Category Archives: Recipes – All About – Tried and Tested

Cooking for Family and Friends

Montasio Cheese

Cheese Press2014-04-14 - Montasio

My Cheese Press was made from a couple of pieces of spare wood, plus I purchased one threaded rod, a couple of wing nuts and washers and two compression springs – all for less than $30.  After manufacture, I calibrated the press with the wife’s bathroom scale and it can press from 0.5 – 10 Kg of cheese at 0 to 50 Kg of pressure.  Also I stole a baking tray to serve as dripping tray (I hope the wife does not read this, as I had to drill a hole in the tray)

If you have not tasted Fricco before, it is definitely worth the while to spend the time and make Montasio for your next Fricco experience

Today I made some Montasio Cheese, but broke all the rules. Traditionally it is made from cow milk (Rule 1 – I used goat milk). Also the milk is normally collected from two milkings, i.e. morning and evening (Rule 2 – I got milk from my goat farm from a single milking). In Gorizia a region of Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy milk is collected from three different bovine races i.e.  Friesian, Swiss Brown and Pezzata Rossa (Rule 3 – Unfortunately I could get only Saanen goat milk). So I am sure I would not get a DOP trademark certification for my cheese, but still am of the opinion that it would not be too bad.  Montasio is a “cooked”  cow milk cheese so we need to process it at 41 degrees C. This is why we use  two different starter cultures – Mesophillic as well as Thermophillic starter.

Montasio in New Zealand is best made from Jersey milk and I shall be making another batch with Jersey milk next week – unfortunately I shall have to wait for months to make the comparison between the two cheeses.  Montasio is normally aged three different ways to give three different types of cheeses :

Fresh  – This is consumed after 60 – 90 days ripening

Mature  – Consumed as a table cheese after 5 to 10 months of ageing

Aged  – Used as a grating cheese if aged for periods in excess of ten months

Now for the recipe:

10 Liters of fresh unpasteurised milk

100 g Thermophillic Starter (I propagate my own cultures)

50 g Mesophillic Srtarter

5 ml Liquid Calf or Goat Rennet

1 Kg Plain Salt (Not iodised)

5 Liters of fresh water (Non chlorinated)

Heat the milk in a double cooker to 32 C and ad both the Starters. Stir well and cover and leave to ripen for 60 minutes, while keeping the milk at 32 C

Ad the Rennet and stir gently with a up and down motion for two minutes. Cover and keep at 32 C allowing the curds to to set. This may take up to 30 minutes for the curds give a clean break

Cut the curds in approximately 6 mm cubes

Heat the curds to 39 C, raising the temperature with maximum 1 C every five minutes, then hold at 39 C for 60 minutes. During this process stir the curd gently all the time to prevent it from matting.

Drain the curd and ad hot water to the curd to get the curd and water mixture to 44 C and hold at 44 C for ten minutes, while stirring gently all the time

Drain the curds and place in a cheesecloth lined mold immediately.

Press at 2 Kg for 15 minutes – remove the cheese and peel away the cheesecloth – Turn over the cheese and dress with cheesecloth and press at 2 Kg for 30 minutes. Remove the cheese and peel away the cheesecloth – Turn over the cheese and dress with cheesecloth and press at 5 Kg for 12 hours. Remove the cheese and peel away the cheesecloth – Turn over the cheese and dress with cheesecloth and press at 5 Kg for 12 hours.

Make a saturated salt solution, in a non-corrosive container, with the salt and water. Now soak the cheese in the solution for 4 hours, at room temperature, per Kg of cheese.  Remove and pat dry

Store cheese at 12 – 15 C until ready to use. Turn over cheese oat least once every week.

ENJOY!!

Quest for Raw Goat Milk

 

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Yesterday we set off with the grand kids to buy raw goat milk for cheese making. We were not in time to see any milking, or to get close to the goats, but, as usual the scenery on the way to the farm was spectacular.  We had a lovely misty view down North East Valley, affectionately known as The Valley to us, its inhabitants, with the rest of Dunedin’s hills in the background. To compensate for missing the goats we had a bit of a walk, a bit of a climb, some hiding behind the trees and collecting many different types of fungi that all seemed inedible to me.

I have propagated new cultures for the cheeses and will start making the real cheese tonight. Half will be Montasio, the other half a Cheddar. The goat cheese ricotta has been done and tastes delicious, very rich and creamy and with a much firmer texture that the cow milk ricotta I normally make. Romano, Caccio Cavallo and Parmigiano are on the list for May.

Autumn Harvest

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I will be cooking for the kids today. Fortunately the garden has delivered all the favorites – broccolini, small zucchini, one teeny artichoke ( next year will be bigger and better) and pumpkin flowers. Two flowers will be stuffed with ricotta for the grownups and the rest crispy fried in flour and water batter. Broccoli probably just steamed and Zucchini in a little butter and sage.  Add leftover lamb and I should have a winner. Should, because one never knows with small kids, what they loved yesterday could horrify them today!

CRABAPPLES

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Crabapple is not a fruit I have had much experience with in the past, but my BIG crabapple tree at my new house in Dunedin has forced me to have a closer look at possibilities  regarding these beautiful little fruits. I have spoken with the experts, borrowed cook books from my neighbors, googled, took advice from bloggers and, after a lot of reading picked about 10 Kg of crabapples (still have about 30 Kg left on the tree). I have decided to start with crabapple jelly. Most references suggested throwing the pulp away after extracting the juice, but my “use all and throw nothing away” culture has compelled me to do something with it. So here is what I did

10 kg crabapples

10 liters Water

Boil for about 20 minutes

Separate the pulp and juice by filtering through cheesecloth and put the pulp aside

JELLY

Heat the juice to boiling point and add  1 Kg  Sugar for every kg of liquid.  Simmer the mixture until it reaches setting point. Quickly, while still hot and before it gelatinises, filter again through cheesecloth and bottle. Seal bottles and sterilise in a boiling bath for 20 minutes. The clear, pink jelly sets beautifully and is delicious. I also made a batch where I added chili and rosemary to the original fruit – a very interesting and  tasty jelly resulted and I would probably make some more.

JAM

I have taken the pulp and put it through my Italian tomato pasata machine, which separates the skin and pips from the fine pulp. Heat the pulp to boiling point and add  1 kg of Sugar for every kg of pulp. Simmer the mixture until it reaches setting point. Seal bottles and sterilise in a boiling bath for 20 minutes. Beautiful and absolutely delicious jam.

The skins and pips I am using to make alpple cider vinegar. I think it will be good, as I normally use the cores and skins of ordinary apples to make this. I make large quantities of vinegar every year, of which I use most as is, but convert some to a mosto cotto

ROASTED CRABAPPLES AND HONEY

I have dribbled some fresh crabapples with honey and roasted them in the oven until soft, then served with home made custard – I never thought crabapples could taste so good, even though it was on the sour side where the rest of the household was concerned.

This week I am going to try making crabapple chutney and a  cider. After all that I should  still have another 10 kg of fruit left on the tree.

I find it strange that the big kereru pigeons do not eat the fruit  since they stripped the cherry trees and had a good go at the plum tree.

 

Cardoon – beautiful thistle with attitude

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Pic 1: cardoon growing , Pic 2 harvested and lying on my kitchen table, Pic 3 Leaves and flowers removed and getting the woody strings off (put the stems in water with lemons squeezed in), Pic 4 boiling the cardoons with lemons

I harvested my first cardoon a few weeks ago my second cardoon yesterday.  The first one was made in to a successful dish, but the second was a disaster, fairly bitter and very stringy even though I spent the better part of the morning peeling the stalks and boiling them. Boiling for an hour tenderises the stalks and draws out the bitterness, but in this case it was not quite successful. As you can see from the pictures, a lot of work goes into preparing the cardoon before one can make up the dish for the table. I covered the boiled and cleaned cardoon in bechamel and sprinkled cheese and bread crumbles over the top then baked it in the oven until bubbly and crispy on top.  The taste was OK and the sauce and topping terrific but no one was very impressed and No second helpings! Someone wrote that one can only expect a good harvest after the 3rd year, saying that their cardoon grows to 2 meters high. Mine were planted this year and were about 1 and n half meter high when I cut them down. The first plant has regrown. We did boil the small buds like we do with artichokes and ate the soft parts of the leaves and the hearts and that was very nice.

I have to think about this vegetable and research it more – I am determined to make a successful dish when I harvest the third plant. Advice anyone ?