Recipes to Rival: Fresh Ricotta

This month's Recipes to Rival Challenge was brought to us by laurendc of I'll eat you. The challenge: to make fresh ricotta, and then to make something delicious with that fresh ricotta! A recent Bon Appetit featured homemade ricotta and I was meaning to try it - this presented the perfect opportunity. And you know what - it's so easy! This is definitely something I'll be doing from now on. I made half the recipe provided and it tok about an hour, but with very little labor.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 gallon milk
1 pint buttermilk

METHOD:
Place buttermilk and milk in a pot, heat on med-low heat until it reaches 185 degrees.

It will begin to separate into curds and whey. Be sure to stir occasionally to make sure no curds stick to the bottom and burn. You will see that as the temperature approaches 185, the whey becomes clearer as the curds coagulate more.

Pour the curds into a cheesecloth lined collander. Tie the ends of the chesecloth together and hang for 10-15 minutes. I was out of cheesecloth so transferred curds from pot to a paper towel-lined colander. Allow to strain for about 15 minutes. Remove from the cheesecloth and place in an airtight container.

Some tips:

You can use milk that has been pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized. Ultra pasteurization heats the milk too much, and de natures the proteins that form curds. You will not get cheese from ultra pasteurized milk. Sorry.

Make sure your pots and other equiptment are very clean before starting

You can make any amount as long as you stick to a 4 parts milk to 1 part buttermilk ratio.





To use my ricotta I made one of my favorite, yet most simple ricotta dishes - a crostini with ricotta and honey. Simply toast some bread and spoon on ricotta and honey. Fresh and delicious.

Recipes to Rival - Beet Leaf Holopchi

This month, Katbaro of A Good Appetite and Giz & Psychgrad from Equal Opportunity Kitchen are the hosts of Recipes to Rival. Last month I sadly completed only half of the challenge, but the gougeres were such a success I felt satisfied. This month I was determined to complete the challenge - and with a dish that requires three risings and 5 to 6 hours, this was no easy feat.

This month's challenge is a Ukrainian dish, hearty and comforting for winter, called beet leaf holopchi. I followed the suggestions of another Recipe to Rivaler and quartered the original recipe - I can't even imagine how much that made! As it was, I filled a large baking pan and had enough extra dough to bake a loaf of bread! I also used red chard rather than beet leaves. You can see another posting on this dish here.

Beet Leaf Holopchi
from The Keld Community Ladies Club in Ashville, Manitoba (1976).

Ingredients:
1/4 t sugar
2 T warm water
1 1/8 t instant yeast
1/2 c scalded (or simply heated) milk
1 c warm water
1 T melted butter
2 c flour
2 T beaten egg
1/2 T salt
1 t sugar
1 1/2 c flour plus more as needed

Method:
Dissolve 1 tsp sugar in 1/2 cup tepid water, sprinkle with yeast and let stand for 10 minutes. To the milk-water liquid add the melted butter, dissolved yeast and 2 cups flour.

Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour). Add salt, beaten eggs, sugar and remaining flour; add up to 1/2 cup additional flour until mixture is smooth, not sticky.


Knead well until dough is smooth and top with melted butter or oil. Place in a warm place and let rise until doubled in bulk. It will take about 2 hours. Punch down.

When dough has risen to double in bulk, place a piece of dough, the size of a walnut on a beet leaf and roll up (leaving sides open) Place holopchi loosely in a pot to allow for dough to rise to double in bulk again (about an hour).


Arrange in layers, dotting each layer with butter. Cover tightly, bake in a moderate oven of 350 F for 3/4 to 1 hour. Serve with dill sauce or cream and onion sauce (below). (Katbaro recommends cooking the holopchi with the sauce but you don't have to. You can add it later - just make sure you have enough butter in roasting pan before layering your beet leaf rolls.)

Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
2 cups whipping cream
8 small onions (such as chives)
2 handfuls of chopped fresh dill (this makes the whole dish)
2-4 large cloves of garlic, chopped fine

Melt butter in saucepan. Add onions (chives) garlic, dill and cream. Let it come to a boil and then turn down the heat. Katbaro cooks the holopchi with the sauce but you don't have to. You can add it later - just make sure you have enough butter in roasting pan before layering your beet leaf rolls.

Recipes to Rival: Cheese Gougeres + Crostini

The December Recipes to Rival Challenge was a lot of fun, although I only completed half of it (does that count??). We were given three appetizer options and had to choose two. One was Galatoire’s Oysters en Brochette, which sounded great but was definitely the most involved of the three. Another choice was Blue Cheese, Pear and Walnut Crostini, which sounds delicious and easy (even though I'm not a blue cheese fan) but I had literally none of the ingredients on hand when I went to complete the challenge this morning. I hope to complete a version (sans blue cheese) soon, but the holidays and New Years really distracted me this time around.

The one that I did complete, however, was simple and delicious. The recipe was for Gruyère Cheese Gougères, but I only had sharp cheddar on hand. Still, the result was a light, airy, savory bite of goodness.

Gruyère Cheese Gougères
Copyright 'The French Laundry Cookbook' By Thomas Keller, November, 1999
Makes about 4 dozen gougères

Gougères are a classical preparation often served at wine tastings in France. The puffs are made from a savory pâte á choux, or cream puff dough-flavored here with Gruyère. They are best served hot out of the oven, offering that creamy-dough gratification. Don't add the cheese, and the puff is a base for a dessert.

Ingredients
1 cup water
7 tablespoons (3-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon kosher salt, or more to taste
Pinch of sugar
1-1/4 cups (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
4 to 5 large eggs
1-1/4 cups grated Gruyère (5 ounces) (I used sharp cheddar cheese)
Freshly ground white pepper (I used black pepper)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar and bring to a boil. Add all the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium, and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes, or until the mixture forms a ball and the excess moisture has evaporated (if the ball forms more quickly, continue to cook and stir for a full 2 minutes).

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle and beat for about 30 seconds at medium speed to cool slightly. Add 4 eggs and continue to mix until completely combined and the batter has a smooth, silky texture. Stop the machine and lift up the beater to check the consistency of the batter. The batter in the mixing bowl should form a peak with a tip that falls over. If it is too stiff, beat in the white of the remaining egg. Check again and, if necessary, add the yolk. Finally, mix in 3/4 cup of the cheese and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 3/8-inch plain pastry tip with the gougère batter. Pipe the batter into 1-tablespoon mounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the gougères as the mixture will spread during baking. Sprinkle the top of each gougère with about 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining grated cheese and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until they puff and hold their shape.

Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. And bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes. When the gougères are done, they should be a light golden brown color. When you break one open, it should be hollow; the inside should be cooked but still slightly moist. Remove the pans from the oven and serve the gougères while hot.

Recipes to Rival: Squash Soup with Creme Fraiche

My first Recipes to Rival challenge and I am late! I made this soup weeks ago for the Bronx Potluck, but was unable to post on December 1. Well, here it is. This soup was excellent if only a little time consuming. There are many steps, but they are all well worth it. Although the soup was good the day I made it, I thought it tasted too strongly of the mirepoix - you could really taste the leeks and onions. A few days later, however, the flavors really mellowed to present a delicious, subtle, creamy soup. A week later it only improved further. It kept well in the fridge and I'm sure it would freeze well also.

Squash Soup with Vanilla Creme Fraiche

Please see the original inspiration at the Top Chef Website.

Prep Time: one hour and 30 minutes (A little longer...)
Serves: more than 8 (way more than 8 - I brought this to two potlucks!)
Spike & Andrew's recipe:

Mirepoix:
3 sliced leek bottoms (rinsed)
4 carrots (peeled and sliced)
10 shallots (peeled and sliced)
1 clove garlic
1/2 lb butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup miso stir*
Salt and pepper

Squash:
5 acorn
5 butternut (or any combo - I used 9 acorn)
Oil for rubbing
Salt and pepper

Vegetable Stock:
4 quarts water
2 white onions
4 carrots, peeled
2 leeks
6-8 button mushrooms
Bouquet garnish (parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns)

Vanilla Creme Fraiche:
Creme fraiche
2 vanilla beans

Additional Ingredients:
Salt to taste
Cayenne to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Vegetable Stock:
In a pot, boil all ingredients together with the exception of the bouquet garnishes. (NOTE: allow to simmer for at least 1 hour)

Mirepoix:
Sweat all of the vegetables with butter. This entire dish can be made vegan by cooking the vegetables in oil rather than butter. I even left the mirepoix out of the vegan portion I set aside and it was still very good. Sweat down and deglaze with honey. Stir and add miso. *Miso stir is simply miso paste mixed with a little stock. This allows the miso paste to easily mix in with the vegetables rather than clump up. Season with salt and pepper.


Squash:
Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and reserve one butternut head for garnish. Rub squash with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place one piece of sage under every piece of squash. Place squash face down on a sheet tray and roast at 350 degrees until done. Scoop flesh out and pass through a ricer. I did not pass through a ricer. I added the soft flesh to the soup and mixed it all with an immersion blender, which was fine.


Soup:
Combine squash and vegetable stock to desired consistency. Add mirepoix and cook. Blend with a vita prep and strain through a chinois. I did not do this. Instead, I blended in the pot with an immersion blender. It saves time and your hands from scalding. Season with salt and cayenne.



Vanilla Creme Fraiche:
Whip creme fraiche and scrape vanilla beans and fold in. I also added a few teaspoons additional vanilla extract.

To Plate:
Add 6 ounces of soup in bowl and spoon in creme fraiche.