Parmesan Custard

This is one of my favorite things from Nourishing Traditions.  This is a savory custard, and is especially delicious as a side dish to meat and veggies.

Recipe:

4 Egg Yolks
1 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
Cayenne pepper or paprika

Whisk egg yolks and gradually add whipping cream.  Stir in parmesan cheese and pour custard into individual ramekins (4-6).  Sprinkle with cayenne or paprika.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes before serving.

It's so creamy and cheesy!

This one is actually made with Romano instead of Parmesan.  You really need to use a cheese that's hard and aged, so it isn't greasy when it's melted (I once tried it with cheddar and it didn't turn out well).

Cheeseburger Eggsplosion

I saw this the other day over on Serious Eats, and it was just about the best thing I'd ever seen.

I love egg-in-a-basket, and I love burgers, plus I haven't been eating meat for lent (and it hasn't swayed me to the vegetarian side, the last few days I've practically started drooling at the sight of meat).  So, this seemed like the perfect thing to break the fast with.

I'm not going to reiterate the recipe here, since it's pretty straightforward, and if you haven't been to Serious Eats, you should remedy that.  But, here's my pictures:

An ordinary cheeseburger?

Hardly!  There's an egg fried into the center of the patty, and how fantastic is that?  It's pretty fantastic.

Happy Easter!

Paas egg coloring kit + brown eggs = these awesome colors.  Except for you, blue and purple, you don't do so well with brown eggs.

Open Faced Cheese Cakes

So, this is what I did with my homemade cheese.  This recipe is from my family's Hungarian cookbook.

Recipe:

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) Butter
2 (8 oz.) packages Cream Cheese
2 cups Flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Powder

Cream together butter and cream cheese, add remaining ingredients.  Roll out dough about 1/4 inch thick, cut out rounds, top with filling.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 350° until lightly browned.

Filling:

1 cup dry Cottage Cheese
2 Egg Yolks
1 tablespoon Butter, melted
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Lemon zest
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Mix together all ingredients and place a spoonful on each round of dough.

These are the ones I made with my cheese.

 These are made with regular cottage cheese.  Other than a slight difference in texture, the taste was basically the same.

These aren't very sweet, but they're very rich.  And addictive!

Cheese

That's right, I made cheese.

This wasn't exactly planned.  I opened my milk yesterday and found that it was well on it's way to being curds and whey.  Now, this was almost a full half gallon of organic milk, less than a week old, and only one day past the sell by date.  So I was positively cringing at the idea of tossing it.

So, I consulted the internet and gave it a whirl, figuring that if nothing else, I'd be entertained for the morning.


Step 1: Curds and Whey


I heated the milk, which was chunky to begin with, until it separated completely.  Appetizing, I know.

Curds and Whey

Straining

Step 2: Straining

I got one of my mixing bowls, put the colander in it, lined the colander with cheesecloth, and secured the cheesecloth with clothes pins (because, apparently, I'm the kind of person who has cheesecloth and clothespins on hand).  Then, I poured the curds and whey into the cheesecloth, where the whey drained from the curds.

I let this sit for about an hour, so the whey could drain.

Step 3: Whatever You Call This

Whatever You Call This

Basically, I gathered up the edges of the cheesecloth and tied it around a wooden spoon and let it sit for about 2 hours.  Then when it wasn't dripping whey anymore...

Step 4: Unveiling

Voila!

Voila!  Fresh cheese.  The texture is kind of like dry ricotta.  It's very mild and smells amazing, but has an acidic whey aftertaste that I find unpleasant.  It's not great for eating on it's own, but just fine for cooking!

The half gallon of milk ended up making about 1 cup of cheese, which I used to make Hungarian Open Faced Cheese Cakes.

Hummus

Hummus is so easy to make, and it's good on so many things.  Since I figured out how I like my hummus, I've been eating it with crackers, with veggies, and on sandwiches.  This recipe is basically a combination of a few different ones, plus I adjust the seasonings depending on what I'm in the mood for.

Recipe:
1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained
1/4 - 1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/4 - 1/3 cup Tahini
2 - 3 cloves Garlic
2 - 3 teaspoons Lemon Juice
Sea Salt

In a food processor, combine garbanzo beans, olive oil, and garlic.  Add tahini and lemon juice.  Remove mixture from food processor and stir in sea salt to taste.

Here it is with feta cheese and parsley.  If I have fresh parsley on hand I like to add some to the hummus itself (usually with the tahini).  It's also good with a little Greek seasoning, oregano, or cilantro.

Beet Soup

I love beets!  I think they have a great flavor, and they're versatile.  They're good raw, roasted, fried, baked, steamed...any way you cook a vegetable is a good way to cook a beet.  This is one of my favorite ways to cook beets, and it's from Nourishing Traditions, which is an amazing book.

Recipe:

4-5 Beets
1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter
Salt, Pepper
Water

Melt butter in large saucepan.  Peel and roughly chop beets, add to butter and stir to coat.  Add about 1 cup of water and cook beets until tender, 20-30 minutes.  Add enough water to just cover the beets and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and puree soup with an immersion blender (or regular blender).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with sour cream or plain yogurt.

This is great, it really showcases the flavor of the beets, and look how awesome that color is!

I just season this with a little bit of salt and pepper, sometimes some Penzey's Krakow Nights (Polish style seasoning), but mostly I like the beets to speak for themselves.  Any seasoning should just enhance the natural, amazing beet flavor, not cover or compete with it.