Fried Cheese

Recently my husband and I went out with our very good friends for an adult night to a theater and a restaurant. These things do not happen too often so we try to make it memorable. We ended up going to a nice Italian restaurant. That was a lovely time, spent in a great company. The food was fantastic! My order came in a bowl made of fried cheese. It was crispy, sturdy and edible. I shared with everyone - it was just to much cheese for one person. Although my friends were not familiar with fried cheese, I have been making it for years for my kids. In fact, It is a frequent request of my daughter to fry up some cheese for her. It s very easy to do and all you need as a non stick Teflon pan and grated cheese, but it makes an impressive presentation. It is done on a medium to medium high heat. I use Mexican blend of three grated cheeses but mozzarella works, too. In this picture it looks lacy because I did not use a lot of cheese so this bowl will not support a heavy salad, but greens will probably work. If you add more cheese, the bowl will be sturdier. For my kids I do not bother making it into a shape but leave it flat on a paper towel to dry up and absorb all the excess oils and get crunchy. It does dry up fast, so if you are making it into a shape like a bowl or a tube it has to be done while it is still hot immediately after it is removed from the pan. do not get nervous when your pan looks like a disaster, wait a little longer as the cheese no longer bubbles on top and becomes opaque you are close and almost done. It should look like the picture.

Chicken Adobo

Adobo is Spanish word for marinade or sauce and in Philippines it is a method or cooking meat such as chicken and pork. It only seems that it would be a complicated dish to make but in reality very easy and unbelievably delicious. I only have cooked chicken and have experimented enough with proportions to call this recipe my own. I work with many Filipino coworkers and everyone has a different way of cooking this staple of Filipino cuisine. I showed my coworkers a video that I made in Russian to share this recipe with my Russian friends and they asked is I posted my recipe in English, too. Here it goes. Mute it, since it is in Russian.

3.5 lbs of chicken legs and thighs
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c vinegar
1c of water
10-15 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
4-5 bay leaves
1 tsp pepper corns
1 large onion sliced
1 tsp ginger roughly chopped or in one piece
I started by frying the chicken then added all the remaining ingredients later and let it simmer for 40-50 min.
At the end the meat is super tender and falls off the bone. Enjoy!

Hamantashen

I have been so busy in the past couple of weeks that my previous blog took me more then 3 weeks to finish! Well, I was helping at the synagogue with Purim Carnival! Wow, that was Fun!

For me Purim always means one thing -Hamantashen. I love that treat and since I was growing up in Soviet Union my knowledge of Jewish traditions stems from my Grandma's culinary creations. There was no Temple, no Sunday religious school and I almost feel jealous of my kids, who can whine on Sunday morning asking me, "Why do we need to go to Hebrew School?" My grandma kept a little bit of Jewish traditions alive with her cooking.
Around Purim every year she made delicious hamantashens - triangular shaped buns filled with poppy seed filling. She made them out of yeast dough and almost always with poppy seeds, although I do remember prune filling, too. Poppy seeds need to be cooked and processed - milled. There was no food processor when I was growing up, we had an old fashion meat grinder, so it was used for a lot of grinding jobs. Cooked poppy seed filling was passed through it before being added to the buns, to make it more refined. Not only did Grandma cooked Jewish foods she went through a lot of headache to get it done. Those machines required assembly but I loved helping in the kitchen. Imagine my surprise when I ate my first hamantash in New York. You know the feeling of wanting something really bad,  like vanilla ice cream, for example, placing your first spoon  in your mouth in anticipation and instead getting mint... - Yuck! Well, that was exactly what I felt when I took a bite of American Hamantash. "Something is seriously wrong", I thought. If they are calling this a hamantash, these are wrong kind of Jews. I could not accept that cookie shaped as a triangle can be mistaken for a hamantash! It was wrong! Well, I have calmed down since then, although in my mind yeast dough Hamantashen is forever the only true kind. These days I bake both kinds and usually only get around to it once a year. That's all that is needed, Purim is but once a year holiday.
This is not my grandma nor my recipe, she died before I learned to cook, but I use it year after year without fail. I simplified the process slightly and made few adjustments, so I guess I can call it my own. The dough is very similar to Hallah dough, except for the milk and butter. Here are my creations from past few years.                                                                               


Yeast dough on top and honey dough on the
bottom. I used guava jam and poppy filling.

 



Yeast Dough:

5 c sifted flour

3/4 c Sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1 c scalded but cooled milk

1 c melted butter (I melt it in the scalded milk and cool milk at the same time)

1 egg wash for brushing on hamantashen

I use my standard Kitchen Aid to make dough and do not dissolve the yeast ahead of time. I add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl (4 cups of flour only), turn on the machine and add eggs and cooled mixture of milk and butter. It is warm to the touch but not hot, so not to kill the yeast. Add remaining cup of flour as needed. Once the dough is formed I cover it in the same mixing bowl and let it rest in the turned off oven but with it's light on. The heat of the light bulb  provided just the right temperature for the dough to proof and rise.  Once it doubled in size, punch it down and roll out. Cut out rounds, fill with and turn upside down to rest while you making the other ones. This lets the seams to stay intact. You have to be careful with poppy seed filling, since it prevents the seems from staying sealed. Bake at 375F for 2--25 min.

Honey dough:
4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 soft butter
4 eggs
1 c honey
Mix all of the ingredients together until the dough is formed. Roll out and cut out 4 in circles to be filled and shaped into triangles. Bake at 350F for 20 min.

Poppy seed filling for Hamantashen

2 c poppy seeds

1 c milk

3/4 honey

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1/2 raisins

This filling as a bit time consuming, because poppy seeds need to be ground. I'm not sure why, but I'm not able to grind it well in the food processor, and have to use spice grinder. Those are small and have to be don in small batches. I hope your food processor works better. I grind raw seeds but not to complete butter, but almost half way there. The oils in the seeds are like in peanut, can turn your fill into butter. In a sauce pan combine poppy seeds, honey and milk and start cooking the mixture, frequently stirring until it becomes thick. Then add raisins and lemon rind.
I usually do not use apricot jam but use other jams that I have cooked and/or have opened in the fridge. It comes our well always and no one seems to complain. Hope you will try!

Blini a.k.a. Russian crepes

Every year at the end of winter Russian people welcome the spring with a festive folk holiday Maslenitza, roughly translated as butter pancake week. This fun holiday predates Christianity but like the Easter Bunny had taken on a christian identity. Rabbits and Hares, as well as eggs have symbolized fertility, and celebrated during spring, which in itself is a time of awakening and rebirth. Since Pagan traditions pre-Christian Russians would send off bitter cold winter and welcome spring and warm sun by burning straw effigy of winter and cooking large rich buttery crepes called Bliny. These crepes, round and golden in color are symbolic of the sun itself. It was a traditional festival that became a part of Christian tradition of fun and food before the great Lent. One food that rules the holiday is Blin - Russian crepe that is stuffed with either sweet or savory filling, or eaten by itself. It is a fantastic and very delicious treat. There are literally hundreds of recipes out there for this yummy food. Perhaps you have heard or even seen in the supermarket freezer blintzes. Well, the name derived from original "blini." I will share the recipe that was inspired by a friend and has been working for me well.

To make blini I use whey that was left over from cottage cheese production and did not have any vinegar added to it.  However, if you do not have whey, mix of milk and water can be used, too, but half of baking soda. You can also dilute buttermilk with water. In the video I'm making pancakes, and the recipe is below.

2 eggs

2 cups of whey

1-1 1/2 cups flour (may be more)

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

butter

I use standing mixer and just whip all of the ingredients together using half of flour but not soda yet. Whey is really watery, so the end result of batter should remind you of loose buttermilk consistency. Add more flour gradually. If batter seems to thick, like a liquid sour cream, stop adding flour or it can be safely diluted by water or milk. As the batter is coming together add more flour and soda and incorporate well.

In Russian there is a saying: "First crepe turns to a wad". It is of course a allegory, for things that do not turn our perfect the very first time you try it. Naturally, it has a literal origins. Often you see if consistency of a batter is right by making the first crepe. It's a test and an opportunity to adjust your batter, or temperature of a frying pan or amount of oil... Often these are the very reasons that first crepe turns out bad, wads up and looks more like a ball and nothing like a crepe. 

Unlike the batter for regular American pancakes this one has to be smooth and uniformed. Best way to make the crepe is on the non-stick pan. I also use a silicon brush to apply small amt of oil to the pan and add batter to hot pan, swirling it around to cover the pan surface. As the batter cooks and drys up on the surface, I apply butter, then flip the pancake over. Usually, one side ends up being more brown then the other.

Crepes are plain and go well with either sweet or savory filling. I love them with jam or caramel cajeta. One of traditional Jewish blintzes is made with basic crepe filled with cottage cheese either sweet or salty.

I like different fillings and come up with new every now and then. For this one I used ground beef sauteed together with onions. once it was cooked I added fresh chopped up dill, parsley and a bunch of green onions and 4 cloves of garlic crushed. If you are not a fan of fresh dill you can give it an Italian flavor by adding fresh basil and oregano and a pinch of red pepper flakes, instead. I also have used taco flavored beef with fresh chopped up cilantro. I really like that combination. I put stuffing on the darker side of the crepe, so the pale side gets to brown more as it cooks. The blintzes can be cooked to a crunch like spring roll or gently heated through leaving crepe soft. That will depend on your preference. Usually the filling does not need to cook, but rather only heat through.

My grandma cooked chicken soup and always used the chicken from it in some kind of a dish. Often, it would be chopped up and mixed with caramelized onions to become blintzes stuffing. That is very familiar to me and always reminds me of child hood. My kids think it's rather bland and add either a ton of catchup or hot sauce, if I make blintzes it with that filling. So, I took an inspiration from spring roll and came up with chicken stuffing for Bliny.

I sauteed chopped onion, shredded carrots and cabbage just till they are soft. Then mix together with chopped cooked chicken, like left overs from previous dinner or boiled chicken from soup. I then added fresh chopped cilantro, few crushed cloves of garlic and several chopped green onions. That creation went over really well. Enjoy!

Cottage cheese and Ricotta

You surely know this nursery rhyme
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

Well, I like to eat those, too and I am not as easily frightened by spiders. It happens that I have a good supply of whey. My mother-in-law makes cottage cheese and has a lot of whey left over from the process. If you are not familiar with home made cheese I assure you it is a very simple thing to make. I get to make it but not as often as my mother-in-law. You can find out more  by searching in Google, which will take you to many sites that teach you how to. Just do not try to make Ricotta from the search. What most Americans call ricotta in their instructional videos and blogs, is another version of pot cheese. Cottage cheese or pot cheese is very easy to make and can be made from buttermilk or milk.

Method 1

I get about a gallon of Buttermilk and pour it in Pyrex bowl and set it over another pot with hot water in it.

As the water in the pot with water boils and then gently simmers the buttermilk in the Pyrex bowl starts to separate into curds and whey. That process takes about one to two hours or sometimes more. 

Curdling time will depend on the temperature of buttermilk and/or how long it sat outside without refrigeration. When curds form you may need to stir gently to make the mass more uniform, as the middle of the bowl is not as well done as the sides. Then you may need to feel the texture of the cheese in the middle of the mass. It may be slightly softer or looser to touch and it is entirely up to you if you want to let it cook little longer for a firmer texture of the cheese or drain it while it is still really creamy and soft. Once it is cooked to your desired tenderness, remove from the heat, and line the colander with cheese cloth and set over another container to catch the whey as you drain your cheese. That is all it takes. I love drinking warm whey, or store it in the fridge for later use.   

Method 2

My mother-in-law ads a cup of buttermilk to a gallon of milk and and lets the mixture sit out without refrigeration in Pyrex bowl for about 24 hours. Then it is half way there to being made. She then cooks it for about 5-9 min in the microwave at full power. The length of time will depend on your microwave, so you would need to experiment. it may require few additional minutes but in the much weaker power, at about 3 or defrost.  The precise number depend on your microwave and you really would need to experiment with time and power level of your microwave. My mom-in-law then allows it to cool and strains it after.

My cottage from buttermilk was somewhat sweeter and contained more fat, and her cottage cheese was slightly more sour and very good, too. The product keeps in the refrigerator for about 1 week.

The remainder of the cheese was delicious and nutritious whey. I use it for pancakes but I was curious to try something else and decided to make Ricotta.

Ricotta
Naturally, I googled for the method for making ricotta. I was stunned to see that there are hundreds of videos on how to, but all of the once I saw were not making ricotta, but another version of home made pot cheese. They claimed that their product is ricotta, even though it was made from whole milk and not whey. Ricotta is made from whey, according to wikipedia :

Ricotta is produced from whey, the liquid separated from the curds when cheese is made. Most of the milk protein (especially casein) is removed when cheese is made, but some protein remains in the whey, mostly albumin. This remaining protein can be harvested if the whey is first allowed to become more acidic by additional fermentation (by letting it sit for 12–24 hours at room temperature). Then the acidified whey is heated to near boiling. The combination of low pH and high temperature denatures the protein and causes it to precipitate out, forming a fine curd. Once cooled, the curd is separated by passing through a fine cloth.

I have conducted an experiment with a code name "ricotta". I decided to do it real Italian way from whey and not whole milk.  I did not use fresh whey, but rather one that has been sitting in the fridge for a while. From experience, I know that the taste of the whey changes over time and it get more sour, even though it is somewhat sour to begin. I collected about to 2L of the stuff and brought it to a boil. The white  foam began to form and the whey started to boil and rise like milk. It can easily over run a create a mess, like the milk, so do not leave it unattended and keep a constant eye on it. No additional acid like vinegar was used, just whey and it's natural acidity and increase in temperature. Once you know that ricotta precipitated, or rather foamed up it is ready to be harvested. I set a cloth over the colander.The cloth has to be really fine and regular cheese cloth won't do even if it is folded 16 times. I guess the best thing for it is coffee filter. My biggest disappointment was yield. I only got  couple of tablespoons of ricotta. I guess I can't really blame all those folks on the net for trying to make ricotta out of whole milk. It is not practical to make it form whey.

However, the experiment worked. Whey from ricotta did not go to waist either. I still used it for pancakes.