Adventures in Chevre.

Chevre should be easy.

It is the next step after making Ricotta.  Which was nice and easy. 

It is not a complicated recipe.  I had all the ingredients.  I was ready to get back on the cheese making horse.  Or should that be goat for this one?  

Wow.  Let's just say I hope to never go through this much wasted goats milk EVER again.  

So lets begin.

My recipe begins with the line "Chevre is the common name for spreadable goat cheese.  This cheese is easy to make..."

Insert a facepalm.

Look at the simple ingredients!  Milk, culture and salt.  So easy!

I heated my milk.  So easy.  I sprinkled the culture.  Also easy!  I gently whisked it.  Damn this is going good.  And then put a lid on it to ripen.  Soooo Super Easy!!!

Look I even gave it my cozy heating pad for the night (12 hours).  It should be all relaxed and cooperative.  Like when you just get out of a massage and IF someone were to ask you if you felt like going bungee jumping at that moment it would seem like the best idea ever.  

Mary's recipe says it should look like a thick yogurt.  

Well Damn I totally had that!  Lets drain this stuff!

And then I drained it.  And it turned back into milk.

WTF?!?

Why????

Hmmm.  Well I guess I will try it again then.

After years of asking for these look what I got from Eric for my Yuletide gift.  

Le Creuset!

And I love the colour.  One of my fav colours in the whole world.

And these things hold heat!  

Bring on round #2 of Chevre with a new and improved game plan.

Eric and I talked it over.  We thought possibly the milk did not stay at a consistent enough temperature.  So this new vessel should be just the trick!  And instead of the cozy heating pad I would put it in the oven with the light on over night (actually 24 hours to be exact).  So essentially I changed the spa day from massage to tanning session.  Not as comfy but it should come out looking better than you look when you come out of a massage.  

Look at that.  Its so perfect.

OoOoOo!!!  Looks thicker!  For sure more fine curds like when I made Ricotta.  

Lets drain it and see what happens!  

Happy Green Strainer!

Happy Cheesecloth!

(I'm starting to feel like Bob Ross)

Happy Fluffy Curds!

( And happy clouds and a sparkly little stream over there too!)

Well the curds didn't want to be lifted out of the whey.

(exit happy clouds)

And this looks an awful lot like yogurt.

Yeah its totally goat milk yogurt...

Sigh...

(exit sparkly stream, creek, brook thingy)

Ta Daaa!!!  Put yogurt in fridge.

But it IS still spreadable.  So I salted it a bit and we had some snacks the next night.  

Very tasty and smooth thick Greek-like yogurt stuff.  Fresh local tomatoes, quick pickled onions and baguette crisps.  Mmmm.

3rd try is a charm right?  Feeling like my already coddling hands were to blame for the breaking of the curds I resort to very gentle transferring of the 3rd try curds.

I added double the amount of culture this time and it had sat for 18 hours in my dutch oven in the oven with a light on to keep the temperature even and consistent.

Well it's not yogurt!

But it does not want to drain properly.

So I resort to hanging it in the cheesecloth.

If you are saying to yourself that this is NOT a picture of Chevre you would be right!

Its raw pistachios that I am roasting in a pan on my stove with some salt on them.

Crushed up!

Ohhhh!  Now you get it right?

Of course you do.  

You had not given up on this incredibly long blog post yet.

Thanks Friend!

In the end my Chevre was still too dainty to form into a roll.  But it was light and fluffy and delicate.  And if I can teach 6 kids on New Years Eve to make these balls of loveliness and watch them devour the whole container of cheese then I think I won the battle.

Can't wait to make it again!

An Oldie But A Goodie

Most people of my generation that had parents that cooked remember a cookbook that was brought out when our parents were cooking for entertaining.  Best of Bridge.

I know for a fact that the one currently residing in my mothers kitchen is quite battered.  But does that not also mean it was well loved?  That the book was taken out over and over and used for the recipes inside?  I think that the way a cookbook looks tells a tale of how often it gets used.  I have some on my shelf that are looking pretty pristine.  I know that the reason some are still so pretty and glossy is because they are more manuals and books that give me inspiration.  And I'm OK with that.  And then there are some that look like they have been mauled by a bear.  In fact one of them was chewed on by our dog Jessie.  She had a thing for paper...

So here is a tried tested and true recipe from Best of Bridge.  My friend Joanna passed the recipe on to me via Facebook.  I have eaten this recipe in the past but completely forgot it existed.  I changed a couple things in it and doubled the recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls.

The recipe says "A Christmas Favourite!"

Mix:

1 cup peanut butter (I used Kraft Crunchy)

1 cup Icing Sugar

1/2 cup Nuts, chopped (I used Pecans)

1/2 cup Rice Crispies (I used the Brown Rice ones)

Now let me tell you that because I used the Chunky Peanut Butter and doubled the recipe my recipe actually now looks more like this:

2 cups Chunky Peanut Butter

2 cups Icing Sugar

1/2 cup chopped Pecans

1/2 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

1 cup Brown Rice Crispies

12oz Semi Sweet Chocolate

2 TBSP Butter

Before icing sugar.

After icing sugar.

Now put the mix in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool before you handle it.

Melt the chocolate and butter, Roll the mixture for the centers into 1 inch balls.

Dip the balls into the chocolate and coat them all over.  

I found I needed just a bit more chocolate part way through dipping the balls.

So I upped the amount in the recipe from 4oz to 6oz.

I had a baking sheet I was bringing in and out from the back deck to keep it all cold.

I found I had to do this in 3 steps because it really didn't take long before the mixture was not cool enough to ball nicely. 

Both Eric and Adria loved the samples that they got to have.  And this recipe is so easy I think it will become a Yuletime favorite.

Red Fife Bread

It has been a while now that I have been pondering learning to make truly great bread for our home myself.  I don't have an explanation as to why I find some things to be daunting.  Bread, Pasta and Cheese all fall into that category.  And yet people who make these things all the time insist they are easy.  So I think it is a case of practice makes perfect.

Then along came Pinterest.

Nuff said.

And now my Bread "Board" is filled with all these darn breads.  I look at them and think about how I should be making them.  But I have to start with baby steps.  So I looked through them and found what looked like the easiest one I could find.  And that is what I bring forward.  But I cant just leave things be.  I have to tinker right?  So I used a different kind of flour than what the recipe called for.

This is where the words "Heritage Grains" comes into play.  In our quest to eat local, make connections with producers that care and learn truly about what we are eating Eric and I have started buying from John Schneider and his amazing company Gold Forest Grains.  We started small.  Eric was on a quest to find Steel Cut Oats.  Then we bought the Pancake Mix and have been using that for about a year now.  We also have Oatmeal and a few other products.  And then I went ahead and bought a bag of the Red Fife Flour.  

Along with making this bread I have an experiment going on.  My friend Kaytlyn has multiple food sensitivities and has been on a 6 month cleanse of all things detrimental to her health and is slowly coming back to eating things she has denied her body for half a year.  Guess what?  She totally got rid of one thing.  Wheat.  She doesn't seem to have a gluten issue.  Just a Wheat issue.  She tried some wheat last week.  The next day her joints were sore.  So I asked her if I made bread with Heirloom, Organic, non GMO flour would she try it?  She said "Sign me up!"

And here we are.

Start with 3 cups of flour

Add 2 teaspoons of kosher salt and a teaspoon of yeast.

Whisk salt and yeast into the flour.

Add 1 & 1/2 cups of water and stir the dough.

Once it is in a ball leave it in the bowl and covered with plastic wrap over night.  12 hours minimum 18 hours is even better.

I made this at midnight and planned on baking it for supper the next night.

And here we are at 4:31 the next afternoon.  Preheat the oven to 450F.  Once heated put a pot that has a lid or a dutch oven in the oven to heat for 30 minutes.  

Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface.

Roll it around and coat it lightly with the flour.

Cover the dough for the 30 minutes you are heating the pot.

Place the ball of dough in the heated pot and put the lid on it.  Bake for 30 minutes

Ta Da!  Finished product.  Now turn it out on to a cooling rack or cutting board and dig in.

My tips on making this in the future for myself will be to add some lemon juice.  I found the bread quite dense.  And am hoping that by adding lemon juice it will make it fluffier.  Also that I would bake it about 10 minutes longer.  The bread had a fantastic nutty flavour that reminded us all of bran and almost had hints of cinnamon to 3 out of the 4 people that ate it.  I will be making this again within the week I think.  The 4 of us ate almost the whole loaf with supper tonight.  I am going to enjoy playing around with this no fuss bread and seeing what I can get it to do.

Tomorrow I will talk to Kaytlyn and see how she is feeling.  I'm excited to update the post and see if she has any soreness.  I am thinking it wont be an issue.  :D

Well here is the update a week later.  Kaytlyn had no issues with the bread.  No soreness and no automatic cravings for more.  Which is something she had said about plain white flour.

I say success!!!

Cheesy Brocco-Veg Soup

We went away this weekend.  I look forward to it every year.  Jasper Park Lodge is such a special place.  I had a friend ask the question last week on Facebook about when you feel the Yuletide spirit.  I'm not a Christmas fanatic like some.  The most important thing to me is to spend time with the people in my life that are important to me.  Most of all Eric and Adria.  They are who I want to spend my Christmases with.  I like it low key and cozy.  This year might be a little different.  We are hoping to rip our kitchen apart.  

But it dawned on me as we drove over the bridge to JPL and I took a cleansing breath ( I do it every year) that this weekend is what makes the countdown to the Holidays for me.  I enjoy walking along the lake with snow crunching under my feet.  I love seeing what decorations the hotel has put up each year.  Some new, some old and none out of place. 

Well after being away for the weekend I was very lazy today.  Not overly productive and even had a bit of a headache.  So what to make for supper?  Looking in the fridge I spied a head of Broccoli that needed to be used up sorta soonish.  So I decided on soup.  It was too late in the day to make bread to go along with it so I decided on grilled cheese sandwiches.

I did not use a recipe but have it all stored pretty much in my brain.

Saute 1/4 of finely chopped large white onion in a bit of Olive Oil and Butter.  Add 2 tablespoons of finely chopped red, orange or yellow pepper.  Once those are soft add 2 cloves of minced garlic.

Cut 1 large carrot into 1cm thick pieces and rounds.  And cube 3 medium sized peeled potatoes into 1 inch chunks.  Add those and cover with approx 8 cups of chicken or veggie stock and put on medium for a low boil.  I had some homemade stock on hand from roasting a chicken a while ago.  I really recommend doing that and freezing it in some containers for later use.  It takes almost no time or thought and tastes better than store bought by leaps and bounds!

Let the potato and carrot cook until fork tender.  Now add broccoli.  I used about 3 cups of florets and tender stems cut into bit sized pieces.

Once the broccoli is cooked and tender season the stock.  Add any salt, pepper and spices you like.  I added a bit of salt, fresh ground pepper, thyme, a dash or two of cayenne, 1/2 tsp garlic powder and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce.

Lower the heat and add 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of cream.  2 cups of shredded cheeses.  Stir until all is blended in well.  If my immersion stick blender was not packed away I might have given the soup a quick blend to break things up a bit.  But it was fine the way it was.  Do not bring back to a boil.  But if you would like it a bit thicker add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in a small bowl to some water and add it in.  Make sure to stir the soup well so that the cornstarch does not sink to the bottom.

I made some homemade bacon bits to sprinkle on top.

We all enjoyed a nice bowl of easy homemade soup on a chilly winter day.

And since you want to see what I was up to this weekend here are a sampling of pictures.

The chefs at JPL have been hard at work!  This is a real Gingerbread House!

Who can resist?!?  Hansel and Gretel sure couldn't!

A morning tea looking out at the view.

Eric's breakfast had some familiar roots for us.  Green Eggs and Ham Duck Breast Eggs Benny.  

My favorite Traditional Eggs Benny.

Eric made a new friend.

And we brought a new friend home for Adria.