Cheese (follow up)

Out of 2 gallons of goat's milk I got back about a gallon and half of whey. I used some of it to brine the cheese, but most of it was gonna be wasted. I looked up another recipe using the whey to make ricotta. Of course like all cheese making there's time that's needed to prepare the liquid, coagulate it, and straining it. So the total time was ~ 4-6 hrs.

I tried rushing through the process so that we'd have ricotta made before dinner with Emily... and that's where I messed up. The boiled whey had not cooled down before I tried to fish out the fat particles, then when I was trying to strain it, the liquid wouldn't strain very well through the cloth I was using, and finally as I was trying to tie the corners to hang I dropped a corner and I lost most my cheese. I did manage to get about 1/4 cup of ricotta from the whey. It had an excellect texture and consistency, but I did not like the flavor of it. It was too strong and slightly more acidic than I had anticipated... but such is goat's milk.

The first batch of feta did come out wonderfully. The instructions for the recipe recommended I let it sit in the brine for 2-4 weeks before consuming, but I had to try some. I had Emily over for dinner and I served it on a cheese platter with some water crackers, figs, strawberries drizzled with balsamic, and Parmesan. Emily brought over this AMAZING ancho chili jam that went beautifully with the fresh feta. The feta had a chance to sit in the brine for a few hours and it came out creamy, slightly salty with LOTS of flavor yet still mild.

It was great seeing Emily, she's probably the only chick foodie I know that can appreciate complex flavors. Not to mention she's SO funny! The rest of the feta from the cheese platter went into a lettuce salad with dried cranberries and toasted macadamia nuts drizzled with balsamic and olive oil. Dinner was breaded pork chops, bulgar wheat w/ cranberries and carmelized onions, and flash fried black kale. Unfortunately the bulgar wheat came out to be more creamy then expected... so I went with it.

Recipe found at:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Cheese/Ricotta/RICOTTA_00.HTM

Cheese

When we got back from spring break, my friend Emily was excited about having learnt how to make cheese. She was super excited and wanted to get together to make some. Before we knew it the quarter system had swallowed us both. So week 8 and we're supposed to meet up Sunday to make the cheese, but I jumped the gun. I started making feta tonight so that when she's over for lunch we can cut it and brine it. Emily's leaving for Colorado to join her bf as soon as school gets out, I'd like to send her off with something. (She's responsible for putting ideas into my head!)

I found a great recipe for feta on the University of Cincinnati Clermont College site. Click here for site> I'm trying to make feta with 2 gallons of fresh goat's milk and a liquid rennet instead of the tablet rennet. I went to four different stores before finally finding the rennet at Whole Food's in the baking section.

Homemade Feta

1 gallon fresh goat's milk

1 Tbl fresh yogurt

20 drops of liquid rennet

1+ gallon pot with lid

1 long blade knife

cheese cloth

strainer

cheese mold

1. Warm the milk to 30C or 86F, stirring regularly to make sure the bottom doesn't burn.  I put my pot inside a bigger pot with some jar lids under it to create a large double boiler and it worked really well
2. Mix 1 tbl of yogurt with equal parts of milk to blend, stir the mixture into the warm milk.  Cover and let the inoculated milk sit for an hour at room temperature.
3. After the inoculated milk has sat for an hour, stir in the rennet.  Mix throughly.
4. Let the inoculated, renneted milk sit overnight at room temperature.
5. The next morning, the milk should have gelled.
6. Cut the curd by starting in the middle and cutting it with a sharp knife from one side to the other.  Continue to put parallel to the first line in 1/2in intervals slightly cutting larger towards the base.  Then rotate the direction 90degrees and repeat.  Rotate and repeat again if the curd pieces are not at least 1/2in small.
7. Allow the curds to sit with occasional stirring for 10-15 minutes until the curd is somewhat contracted.
8. Decant the whey into a jar for brine.  Wrap the curds in a cheese cloth or napkin and allow it to drain.
9. Break up the curds and place them into a bowl, mix in a 1/2tsp of salt.
10. Press into the mold overnight.
11. Prepare pickling whey brine (12.5% salt) 20oz of whey + 5 tbl salt.  Stir to dissolve.
12. Cut the cheese into cubes and place into a wide mouth jar.  Pour brine over the cover.  Let it cure in the fridge for several days.  Rinse before use to remove excess salt.

Cheese (Prequel)

I'd like to start out by saying, Craigslist is awesome. I find so many things on there....

I love collecting plants, and when I saw a 128 piece collection of succulents and cacti for sale on CL I couldn't stop myself. I had to go to El Cajon to meet up with Jim the Cactus Man, so I decided to go check out Danielle at Liberty Farm in El Cajon.

I've been seeing her ads for chicks, fresh eggs, and goat milk (for animal consumption) for months. I thought this would be a great opportunity to go get some fresh milk from her. (I'm working on putting together a graduation dinner for Roberto and I'd like to serve homemade cheese.) So our excursion begins. After work Ken D and I drove through an hour of traffic to acquire the collection. They are so spectacular. The succulents look like alien plants and the cactus are in full bloom. (I'll take pictures soon.)

We started headed to Liberty Farm. The wide city streets turned into a two lane street lined with big trees and homes on large lots. It was a beautiful part of San Diego I've never been in. In the hills, the air was warm and it felt like summer there. We stopped by a road side farmer's stand and the farmer's daughter sold us Hass avocados from her farm in Valley Center. A few more miles up we got to the farm. It had a long drive way lined with palm trees, goats in the front, chickens clucking, a beautiful raised vegetable garden as you drove up towards the big country house.

Needless to say, I was blown away. I walked through the back door into her large kitchen that was exploding with cans, jar, dinner cooking, dogs, children, etc. It was a vision I saw for myself. I got two gallons fresh goat's milk from her and a dozen fresh eggs. (Some still has feathers and poop clinging to it.)

By then it was dinner time so Ken D and I had to stop for dinner. We were headed to some italian place but took the wrong turn and ended up in a business shopping center with a cafe. It was 7 and we were hungry so we said, why not. We walk in and its dark and slightly dingy with outdated everything, but cheerful waitresses. I look around and everyone there's over 70. It was like senior night (and yes they had a Senior's Special). Ken D got the chicken fried steak and I got the Spagetti Meatball salad.

I was actually impressed. Their chicken cream w/ rice soup was creamy and not too thick with chunks of chicken and not salty at all. My noodles were a bit over cooked and wet, but the sauce was really good. It was the dessert (also included) that blew me away. It was a layered cake, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla pudding, whipped cream stack. WOW. Ken D's chicken fried steak was tasty also and the gravy wonderful! (Guilty of eating the gravy straight. It wasn't floury, not too peppery, and not too salty.)

Overall the next time I'm in the area, I'd go there again. Janet's Cafe

My quest for cactus and succulents took me to a part of town I've never been in buying avocados and goat milk and eating at a strange wonderful diner. Now I'm making feta.

Chocozin

I first learned to bake from a friend my freshman year of college. She taught me how to cook by making me follow recipes exactly then showed me the art of tweaking them to make them better. Today I found out she's getting engaged, and although she's broken my heart time and time I'd like to share one of my favorite recipe from her mother.

Chocozin

A wonderfully fluffy brownie squares from Isreal

1 cup butter
1 cup bitter chocolate
6 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp unsweetened coco powder
1/2 cup walnut

1. Cream butter with 1/2 cup sugar. Beat in 6 yolks and melted chocolate until smooth, and set half the mixture aside.

2. Mix 1 tbsp of flour and coco powder to half the mixture. Then add the walnuts.

3. Make a meringue with 6 egg whites and 1/2 cup of sugar. If the mixture is not stiff enough add more sugar. Fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture w/ flour, coco powder and nuts.

4. Place in 9x13 baking pan and bake at 375F for 30 minutes.

5. When the knife comes out clean let it cool, then use the other half of the butter, sugar, melted chocolate mixture that's been set aside to frost the brownie.

6. Serve with a generous spoonful of whipped cream.

Improv Dinner

So my parents decided to come down for a visit last night, which meant when I got off work at 9pm I had one hour to make dinner. Fortunately, I like the challenge. I made rice, beef lettuce wraps w/ bean paste, cucumber salad, bean sprout soup and roasted potatoes korean style.

Beef Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce wraps are a Korean traditional way of consuming greens and meat and very simple to make.

Cook your beef and wrap it in lettuce. You can find thinly sliced meat in Asian Markets or cook a nice thick steak and slice it very thinly once its cooked.

I did a sesame oil (1 tblspn) and salt (2 tspn) dip and a dark bean paste (or miso) dip which is one part bean paste mixed with one part fermented red chili paste with sesame seeds.

Cucumber Salad
1 large Cucumber (select one with a very small nipple... it contains less seeds)
2 medium grapefruit peeled and sliced w/ juices
2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
2 tspn ginger
Pinch of Salt

Toss all together and let it marinade for at least one hour.

Roasted Korean Potatoes

1.2 lb Small Yellow Potatoes (smaller the better between size of quarter and a silver dollar)
1 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp corn syrup (or honey)
Water

Heat soy sauce in a heavy skillet until it starts to boil. Add the washed potatoes to the skillet and cover. Turn the potatoes to allow it to cook evenly for about 15 minutes. Watch the soy sauce, it will reduce. If it reduces too much before the potato is cooked, add a table spoon of water each time to prevent the soy sauce from becoming too thick and burn. Add the corn syrup with another tbsp of water, stir and watch the syrup coat the potatoes. Remove from heat and serve.

Bean Sprout Soup

2 cups of water
2 cups of bean sprout
8 medium sized dried anchovies
1 tbsp Salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp crushed dry red pepper flakes (or 2 tsp cayanne pepper)
2 garlic cloves crushed

Boil water w/ anchovies, red pepper flakes and garlic. When the water is boiling, add the bean sprouts and boil for 5-10 minutes then add salt to taste.

Composting and soil prep.

I find that composting and soil preperation is an art form that must be done correctly to ensure happy plants. Most people think both are easy, but there are a lot of factors that go into doing both properly.

Last weekend, I gave a workshop on composting at UCSD's Spring Convergence for California's Student Sustainability Coalition. Most students were under the impression that if you take food scraps and leave it sitting then they are composting. True if they stack enough food scraps in a pile then eventually (after 6 months or more) the scraps on the bottom will have decomposed, but there will be pest problems.

A healthy traditional compost heap should be properly layered with a 30:1 ratio of browns (Carbons) and greens (Nitrogens) and kept moist, well aerated, and covered with soil to allow the growth of healthy composting microbes. Diseased or insect ridden plants, yard trimmings treated with chemicals, pesticides, and weeds with seeds should be kept ouf of the compost heap. Even then it takes between 3-6 months for all the components to fully break down and be usable for your garden.

Now for most of us living in the Urban world in apartments and small spaces it is hard to maintain a proper composting heap. Thankfully there are options for us: Vermicomposting, Bokashi Composting, and emulsifying your compost.

Vermicomposting is composting using red worms Eisenia foetida or Eisenia andrei. Although the common earthworm or nightcrawler may be used, they are not as effective. Red worms must be provided with propper bedding of newspaper or cardboard shreds and greens. In addition to bedding they require something gritty (eg sand, sawdust, soil, cornstarch, or ground egg shell) to help them chew the food and paper. The worm bin/container needs to be maintained at temps between 40 to 80 degrees F and kept moist. They don't handle proteins and fats well and will cause the bin to stink. But there may also be other reasons if your bin starts stinking. Just feed them less, chop the food up into smaller pieces and add layers of brown materials to cover the decomposing materials. Keep the bin well ventilated and keep citrus peels out and you'll be fine.
The downside to vermicomposting is that because it needs to be kept well ventilated you run the risk of attracting fruit flies.

My new prefered method of composting is bokashi composting. Bokashi composting is a Japanese developed method of fermenting your food waste in an anaerobic environment. Start by adding a small mixture of wheat bran or sawdust, water, molasses, and effective microorganisms to your airtight bucket/bin. (The last three are added to the wheat bran at ratio of 100:1:1.) All food waste can be added to your bucket, but they should be chopped into smaller pieces for faster decomposition. As you add more food scraps, add enough wheat bran to thinly cover the scraps and mix it all up. The trick is to press down all the scraps so its air tight and compacted. If you can add a spigot to the bottom of the bucket you can collect the "tea" fertilize plants with (mix it with water to 20 part water and 1 part tea). The process takes about 2 weeks and if you allow the mixture to dry out a bit the next week you can actually plant directly into the compost.

Creating emulsions is a slightly different process. You still require a bucket with a lid, molasses, and effective microorganism. But instead of using wheat bran, you add your food scraps to a bucket of water, keeping the scraps fully submerged. Also you insert an air pump into the bucket and allow the liquid to decompose. When a white foamy layer appears on top of the water your emulsion's ready. Just take the liquid and mix it down and fertilize. The scraps on the bottom can be added to your main compost pile or use it to top dress your plants. (I havn't tried this type of composting yet, but I saw a family friend doing it in her yard and thought it was worth sharing since her yard looked awesome.)

List of What to Compost:
Browns (Carbon)
Sawdust
Straw or Hay
Shrub pruning, Leaves
Wood ash
Newpaper
Shredded paper
Cardboard
Wood Chips
Dryer Lint

Greens (Nitrogen)
Table Scraps
Fruit and Vegetable Scraps
Fresh Grass Clippings
Seaweed and Kelp
Chicken Manure
Coffee Grounds
Tea leaves
Lawn and Garden Weeds
Egg Shells (are neutral)



Now that you've got your compost... what do you do next?

If you have rich soil then great, but if your soil is full of sand and clay like most of Southern California, you want to do a 60/40 compost to top soil mixture to create a rich soil. Or lay 2-3 inches of compost on top and mix it in with the dirt underneath. Water the soil and see how it absorbs water. A good way to check is to water the soil and then dig 6inches down and see if its absorbed water. If not, then add sand to your soil to allow water to flow down. New soil that hasn't been fully watered in a while it will take a bit of time for it to absorb water, so if you're amending a spot in your yard that's never been watered... fully soak the ground then check the soil a few weeks after before added sand. Also make sure your soil has been leveled to the best of your ability so that water will sink down evenly.

F3 to the Max

This weekend was filled with friends, good food, and plenty of prepping for our summer crops (a very busy weekend.) A few summers ago my friends and I decided to make a raised vegetable garden bed, 10' x Jew (5'5"), in the Surf Club back yard. The next season we extended the area to something like 15 x 23, but much of it was shaded by trees. This season we decided to take over the entire back yard, trim and remove all over grown trees that shaded the plot, plant a few fruit trees and extend the garden to 16' x 26' of all useable land.

Saturday was spent trimming trees, removing debris, amending the soil, and mulching around the plot. Much of Sunday was spent laying down the irrigation, creating a work space and planting seeds. Lucky for us it wasn't just Ken D, Jew and me working on it, we ended up renting two laborers and all our friends showed up to help!

Of course if people show up to help, I always make it a point to at least provide cold beers and good food. Saturday night I was planning to make grilled chicken, but my buddy T Chan always manages to push me to new culinary limits. His girlfriend wanted to have sausage for dinner, so we went off that. Henry's (a local Trader Joes type store owned by Smart and Final) had some hot italian links freshly made, which we roasted on a pan in the oven. Made a savory onion, apple marmalade to go with it. As sides we made a salad (lettuce, sliced red onions, wedged red grapefruit, diced avocados, lime juice and olive oil), eggplant cutlets with a tomato sauce (oregano, diced tomatoes, and balsamic reduced), and roasted root vegetables (yukon gold potato, sweet potato, home grown turnips all tossed in fresh thyme and olive oil.) The entire dinner was complemented with a delicious 2008 Columbia Crest Riesling from Washington State.

Sunday was a completely different day. Instead of being in the upper 70s, it was in the low 60s. Cold. Over cast. Cold. I was sore from digging at the UCSD community garden (Sunday morning) and I did not want to work. Every time I tried to take a nap at the Surf Club, a friend would show up and keep me awake. Dragging my feet, the Jew had me finish planting.

The garden consists of 20 strawberry plants, half are ever-bearing and half are June bearing, assorted green vegetables, assorted peppers and onions, red okra, sweet corn, butternut squash, six varieties of summer squash, several different varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and a wide variety of herbs. Pictures coming soon and a complete run down of the garden.

So after another long day of gardening, it was soon dinner time. Roberto and I decided to make a ground turkey white chili and corn bread. I've never made white chili, so going off of a recipe found on Simplyrecipes.com we made a delicious chili for 10 people. The four different peppers added a ton of flavor to the chili, and had a slight heat to it, but not too much.

3lb of Ground Turkey
2 large white onion diced
6 cans of white beans w/ juice (garbanzo, white kidney beans, and northern beans)
2 cups of chicken broth
2 tspn of Cumin
2 bay leaf
1 tbsp fresh oregano
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
2 Pasillo Pepper
1 Jalapeno
2 Dried Green Cayenne Pepper
1 Poblano Pepper

Saute onion, garlic, and ground turkey. Add the spiced and beans. Let it simmer and check for liquid level. I added chicken broth slowly so that it was never too much broth. When the beans and the meat started to break down slightly I stirred in the magnificent cheese. You don't have to use all the broth, but add only amounts necessary to reach the consistence you'd like.

The corn bread, I went a bit crazy with. To three boxes of Jiffy Corn Bread mix, I added half a can of diced jalapenos, 1 cup of grade Pepper jack Cheese, and about 2 tsp of fresh Rosemary. Mix and let the mixture sit for at least 20 minutes before throwing it in the oven.

The entire meal was absolutely divine and very hearty. This year its been hard to get all of my friends under one roof, so it was a real treat for me. There used to be at least a dozen of us who would get together for weekly dinner parties, but last year most of our friends graduated and left San Diego, and those of us who stayed are busy trying to get our careers started.

Cinco De Mayo

Holla Amigos, Feliz de Cinco de Mayo!

Tonight was a great night spent with friends. There is nothing more rewarding that spending time with those you love especially after a long hard day.

My buddy T Chan called me up yesterday night and said, "Hey what are you doing for Cinco de Mayo?" I was leaving work after a long day and hadn't really thought about it. So he invites me over to have dinner at his place with his girlfriend. (My thought... never pass up an invite from T Chan, my foodie/wino friend who always has a good time.) The two of them were planning to make chorizo and potatoes with green salsa.

By the end of the phone call it had turned into a dinner party of 6, at my place....

When I got home the plumber had come by to fix a leak in my bedroom, so all my stuff was piled up in my living room. Dinner location once again changed, to the Surf Club House. Let me tell you when I'm cooking there, my juices are flowing and I'm creating.

Tonight at dinner I made a quick salsa, cilantro couscous, and nopales. Kate whipped up an amazing chorizo and potatoes and green salsa. I managed to get the recipes from her. After our dinner and several Mexican beers I busted out the "A Day Without a Mexican". We need to get our country on lock down, take back our jobs.

Here's the recipes from tonight. I'll take pictures next time

Chorizo and Potatoes

1.5 lb Chorizo (from Bristol Farms)
1/2 onion diced and sauted
2 Pasillo Pepper
3 Yukon Golds

Saute onions, add chorizo, and cook till half way done, add sliced peppers. DIce the potatoes and cook them in boiling water. Mix the two in when each are done.

Green Salsa

8 tomatillos
3/4 cup cilantro chopped
2 garlic cloves sliced and caramelized
1 jalapeno

Husk and wash the tomatillos. Cover the jalapeno and tomatillos in Oil. Salt. Broil. Make sure to turn once so that each side is roasted. Start on High then switch to low. Saute the onions and when the tomatillos are done, blend everything together and chill. Add the cilantro when the salsa is at least room temp. Salt at this time, then allow it to finish chilling before serving.

Cilantro Cousous (Coucous is great because it takes only 5 minutes to cook)

1 cup couscous
2 cup water
1/2 cup cilantro
2 tspn chopped fresh oregano
1/2 red onion diced and caramelized
Juice of 1 large lime

Cook the couscous and stir in the rest. Salt to taste.

Quick Salsa

1 14oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
3 large cloves of garlic
1/2 onion diced and sauted
1 Jalapeno
2 tbspn of Jalapeno juice
1 cup of chopped cilantro
Salt

You can saute the garlic and onion if you want, but during the summer time I like to keep it fresh. Just dice everything and throw it in the blender. Don't blend it smooth but leave some texture.

Nopales

Harvest young pads that are full of spines from a prickly pear cactus. I used the sharp part of my knife to scrape off the spines. going along the direction of the spine growth... kinda like shaving. I still got spines everywhere. But definitely worth it. After despining them, wash them off. Dry them then coat them in some oil (I prefer canola due to its subtle flavor and high tolerance to heat). Grill for 5-10 minutes. Slice, salt and serve.

Welcome to My World

I've always claim to use the internet for two things:

1. Porn.
2. School.

In fact I use it more than anything to further my hobbies of cooking, learning, and farming my own food. Today a friend recommended I start a blog about all the things I do. I never saw myself as a blogger, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

Welcome readers.