trials

the first layout, with many kinks to work through.

happy bike to work day!

cream cheese: the finale

The cream cheese after straining for 24 hours!

The cheese shed 3 quarts of whey, leaving 1 quart of cream cheese, which has
already been half devoured. It is by far the sweetest and most flavorful cream
cheese I've ever had.

I salted it lightly after unwrapping it to bring out the sugars and to help preserve
it. I also herbed a small batch with fresh thyme and mexican oregano (!).

I already have another gallon of milk to move on with my dairy adventures; hard
cheeses coming up next! (1 month between making them and tasting them, so
updates may be slow)

Happy Tuesday to all.

happy eaters

Last night Jesse cooked an incredible vegetable dish of roasted portabello
caps and rutabaga with a fresh orange basil salsa. These went with a batch
of fresh gluten-free buttermilk biscuits for a darn tasty summer meal (These
biscuits split in half, you won't even need a knife! I'm totally thrilled with this
recipe. See below).


The buttermilk was lying around because I tried my first batch of cheese
yesterday! According to this awesome cheesemaking for beginners tutorial,
neufchatel cheese is the first step after making yogurt (we go through a
gallon a week of the stuff, so I'm getting pretty good at it). So off I went to
buy 1/4 cup of cultured buttermilk, and (of course) now I have a whole quart.

To make the cheese: heat 1 gal whole milk plus 1/4 cup cultured buttermilk
to 65 degrees F (only about 25 degrees warmer than refrigeration temperature).
I heated it in a double boiler to make sure I heated it somewhat evenly. When
my thermometer read 65 (the thermometer was 12 bucks, and worth every
penny), I turned off the flame. I added 2 drops of liquid vegetable rennet
(labelled organic and gluten free!) to 1/4 c cool water and stirred it into the
milk, covered my bowl, and put it away on a shelf to rest for the next 16 hours.

At that time, the curd had started to set (I think I jumped the gun a little,
but whatever happens promises to be tasty), so I boiled some dish towels
to sterilize them, and spooned the curds into them to start the long straining
process. The towels are now hanging happily in my packed refrigerator
turning from a sweet yogurt into a hard cream cheese.


In under an hour, I've already collected almost 2 quarts of whey (half the
volume of the mix, by my count), which means 23 hours from now, the
cheese will be mighty fine. If anyone has suggestions for how I should use
all this whey, please pass them along!


Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits (makes about 12)

preheat oven to 450 degrees, and oil a baking sheet.

combine in a large mixing bowl:

1 c tapioca starch
1/2 c fava bean flour (garfava could work here too)
1/4 c brown rice flour
2 T sweet rice flour
2 T flax seed meal
1 t coconut sugar (regular sugar also great)
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda

cut into small pieces and mix in (ideally with a pastry blender, but I used
my fingers):

1 stick (8 T) very cold butter

finally, add 3/4 c buttermilk, and stir until doughy. you may need to add a
little bit more starch until the dough is not sticky.

on a cutting board or clean countertop, spread some starch or flour of your
choice. pat the dough down until it is 1/2 - 3/4 " thick, and use a glass or
round cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits. arrange on your baking tray and
stick them in the oven until they puff up and brown, about 15 minutes. (I didn't
keep a close eye on the time, so you may want to check after 10). Serve warm.

down to business

I am drawing a cookbook. Here are my little culinary puppets so far.
Updates to come as I lay out my recipes!

From the photo archives, our Passover lamb. This was the first time my
purchased piece of meat really looked like part of an animal. It could
have been gross, it was not. I got this boneless leg roast from Prather
Ranch's farmers market stand. Prather Ranch sources great meat from
farms in CA and OR, and their staff will swear by their products. (I've
also been reading so much about farming and meat production that I
felt really responsible being able to recognize my piece of meat.)

The roast was thawed, unnetted, and rubbed with a mix of ginger, garlic,
thyme, coriander, salt and pepper. Then it was rolled and wrapped in twine,
covered in olive oil and slices of navel orange, and set in a cast iron pan to
roast for about 2 hours.

my new theme song

You date a girl and find out later
She smells just like a percolator
Her perfume was made right on the grill
Why, they could percolate the ocean in Brazil

sorry for the break in posts! i've been working working working at the
MoMA, I now have 2 free tuesday shifts under my belt, and am a few
weeks closer to my 3 month jury, in which i will make coffee for the
big dogs (and they'd better like it).

tonight marked the first loaf of bread that is actually bread-like and not
just a lump of mochi. it was delicious, owing to the not-so-subtle flavors
of flax seeds and white bean flour. we just had 92 pounds of gluten free
flours delivered from bob's red mill, courtesy of jesse. this past week
i've experimented with millet, white bean, fava, and garbanzo flours.

we had a passover seder here as well, the first one either jesse or i had
hosted, and it was one of the funnest dinner parties i have ever attended.
snapshots courtesy of jesse and his work camera.

the affikomen:

shitake matzohball soup:


wine-tainted chocolate matzoh cake:


tilapia and rockfish gefilte fish:


lamb roast and stuffed patty pan squash:


the aftermath: