To a story about miniature cows.  No kidding.  They come in all sizes.  They even have mini Jerseys.  How cute are they???  So now I’m rethinking my dream home/farm.  I think I need one of these.  They give about 1/2 gallon a day.  They need at least 1/2 an acre of good grazing land.  That’s like a backyard here in Mayberry.  Maybe I should get two.  Or a minimoo plus a goat.  I’m soooo excited!  A goat and a minimoo.  We could have milk, and cream, and butter, and ice cream .  And mozzarella. And feta.  OMG- I think I just named them!  Ella and Feta.  I think this calls for coffee!

***http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Small-Breed-Milk-Cows.aspx