i skin a chicken and live to tell the tale

touching raw meat kind of makes me unhappy. it reminds me that i am preparing to eat an actual animal, not just "meat". using a whole chicken also invokes feelings of displeasure, as it is not much of a stretch to add a head and feathers. the body just feels so solid...

despite my misgivings regarding interactions with whole animals, cooking light's recipe for root beer can chicken proved too intriguing and i decided to give it the old college try.

problem one was that i could not find a 6-pack of root beer in 12 oz cans, only the mini 8 oz cans. emptied a can of la croix we have had hanging around since christmas (who drinks that anyway?) down the sink and replaced it with root beer. problem solved. this is the quick thinking that earned me a doctorate, people.

problem two. preparation of my little chicken involved skinning it. blecht. i got to it, sliding the knife along between the muscle and the rubbery, cold skin. fun fact concerning poultry skin: when a person withdraws from opiates, the erector pili muscles contract causing piloerection, also known as goosebumps. hence the term "quitting cold turkey". these are the things i think about, which is probably why butchering type activities provide me with no joy.

behold:

yeah, i know i didn't do a very thorough job and there is still some skin clinging to the extremities. frankly, i was tired of the whole process and had no desire to touch the bird more than absolutely necessary.

then i dressed him up to sit on the grill, rubbing him with the paprika mixture and inserting the root beer containing la croix can.

the whole can-in-the-cavity thing is a little appalling and looks indecent. brian's statement was "it looks like the chicken is taking a shit on our grill". i, on the other hand, was not so much of a gutter dweller. i'm seeing this:

but thinking this:

after the appropriate time on the grill and basting with reduced root beer periodically, the root beer can chicken was fully realized. it was actually quite delicious and very juicy. i had expected the rub to be more spicy, but if i make it again i can kick it up a notch. the suggested pairing with broccoli slaw and potatoes made the meal complete.i say "if" i make this recipe again, but brian definitely expressed his desire to see root beer can chicken on the table more often. i think he ate half the chicken. maybe next time he can handle the skinning.

i make a good thing

i have a love-hate relationship with martha (you know which martha i mean). i oscillate between my ambition to emulate her homemade goodness and my desire to throttle her for lowering my self-esteem through impossibly concocted recipes and crafts like constructing a wreath from marshmellows and apple cores. she's like the f-ing macgyver of the domestic world.

i would like to reassure you that this is entirely one-sided. martha does not know me and there are no existing restraining orders.

her recipes are what really get me. complicated and demanding, yet described and executed with the grace of asking someone to sit down for tea. i'm sure she doesn't even break a sweat while constantly whisking egg whites and sugar in a heat-proof mixing bowl nestled on a pot of simmering water. i do, however. i know this because i attempted, for a holiday picnic, to make not one, but two types of martha cupcakes: roasted banana with honey-cinnamon frosting and strawberry with strawberry meringue buttercream. the whole venture required 8(!) sticks of butter and 11 eggs.

the roasted banana were the more difficult of the two cupcakes, but had the easier frosting.

1) preheat oven to 400. place 3 unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast 15 minutes. the peels turn dark brown and they are HOT. they are supposed to cool before peeling and adding them to the batter, but mine were still a little steamy. reduce oven to 350 after roasting bananas.

2) combine 2 cups cake flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 3/4 tsp salt. set aside.

3) cream 1 stick butter and 3/4 cup sugar until pale and fluffy. while creaming (for some reason, this always seems to take forever), separate 3 eggs. add yolks one at a time to butter and sugar.

4) scrape down sides of bowl as needed. add roasted bananas and beat to combine. add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with addition of total 1/2 cup sour cream. beat in 1 tsp vanilla extract.

5) in another mixing bowl with mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites to soft peaks. fold egg whites into batter in three additions.

6) fill lined muffin tins 3/4 full. bake at 350 for about 20min until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. transfer t0 wire racks to cool completely.

7) frosting: beat 2&1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 sticks unsalted butter at room temp, 2 tbsp honey, and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon until smooth.

since the strawberry cupcake recipe is available online, i will just include the pain-in-the-ass-yet-delicious strawberry meringue buttercream frosting.

1) puree 8 ounces (1&1/2cups) coarsely chopped strawberries (hulled).

2) combine 4 egg whites and 1&1/4 cups sugar in heatproof bowl of electric mixer set over a pan of simmering water. whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to touch and sugar has dissolved. mixture will feel smooth when rubbed between your finger tips. (this is where the sweating began. my kitchen is freaking hot. and i was starting to get kind of pissed at this point.)

3) attach the bowl to the mixer and whisk at gradually increasing speed until stiff peaks form. continue mixing until mixture is fluffy, glossy, and completely cool (test by touching bottom of bowl). this takes about 10min.

4) with mixer on medium-low speed, add 3 sticks (1&1/2 cups) of butter a few tbsp at a time, mixing well after each addition. once all the butter has been added, scrape down sides of bowl with spatula and switch to paddle attachment. continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 min. add pureed strawberries and beat until combined. the result will be pretty, frothy pink frosting.

now, as a bonus fourth of july ohh-ahh, i actually went to michael's and purchased decorating tips and bags to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes rather than just slathering it on with an old pharmacy spatula like i normally do. i have never piped icing onto a cupcake before. the results were mixed (see below), and of course in no way resembled martha's masterpieces. but whatever.

behold! the mighty cupcake!

it seemed like everyone at the picnic enjoyed the cupcakes. it's important food be visually appealing, but let's face it, taste is what counts, right?

adventures in meat: skirt steak

i am a lazy american. yes, i shop at kroger. weekly. granted, my shopping pattern probably befuddles the marketing analysis on the kroger plus card - hardly any processed or pre-packaged foods and a careless disregard for sales, coupons, and little yellow tags.

what does this have to do with skirt steak?

well, i've noticed a lot of recipes call for skirt steak. because the kroger co has to trim the number of cuts available in the meat department to make room in the store for frog-shaped watering cans and tiki torches, i have never been able to locate a skirt steak at the local kroger. i've asked meat department employees, and they have directed me to flank steak.

which i now know is not the same thing.

i decided this week to stop being lazy and actually go to a butcher. wassler meats to be precise. wassler had been recommended to me in the past for breakfast sausage (thanks, john!) so this week i bought all my meat there.

a google search told me skirt steak comes from the "plate" (see below) and is actually the diaphragm muscle. apparently it has a tendency towards toughness but has a good flavor. often it is used in fajitas.

the skirt steak i got was frozen. when it was thawed and unwrapped, what i beheld surprised me. i wasn't really expecting such a long strip of meat, displayed here by my mom.

i understand the use as fajita meat. my recipe was not for fajitas, however, but thai grilled skirt steak from the april 2010 food and wine. i marinated the steaks for nearly 24 hrs in the following mixture:

1/4 cup seasame oil

1/4 cup soy sauce (tamari)

2 tablespoons each of finely chopped ginger, garlic, cilantro, and salted roasted peanuts

2 scallions, minced (i used green onions)

1 tablespoon each of light brown sugar, lime juice, and chile oil (i used mongolian fire oil, which is a little different)

half of the marinade is reserved for the sauce and the other half coats the meat. to complete the sauce, add 1/4 cup chicken stock to the reserved marinade.

after marinating, the steaks were grilled for about 2 1/2 minutes on each side to keep them rare and prevent toughness from setting in. a light sprinkle of salt and pepper and the skirt steak was ready.

the quick time on the grill was well rewarded - the meat was very tender and flavorful. skirt steak is also a reasonably priced cut, so the ratio of enjoyment to price was favorable.

i paired it with red curry peanut noodles from a 2008 food and wine, using udon noodles instead of the spaghetti the recipe called for. the noodles were good and could stand alone. if i make them again, however, i will probably add more chicken stock and lime juice to the sauce. the peanut butter made it a little thick and sticky. i would rate the skirt steak experience a success.

an investigation: what the hell is in my refrigeratror?

warning: for those who do not appreciate inane commentary on mundane saturday afternoon activities, stop reading now.

my refrigerator confuses beth. i think mostly because, she sees, as i do, there isn't a lot of food in it that qualifies as something i would eat. it's literally bursting at the seams, with food sliding onto the floor when the door is opened, and yet i can never find anything to eat. so today i set out to explore the question of what is filling my refrigerator, paper towels and fantastick in hand.

of course we have some commonplace staples: lunchmeat, fruits and veggies, eggs, orange juice, butter, minced garlic. lots of beer and wine shoved in any available space. i started grouping all the extras in categories and i discovered:

as previously discussed at length, i have sort of an obsession with mustard. i can easily justify 7 bottles. sadly, there are even more in the pantry that haven't been opened yet.hmm...neither brian nor i eat pickles or peppers, relishy type things in general. how did we manage to amass 7 jars? i suspect the culprit must be my mother. and no, i have in not been craving them with ice cream during my pregnancy.

speaking of ice cream, i found an embarassing amount of ice cream toppings.from pecorino romano to gorgonzola to kraft singles, there was an equally appalling magnitude of cheese... yogurt...and milk. at least we're getting our dairy. to explain why we have 4 kinds of milk - the almond and soy are for me, the skim for my mom, and the 2% is technically brian's. normally whole milk would be in place of 2%, but i won a fight in the grocery store following an elevated cholesterol panel. you can't see it in the picture, but of course the 2% is expired and i suspect the diesel milk will make it into our shopping cart again.an over abundance of salad dressings. i've no explanation.

and then we come to the really random stuff.

one-time purchases for a recipe that continue to squat, loitering in the recesses of the fridge.who knows what i originally had planned for this. probably something delicious. too bad it expired in 2009.really? someone actually went through the trouble of putting this back?

i'm so proud of myself. my refrigerator is nice and clean and organized. pure bliss. i predict this will last approximately 34 hours.and, the mystery is solved - my refrigerator and i could make an appearance on "hoarders".

next up, the deep freeze. or perhaps the pantry.

maybe some other day.

for martha, wherever i may find her

whatever happened to martha stewart? it seemed for a time she was an empress rivaling cleopatra in notoriety. she and john lennon could have shared in being more popular than jesus, as martha had an army of stepford-wife disciples behind her.

so what happened? why did we fall out of love with martha?

was it the jail time? the realization by the public that good things take a crack team, including employees with the actual job title "crafter", to accomplish? the rise of carrie bradshaw as the new feminine prototype?

i was looking through some old papers and i found a poem i wrote for an undergrad creative writing class. this was the late 90s, at the height of martha stewart frenzy. i post it for fun, not for judgement. poetry never was my strong suite.

Martha Stewart Sleeps In

Yesterday
I overslept
My alarm clock
Never
Went off
And when I woke
The world was
Different
No one's watch
Gave the same time
And on some
The time moved
Forward
And on others
Backward
I tried to have
Breakfast
But it was time for
Dinner
I started to
Panic
And called work
To see where
I should be
But there was
No answer
I asked everyone
What time it was
But no one seemed
To know
I turned on the TV
And I only saw
Static
I cried and wandered
Aimlessly
Waiting for the
Sun
To go down
Then I saw
My Backyard
Had filled with huge
Blue flowers
And People were running
Through them
Laughing
Because they were
Free

what do you feed a foodie?

as related by liberal foodie and get in mah belly, i had the absolute pleasure of hosting them and beth (and our husbands) for dinner last week. of course, i had anxiety about what i should serve. what do you make for people who actually like food, and don't just eat it to survive? i stuck to some tried and true dishes to alleviate the anxiety. sorry, i'm a wuss when i have to make food for other people to eat.

first, i decided to make an easy appetizer: radish-chive "tea sandwiches" (whatever that means)
1/4 cup butter at room temp
3 tbs minced chives, divided
1 tbs toasted sesame seeds (just toss for a few minutes in a hot skillet)
3/4 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 tsp sesame oil
16 1/4-inch-thick baguette slices
10 radishes, thinly sliced

mix butter, 2 tbs chives, sesame seeds, ginger, and oil in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper. spread butter mixture over each bread slice. top with radishes, overlapping slightly. sprinkle with remaining chives.

i am a huge fan of pork. it is one of my favorite meats (along with turkey). i feel like you have to love something to be able to prepare it well. so for the main course, i decided on our family's special occasion (puts in appearances on christmas eve and birthdays) pork tenderloin teriyaki.

marinade, per 1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin:
4 tbs soy sauce (i used tamari)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 tsp light brown sugar
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp ground ginger

combine it all and marinate the pork for your desired amount of time. i slice the pork pre-marinating and put it all in a ziploc for the day (refrigerated, of course). you can cook the pork under the broiler or on the grill as you see fit. just a few minutes on each side. i don't use a thermometer; i use the juice-is-clear-it-must-be-cooked method.

i also made a greek salad, which i was thinking the whole time i was eating it didn't taste quite right. the next morning, i realized when i opened the refrigerator it was because my dumbass forgot to add the feta. oh well.

all in all, it was a wonderful evening with great food and great conversation. can't wait to do it again.

newly acquired

while it is disheartening that world market is closing its doors in western hills, (*tear*) we were able to score one of their wine displayers for our basement.now i have ample room for 120 bottles of varied and vibrant wines. donations will be accepted.

spirited paintings

i hesitate to tell you this, because i still want to get several other prints and i don't want them to be sold out, but the artist behind the moerlein beer labels is selling printed canvases in limited quantities. pictured is our helles lager print, now framed and adorning our dining room wall.
go here for more information.

hot damn

for the first time this season i hear the ice cream man! the haunting melody of "turkey in the straw" is drifting through my window and i hear the kids screaming and running outside (hopefully they are running to the truck and not away from something).

my mom says the cheerful music makes her think of something evil and creepy.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

i love ugly things.

examples:

a favorite shirt.

some favorite shoes ($3.74 clearance from target. come on, people. that's awesome).

my dogs.

hence my attraction to the ugli fruit, a mottled, lopsided member of the citrus family. discovered in jamaica (a naturally occurring tangelo), it was first exported in 1934 and is usually available at this time of year.

my first ugli fruit will not be my last. it was impossibly juicy, with an acidic sweetness. i sprayed myself in the face at least twice. far superior to grapefruit, in my opinion. no puckering bitterness. ugli is highly recommended!

OSCAR NIGHT!

one of my favorite nights of the year, oscar night! the night when i wear my pajamas, drink a bottle of wine by myself, and watch the stars. my husband leaves me alone.

on the menu tonight:

french baguette and alouette creme de brie

gehl's nacho cheese and pretzels

orville redenbacher

jacob's creek chardonnay pinot noir brut cuvee (a little sparkle!)

dog cookies

bet you wish you were at my kickin' oscar party.

what better way

to spend an evening than watching the UC game and making homemade bread.......uc wasn't offering us much entertainment. we had to occupy ourselves somehow.

here we mix the yeast (2 packets) with warm water (2 1/2 cups at 105-115 degrees)

add 1 tablespoon of melted butter and 1 tablespoon of salt to yeast mixtures. mix it. we used a mixer so it quite easy. place it in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled for approximately 1 hour. there's crosley in the photo, eternally crumb rummaging.

punch dough (krissy's favorite part) down after it has risen and divide it into 2 parts. hell yeah! i can take out my aggression! it's so satisfying.

roll it out with rolling pin. then take the corner of the rolled out dough and roll up into a log. place the 2 loaves on a greased baking sheet that is sprinked with cornmeal. cover and let rise until doubled for approximately another hour.

once its rises again make 4 diagonal cuts on each loaf of bread. bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with egg and water beaten together. bake for another 5 minutes after brushing with egg/water mixture.

baking bread isn't half bad if you have an activity while the dough rises. we do not recommend watching uc lose miserably.

breakfast of champions

yes, i am drinking guinness at 10:10m am. why, you may ask, other than a kick start to a family-filled holiday? those tricky irish fill their cans with 14.9 ounces, just shy of the 2 cups i need for guinness chocolate cake. can't let the extra go to waste.
this is on top of the innumerable broken sugar cookies. i may not feel so well later today.

laura ingalls has nothing on us

this labor day, beth and i labored over a pile of tomatoes (from her garden) and peaches (from hollmeyer orchards).the morning was spent squeezing the guts out of the tomatoes, which was oddly satisfying and actually a lot of fun. beth had previously frozen the tomatoes, so the skins slid right off and all we had to do was express the seeds into a bag for disposal.

after the peeling and pressing, the tomatoes went in a pot with some spices to make sauce. while that simmered, we turned our attention to the peaches.

consulting the ball complete book of home preserving, we found that an easy way to remove peach peels was to boil them briefly and follow that up with a dip in cold water. we would like to go on record: the ball complete book of home preserving lies.

after what we felt to be a sufficient boil and ice bath, the peach skins would still not peel. we ended up using a paring knife. well, beth did. i don't do so well with sharp objects.

the peaches were cooked for 5 minutes in boiling sugar water. it didn't smell very good.

henry ford is a wise man, so we followed his example and made a canning assembly line. pour peaches, add a tablespoon bacardi (everything tastes better with liquor!), pour syrup, lid, ring, screw. perfect. and that funnel thing? awesome.

the jars were boiled for 25 minutes, held upright in the pot by a slick rack. removing them from the pot, the anticipation was palpable as we waited for the first pop as the jar sealed. finally, the sucking securement cemented, forming an impregnable barrier to the elements. soon tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes followed suite, and four hours of work had yielded three large jars of seedy stewed tomatoes, eight jars of marinara, and six jars of 'spirited' peaches. beth and i are now confident we could hold our own on the prairie next to laura ingalls wilder.

we figured with this haul, we could eat pasta twice a week with peaches for dessert, until, like, at least december. hmm. i don't think we'd make it through the long winter.

everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't we?

i've seen this a number of places, so here is my omnivore's hundred:

Here are his rules for the game:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (tomato, pomegranate)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini LOVE THEM
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

hmm. i have some eating to do. and i guess there isn't anything i wouldn't try once...although i'm still debating on the roadkill.

how is your garden growing?

for the past few years i've only had a few tomato plants, which i put very little work into. they have been good to me though. this picture was taken right before my first canning experience last year. that was an adventure, but a successful one. i feel that in the future i will have a better grasp on the process and it shouldn't be as timely. yes, those buckets are full of tomatoes as well. this year my plants look healthy but i don't appear to be having many red tomatoes, 12 so far. there are plenty of green ones, but something seems to be holding them up......

i also built a garden box to expand the garden even further this year. basically this year i have have nearly tripled the size. i have also expanded into a few other vegetables, including cucumbers, eggplant, and loofah (this is just an experiment to see if i can really make my own sponge like product). so far so good.

my basil is oddly not liking the sun as i have read it would, but its staying alive and should be a wonderful combination when all the tomatoes coming out of my ears. i will not be eating them with homemade mozzarella.

oh and i did not update on this before, but my two tomato plants in my front garden are doing wonderfully (tomatoes hopefully on the verge of turning red that is). only one neighbor has commented and that was nearly seconds after i finished putting them in the ground. she asked "oh, what kind of flowers are those?" to which i had to immediately explain they aren't flowers, but a tomato plant. in the evenings we have been walking and i have noticed at least 3 other houses in my neighborhood with edibles plants in their front yard as well.

leeks!

last night, i cooked with leeks for the first time ever. and my husband ate it, no complaints as usually accompany my meandering into strange and unusual territory. i suspect that is because the dish involved a lot of cheese and bacon, rendering the leeks palatable.

doing a little reading, i learned that the leek, allium porrum, is a member of the onion family, but with a more subtle and sweet flavor than the standard onion. thought to be native to the mediterranean area and asia, leeks have been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. leeks are actually mentioned in the bible as one of the foods greatly missed when the hebrews left egypt. another interesting leek tidbit is that in france, the leek is known as poireau, which is also a derogatory term meaning "simpleton."

the british also seem to have quite a love affair with leeks, as a google search revealed everything from bridget jones's blue leek soup to the wickham leek club to this victim of leek sabotage in leadgate (he has some big leeks!).

here is the recipe i used (borrowed from rachael ray). it was quite good, and we will be enjoying leeks for the rest of the week, as it makes a ton. and in no way is it good for you. other caveat: my timing never seems to work out as well as rachael's (go figure), so my pasta was cooked way before the bacon mixture. luckily, the resulting clump of pasta was easily broken apart with the greasy bacon mixture.

whisk count (for beth, who mocks the sheer volume of whisks in my kitchen): 1

BLT pasta bake: bacon, leeks, and tomatoes

coarse salt
1 lb elbow macaroni

1 tbsp evoo

8 slices bacon, coarsely chopped

2 large leeks, trimmed of roots and dark green tops

coarse black pepper

3 tbsp unsalted butter

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika

3 cups whole milk

1 cup chicken stock

3 1/2 cups grated gruyere cheese (i used a mix of gruyere and gouda. too much $$. and have you ever tried grating gruyere? what a bitch!)

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 pint cherry tomatoes

3/4 cup plain bread crumbs

cook the pasta with salt.

while the pasta cooks, add the evoo and chopped bacon to a large skillet over medium heat. cook until crisp. split the trimmed leeks in half lengthwise and thinly slice into half moons. clean the leeks in a bowl of water and towel them dry. add to the bacon skillet, season with salt and pepper, and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

start the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. add the cayenne, paprika and flour and whisk until it bubbles. cook for 1 minute more. whisk in the milk and stock and bring to a boil. simmer to thicken; about 5 minutes. remove the sauce from heat and stir in 3 cups cheese and mustard. set aside.

add the tomatoes to the leeks and continue to cook for 2 minutes. remove from heat and reserve.

preheat broiler.

drain the pasta and combine it with the leek mixture and cheese sauce. season with salt and pepper.

transfer to a baking dish and combine the remaining grated cheese with the bread crumbs. top the pasta with the mixture and place the dish under the broiler until the cheese melts and the bread crumbs are brown.

cheesemaking, part three...day three

today i arrived home from work at 7:14 pm to deal with the huge pot of whey. we opted to mix the whey from both the 2% and whole milk to make just a massive mountain of ricotta. upon examination, i found the whey, which i had left to acidify on my stovetop, to have a vaguely greenish pallor and a not-so-fresh smell (dracula cheese?). i started the heating process. fankhauser says to heat it to near boiling, or 220 degrees. when it reached 197, there were large bubbles beginning to burst in the center, so i stopped, covered, and removed from heat. i thought it would be better not to push it to the higher temperature. my thermometer is also not the most reliable.

this proved to be the wrong decision, i guess. after 3 hours of resting, undisturbed, on the counter, the mixture had achieved a 'comfortable' temperature. (cheesemaking, at least in this experience, requires A LOT of waiting. we will have to investigate the 30 minute kit jknepfle suggested in the future) i tried to gently remove the curds that had formed, only to discover there were hardly any. what i saw on the surface was all there was. i drained it over cheesecloth anyway, but, alas, lasagna with homemade ricotta was not in the cards. maybe next time.

i sent a text to beth at quarter after eleven - 'ricotta: abysmal failure'.

cheesemaking, part two

despite the fact that our endeavors in no way resemble the photos on the website after 24 hours, we decide to forge ahead...

we cut apart the curds and heated and stirred as dr. fankhauser suggested, bringing the temperature to 108 degrees and holding for 35 minutes, during which time we drank wine and discussed other fun future projects. the mixture resembled cottage cheese. we poured and drained. i was only moderately scalded by hot whey (scalding not pictured. obviously, it happened when i was not holding my camera).

a quick taste proved a bad idea. it tasted like squeaky milk. that's the only way i can describe it. we drank some wine to wash away the taste. after adding the salt and microwaving, it actually mirrored cheese and we were able to mold balls. unexpectedly, the 2% milk had a smooth texture and easily formed balls. the whole milk was more texturally analogous to cottage cheese, but had a better taste. kind of buttery and rich. the balls were placed in gladware salt baths and i headed home with two balls of mozzarella and a very large pot of whey to further process into ricotta.

a disturbing note about cheesemaking: many people, including myself, will not drink milk or eat yogurt that has been out of the fridge for more than roughly 7 minutes. and yet here we are, planning on consuming a milk product that has been sitting at room temperature, in various pots and forms, for what will be a total of approximately 72 hours. i also try not to think about the chilled monkey brains in temple of doom...this picture to the right might be a little too similar for comfort...