On making cheese
Do it! I procrastinated making ricotta for so long. Finally peach season and a tempting recipe for peach ricotta pancakes got me to stop dragging my heels. It is so simple, you guys. Basically you just boil some milk with a bit of cream and/or yogurt and an acid (either vinegar or lemon juice), then drain it to separate the curds from the whey. That’s it. It doesn’t make a ton of cheese, but you have to keep the whey. It’s so useful. As mentioned, I made the peach ricotta pancakes, also using the whey in place of milk. I used the rest of the ricotta tossed in rice pasta with olive oil, vegetarian Italian sausage, and sautéed zucchini and cherry tomatoes. I’ve been feeding my dog a bit of whey with his breakfast and he loves it. I also used it instead of milk in stovetop macaroni and cheese last night (with soy chorizo and roasted Hatch chiles, omg) and it was amazing. Tonight I am using it in place of milk to make grits. I love whey!
Rosemary ham, Dijon mustard, and arugula dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and garlic on a pretzel bun.
I made an amazing sort of pesto without a recipe, so I want to record it here.
Toss a few big dollops of chipotle purée, a couple big spoonfuls of tomato paste, the juice of 1 lime, about 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, some garlic, olive oil and salt in a food processor. Whiz up and enjoy! We had it on brown rice, roast squash, and black beans cooked with some cumin and coriander.
Cheese course at Ad Hoc.
Leonora- soft goat cheese
celery branch, concord grapes
translucent apples
Second course at Ad Hoc
Herb Crusted Lamb Sirloin
red rice with roasted turnips
braised romaine, broccolini florets
romano beans with chive vinaigrette
I also had the supplement, short rib-stuffed pickled peppers served with caramelized cauliflower. This course showed me that I know nothing about cooking vegetables.
Dinner at Ad Hoc.
TFL Garden Melon & Mission Fig Salad
Serrano ham, frisee, radishes, pine nuts, olives, candied orange zest, cucumber dill cream.
When something is good enough to make my husband close his eyes, we’ve reached the next level.
