So why not embrace Julia’s love of cream and butter as well her masterpiece? Particularly since we have such awesome dairy products in Minnesota. In my book one of the best frenchy uses for butter is making croissants. They’re also really easy to make. Two things you need to look out for are heat (if your butter melts there’s no point in going further) and time. (It doesn’t take much active time but it does take all day.) I promise that the recipe that follows works.

I served these croissants with the foods that follow the recipes. Hopefully, folks will add in their recipes. As always, the food, company and conversation were excellent. I hope you can join us next time.

Croissant

1 1/2 c whole milk*
1 T + 1/4 t active dry yeast
1 T salt
1/4 c light brown sugar, lightly packed
4 c unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
3 sticks unsalted butter, chilled*

Croissant Mix & Roll
Use the dough hook of a heavy duty electric mixer combine milk, yeast, salt, brown sugar, and flour. Mix on low until the dough is fully combined and smooth, 6 minutes. Dough should be soft, but not too sticky.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, kneed a couple times then shape dough into a rectangle, 1 1/2″ thick, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour.

Add Butter
Place butter between two pieces of parchment paper, and smash with a rolling pin, flattening it into 5 x 8″ rectangle. lightly flour your work surface, roll the dough into a 10 x 16″ rectangle, 1/2″ thick. You can pull on the dough to help it maintain a rectangle shape, but you don’t need to worry that much about it, with the amount of folding you do, it really just works out rectangular. With the long side parallel to the edge of the work surface, place the butter in the middle of the dough. Fold the bottom edge up, just past the middle, and the top edge down to the bottom edge, creating a letter fold.

You’re going to want to pound down the butter better than this. I was doing too many things at once.

First Fold
On a floured surface, roll the dough to 10 x 15″ rectangle, about 1/2″ thick. With the longer side parallel to the edge of the work surface fold the left side over two thirds across, and then fold the right side over to meet the left edge, stretching the corners and squaring off the sides so the edges line up. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

This isn’t how your envelope fold should look but I wanted to show just how lovely this dough is. Isn’t it lovely?

Second Fold
On a floured work surface, place the open seam parallel to the edge of work surface and follow the instructions for the first fold.

Third Fold
On a floured work surface, place the open seam to the left of the edge of work surface and follow the instructions for the first fold.

Fourth (last) Fold**
On a floured work surface, place the open seam to the top furthest away from the edge of work surface and follow the instructions for the first fold. Then wrap dough tightly in plastic, and chill for at least 3 hours, but no longer than overnight. You can freeze the dough at this point if you want to store it for longer.

Filling
If you are putting a filling into the croissants, now would be the time to get that together.

Shaping
Divide dough in half, and return one half to the refrigerator or freeze. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 13 x 16 rectangle, 1/4″ thick, flouring the dough as necessary. Trim the edges straight.

With the long side parallel to the edge of the work surface, cut the dough down the center vertically and set one half aside. Place the longer side parallel to the edge of the work surface, and cut dough vertically into 1/3rds if you want smaller croissants or 1/2 if you want larger croissants. Cut each 1/3 or 1/2 diagonally in half to make two triangles. You will have 6 or 4 triangles.

Roll dough out to each side and then out towards the top until it’s 1/3 larger and 1/6″ thick. Return the enlarged triangle to the work surface with the widest end toward you.

Take a teaspoon of filling, if using, and place about 1/3″ up on the croissant. Tuck the bottom in on itself and roll up over the filling. Keep rolling loosely up the rest of the croissant. The dough should overlap 3 – 4 times with the tip sticking out the back from underneath. Place croissant on the parchment paper lined baking sheets turning the corners into a crescent shape (if you want to.)

Repeat with refrigerated portion of dough, (if you are making them at the same time.)

Place the croissants 2″ apart on parchment-lined baking sheets and curve the ends of the croissant inward, forming a crescent shape. Set aside in a warm place to rise for 2 1/2 hours.

Bake!
Adjust oven racks to the lower and upper positions, and preheat oven to 425°f.

Open the oven door, spritz the oven heavily with water from a spray bottle. Repeat, then slide the baking sheets onto the racks. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°f. Do not open oven door for the first 10 minutes.

After the first 10 minutes, rotate the baking sheets to ensure even baking. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°f and continue baking 8 minutes more. Remove from oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Let rest for a couple of minutes. Serve while still warm.

* I used Hope butter and milk from Cedar Summit.

** If you want to make puff pastry do a couple more folds.

Pictures from the meal:
I was a bit lax on the photo front this time, preferring to enjoy the company of my dinner companions instead but I did get a few pictures and hopefully they’ll leave the recipes in the comments.

Jean made this beautiful salad.

Linda’s dill potato salad.

Karen’s tomato, mozzarella & basil appetizers.

Amy’s portabella & balsamic reduction appetizers.

There was also 40 clove chicken from Kris, a beet and pasta and turnip and rice dish from Michelle, a very yummy chocolate cake from Ken and truffles from Karen. (Sorry, if I’m missing anyone! There was a lot of food.)

No. It won’t do. Won’t do at all! Okay, so here’s what you do:

1. Go to the Birchwood Cafe.
2. Have yourself a tasty snack and buy a copy of the FRESH screening kit.
3. Invite over your best friends, family members, farmers and a mayor.
4. Grab yourself some chefs and cook up some dishes featuring local foods and Thousand Hills grass fed beef.
5. Feed your guests.
6. Show the movie, outside if possible.

That’s better. Now all you need to do is study these pictures to show you just what you need to do.

First there is some cooking. Make sure you have lots of cooks.

Guests were greeted by a bunch of discussion questions about food and what should be done/if something should be done to make it safer. (More on this on tobemrsmarv.com, soon.)

Then comes the serving of some drinks.

A small bite to start off the food. (No, I don’t know what it is.)

Corner Table chef-owner Scott Pampuch auditions for v.2 of my portfolio.

Todd Churchill from Thousand Hills Cattle Company looking ponderous.  (I’ve photographed Todd about a half dozen times now, and his hat is always perfect for framing a shot.)

Salmon course from Birchwood Cafe’s chef Marshall Paulson.  (And for those keeping score on my 100 days of eating local – I wasn’t served this course, there was some sort of counting issue, so I didn’t need to dip into the 10%. That came with the chocolate.)

Tracy Singleton, owner of the Birchwood Cafe, who brought the movie FRESH to the twin cities explains to the diners what they’re eating.

Todd Lein from Thousand Hills Cattle Co. is politely eating his salmon, knowing that beef would be coming out of the kitchen soon.

Chris and Scott start the parade of beef.

There’s that roasted rib eye you should make.  You could also serve it with potato salad and fresh arugula.

Dessert came next, this side shows Strawberry sorbet, chocolate sandwich cookie with black pepper ganache and coffee praline.

This side shows the panna cotta with raspberry vinegar glaze.

And the diners look happy about it.

Yep. Those are happy diners.

Then we move outdoors to the movie. This is where having a Mayor and his wife on around comes in handy. They were kind enough to stand up and talk about their work on Homegrown Minneapolis and future plans for more good, safe, locally grown food in Minneapolis.

Let the movie begin!

As the sun sets the moviegoers learn about the work of farmer Joel Salatin, Will Allen (the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award) and supermarket owner Dave Ball.  It was a lovely evening.

I am probably the luckiest girl in the world. I don’t mean to be, I just am. I’m friends with several of the best chefs in Minnesota. Not only are they great cooks, but they have created philosophies and ways of doing thing which makes each them completely unique and wonderful. To top that off they even love to teach, which means that I get to call them up and say, “Hey, what’s on your mind? Anything you want to share with some of my favorite cooks?”

When I asked my friend Scott Graden, owner/chef of the award winning New Scenic Cafe in Duluth that question and he answered, “Inspiration is everywhere and it’s so much more important than recipes and ingredients. I’d like to talk about that.” In my head I shouted, “woo hoo!” Then we chatted and brainstormed on how to go about doing a workshop on inspiration, came up with a plan and that he promptly forgot.

I, however, did not. It turns out that the things that inspire him most are the people and the land around him. Hence, on our weekend in Duluth we got to meet with Stephen Dahl his herring fisherman and David Rogotzke his maple syrup maker and salmon fisherman.

It really was the best adult field trip for cooks ever.

We started off the day at the New Scenic Cafe where Scott was kind enough to talk to us about his experiences as a restaurant owner and chef. He went over where everything came from, how it happened and why he made the decisions he did. He gave us an amazing insight into the tenacity and drive he had to bring the Cafe to what it is today. (This included living in the garage for 5 years.)

The cooks drank some wine, asked Scott questions and tried not to shiver too much.

Daily self portrait reflected in the kitchen of the Scenic Cafe.

Superior… uh, dingy? This is the boat that Steve fishes from.

Steve Dahl, Superior fisherman tells us about the practice and politics of fishing on Lake Superior. It turns out that most of the state’s policies on fishing rights are crafted for sport fisherman who don’t account for nearly as much revenue on the lakes or care for them as the commercial fisherman. Even though Steve has to fight all the time, he still considers himself lucky to be able to go out onto Lake Superior and fish everyday.

The folks getting to try Dave Rogotzke‘s maple butter and salmon.

Dave takes us for a tour of his sugar maple farm. He tells us all about the practices he employs for the long life and care of his trees. He considers himself to be a steward of the land that he’s lucky enough to get to work with and he wants to protect it as much as he can.

I think Kyndell wants her own syrup house.

Welcome Troop #9!

David explains the rest of the syrup making process, from reduction to bottling.

Then we went picked up a couple of mystery containers of food from the Scenic and went back to the condo for some cooking. This was our view. Yea!

Team chicken roll-up hanging with their ingredients.

The offering from Mark and I. Grapes stuffed with blue cheese and served with Canadian bacon. All you need to do is cut a conical shape out of the top of a grape with a paring knife, stuff it with some blue cheese and then present it with some warm, cooked Canadian bacon (or regular bacon for that matter) on a stick of some kind. We served ours on a fork with the instruction to keep the fork safe, as it’s the only one folks were getting for the evening.

Pork tenderloin from Team Zen – The base of the sauce was red peppers and onions sauteed in olive oil and then simmered in chicken broth with mashed garlic, brown sugar, ginger, soy sauce, sirracha, cilantro, salt and pepper. Once the ingredients were softened they were pulverized in a blender to make the sauce for the pork, which was pan roasted in some olive oil.

Someone is stabbing at the fabulous goat cheese chicken rolls. Jeff took a couple of chicken breasts pounded them flat(ish) with a small frying pan. (It was totally awesome.) He then spread a mixture of goat cheese mixed with, freshly grated parmesan cheese, chopped basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Then he rolled them up, secured them with twine and roasted for about 30 minutes under a 375 degree oven.

Yoon Hee decided to make some crostini sandwiches. slice up some bread, slicing through every other slice, and rubbed garlic on them and spread salted butter in between. Then she baked them in a 375 degree oven for 10 – 15 minutes flipping them once to brown them up.

Team reduction hard at work.

Team Reduction gave us this dish of roasted pork tenderloin and yukon gold potato with a reduction sauce made from home made broth, red wine, mushrooms, currents and other stuff Kyndell’s going to have to tell you about because I don’t remember. They also served up some collard greens cooked in the same broth with some butter.

The happiest addition of all: crusty bread spread with goat cheese and sliced strawberries let to sit in sugar. It was a nouveau strawberry shortcake. I loved it.

And that was our weekend. If you would like to join us for future events: join us! Or you can play along at home by visiting our blog.

xoxo,

Kris

I was putting together a list of resources for the folks joining us for dinner + movie at Corner Table (Go forth! Buy tickets!) next week and I just couldn’t help but feel like this information is so important for all of us that I’d just post the list a bit early so that everyone can learn and we can have an really excellent discussion on these topics with those who come to the dinner.

As anyone who has been within earshot of me knows, I’m really most interested in good food. For me, good food is good food, and a lot of the time I don’t much care where that food comes from.  It just so happens that animals and vegetables that are treated well are the best food.  So, I  get to eat yummy stuff and feel superior.  Yea!

I don’t feel like I have the luxury to do that anymore.  I think we have to start fighting.  See, what we’ve done is sold our food system, and by extension, our bodies to corporate America.  And what we’ve gotten for that is obesity and disease.  Now, I’m not against corporate America, but I’ve worked for large corporations and really, they don’t care about you.  It’s not that they’re not caring people or out for world domination.  It’s just that they care about making their shareholders money and what their stock prices are at each day.  That’s what they’re there for, making money.  If keeping you healthy and giving you awesome food was what they existed for, then they would do that.  They’re not.

See, we have to make it so that we’re a priority for them, so I made you this list of stuff to look at.

If you haven’t seen it, you should check out The Future of Food.  It’s a very important critique of food corporations and their modification of the DNA of foods like corn and soy beans and it’s free to watch on hulu.

Do you keep rolling your eyes at all of the freaking out about food allergies in the news? I do. But allergies in kids under the age of 18 are up, way up:

In terms of the absolute number of children below 18 who were hospitalized each year with diagnoses related to food allergies, there has been a sharp increase, too. From 2004 to 2006, the average annual number of discharges related to food allergies for this group was 9,537. This is marked higher than the corresponding figures of 4,135 from 2001 to 2003, and 2,615 from 1998 to 2000.

Holy crap!  That’s more than double over in two years!  And that’s hospitalization – not some little sniffly business.  This specific quote is from a blog Natural News – but you can find the same information from traditional news sources as well as the CDC. There are several problems with the loose way this data was collected, but the experts agree that the numbers are way too high to be an anomaly.

Natural News goes on to talk about possible reasons:

Broadly speaking, the root causes of allergic reactions are a state of over-toxicity in the body, or poor health and a weak immune system in general. When the body is overloaded with toxins, it cannot cope as well as it should with certain foods.

(If that doesn’t make fodder for an interesting conversation on keeping our families healthy, I don’t know what does.  And I’ve stopped with the eye rolling, turns out that was just mean.)

More info:

UK article on the link of hyperactivity to food colorings

Allergy Kids – an organization set up to inform and advocate for kids with allergies.

So just in case I’ve depressed you so much that you’re going to have to eat an entire cake sitting cross legged in a dark closet all by yourself, here are some links with information you need and ways that you can avoid the worst offenders and/or join some great advocacy groups to try to instigate change for the better.  (Remember if one person claps in a room, they just look weird: whole bunch of people clapping makes a big loud noise. Noise is good.)

Vegetables to buy organic

Additives banned in Europe still legal in the US

What’s on my food?

Slow Food’s movement to get real foods in school

Eat Local America!

And last but certainly not least Cooking Minnesota!  I plan to continue on with the classes and events I started last year creating great food from scratch and building a community of like-minded folks to share information as well as strategies to incorporate whole, artesanal, yummy foods into our hectic schedules.  We’re working on classes on curing, cheese and yogurt making, creative bread making, beer brewing, mother sauces, how to deal with ingredients you’ve never used before and more events with my favorite chefs.  We’re also working on a Harvest Extravaganza™ at our member Michelle’s farm.  We will have a day full of workshops on subjects from preserving herbs and vegetables and canning to how to design your kitchen to be more green.  (We’re even working on some fun stuff for the kids!)

I hope this didn’t get to be too much. It is a lot.  It’s also very important.  I do hope you join me with the clapping – I think we can make a lot of noise.

Love always,

Kris

After dinner we will be moving outside to watch FRESH: New thinking on what we’re eating. The movie takes on the large subject on reinventing our food system. It’s already sold out 3 showings in Minneapolis.

Beer and popcorn, both locally produced, will be available while we watch the movie and facilitate a discussion about how home cooks can incorporate conscientious food choices for our families, health and planet.

The cost for the whole evening is $55 (dinner, movie & popcorn.)
Dates are June 30, July 1 & July 2.
Dinner at 6:30 and move at 9:00 PM
Seats are limited to 40 each night.
Tickets will also be available for just viewing the movie at $15.

Tickets will be available through Corner Table or Cooking MN.

About FRESH
A film by ana Sofia joanes FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

http://www.freshthemovie.com

About Corner Table
Corner Table is a restaurant that listens to the fields, farms, pastures, and seasons that surround us. That source of inspiration guides our creativity and our entire menu, which is crafted from foods sourced locally and in season from responsible family farms. This approach is completely sustainable, and it’s grounded in our respect for our history, nature’s perfection, and our place in the world. Corner Table will be celebrating its five-year anniversary during this event.

Nicollet Avenue at 43rd Street, Minneapolis MN | 612.823.0011

This particular event happened almost a month ago, so there was very little available at the farmers market for us. But, what there wasn’t in variety, there was in flavor. Everything was beautifully fresh. We had chicken, trout, eggs, radishes, greens, grains and amazing artisnal sheep’s milk blue and fresh cheese. So we were forced to make due with just that. (Can I get any pity out there? Hm. No, eh?)

Alright, fine. The food was excellent. Michelle was an amazing and vibrant guide through a world of fresh and healthful eating choices. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from her, I’d highly recommend it and I think anyone who was with me would as well.

Michele dazzling us with her charm and knowledge.

Linda starts to work on the roasted chicken. She decided on butterflying the chicken and dousing it with a mixture of olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice with thyme, salt and pepper.

Naomi is getting instruction while working on the radishes. (I think.)

Michele overseeing the risotto.

Ah, the fritatta needs some seasoning.

Meeting over the trout. Turns out the trout wants to be dipped in beaten egg, rolled in some panko and spices and then baked until done.

Michelle wokrs on panko/trout construction.

Frittata construction. Oh yes.

Linda carves up her chicken.

The finished frittata. (It was as good as it looks.)

‘

This salad of greens, arugula, radish and Northern Lights blue cheese is good, but not quite done. It needs a vinegarette.

Ava looks on.

Michele demonstrates how to drizzle in the appropriate amount of olive oil for the emulsion of a proper vinegarette to take place.

Trout breaded in Panko & Herbs with Honey Dipping Sauce

trout, cut into bite sized pieces
1 egg, wisked
pinch of salt
1/2 t ginger

sauce
2 T honey
1 T white wine
1 t sirracha
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 375&degf;.

Whisk egg in a bowl. Place panko, salt and ginger in another bowl. Take pieces of trout douse them completely in egg and then coat in panko. Place on a baking sheet.

Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until fish feels firm.

While fish is cooking bring dipping sauce together over low-ish heat.

Serve fish with sauce.

Fritatta

4 radishes, sliced thinly
radish greens, ripped
1 T butter
6 oz fresh cheese
6 eggs
3 T cream
1/4 parmesan
oregano
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375°f.

Saute radish in 1 T of butter over medium high heat until translucent. Toss into frittata dishes with greens and cheese.

Whisk together eggs, cream parmesan and spices and pour over radish stuffs. Put onto a cookie sheet and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Frittata is set when you press on the middle and it fights back.

Quinoua & Lentil Salad

Quinoua is not an ingredient that I’ve done much with – but as Michele pointed out it’s very easy, light and nutritious.

1 c quinoua
1 c water
salt

1/2 c lentils
1 1/2 c water
1 t salt
1 sprig rosemary
1 sprig thyme

juice of 1 lemon
1T honey
1Tmustard
salt to taste

Boil quinoua in water until done. Boil lentils in water with sprigs until done.

Put both into bowls and add in lemon, honey, mustard and salt to taste. Serve. People will be happy.

Lemon Thyme Roasted Chicken

1 chicken

juice from one lemon
2 T olive oil
2 t thyme
1 t salt
1 t pepper

Preheat oven to 400 °f

Butterfly chicken by cutting out the backbone and bending the chicken so that it is flat, breast side up. Put into baking pan.

Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and liberally cover the chicken. Put into oven and cook until chicken is browned and reads 160°f on a quick read thermometer. Cover and let sit until it comes up to 165°f. It will be perfect. Enjoy!

As you can see we have a new website!  (Actually, we have three, but we’re working on sorting that out.)  Regardless, you can come to www.CookingMN.com to find all the recipes, news about and pictures from events so that you can foodie your little hearts out.

In this post you’ll be viewing my photos and commentary of Kat’s amazing cheese-o-thon.  All the recipes are from the blog that she set up for her first Future Cheese Makers of MN meeting!

Enjoy!

Kat and Matt greeted us with some hors d’oeuvres featuring… cheese!

Ricotta & Fig Dip
(adapted from Gourmet Oct. ’01)

1 c ricotta
3 T fresh tarragon, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c dried soft figs, finely chopped (We used 8 mission figs.)
1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
2 – 4 T milk
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Mix the ricotta, tarragon, garlic, figs, olive oil & 2 tablespoons milk together breaking up the ricotta curds. Add more milk if the dip is a little too dry. Stir in salt & pepper.

Can be made 1 day ahead of time & kept covered & chilled. Drizzle with a little more oil before serving. Serve with breadsticks or other crusty bread.

Makes about 2 cups

Based on Indian chenna, this cheese log is full of the flavor of chive & a touch of lemon. Its super easy to make especially with a stand mixer with a dough hook.

Fresh Chive Cheese
(from Sunset Magazine)

1 gallon whole milk
1/2 c lemon juice
1/2 t salt
2 T fresh chives, chopped

In a large pan heat the milk over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring frequently to prevent scorching. (This will take a long time, it took us close to 45 minutes.) Once the milk is boiling remove it from the heat & stir in the lemon juice. Stir until the white curds separate from the green whey. Let sit for 10 minutes while the curds settle to the bottom of the pan.

Line a large colander with four layers of cheesecloth. Pour the curds & whey into the colander. Rinse with lukewarm water for 5 seconds. Bring the corners of the cheesecloth together & tie them in a knot. Squeeze the curds to form a ball pushing out the whey (be careful not to burn yourself, gloves work good here. Place the cheesecloth wrapped curds back into the colander & top with a plate. Set a 5 pound weight on top (we used a brick). Let sit for 45 minutes.

Unwrap the curd & place in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Knead for 10 – 15 minutes until the curds become dough-like, silky & not grainy at all. (You can also do this part by hand though it might take a little longer.) Add the salt & chives & blend to combine. Roll the cheese into a 2-inch log. Wrap in wax paper & chill for at least two hours up to 3 days. Slice to serve.

They showed off their lovely peas in progress.

Guest, Ken, the Design Ninja himself, can’t wait to make some cheese.  (At least that’s what we hope.)

Half of the group goes inside to do some learin’ while the other half hang in the shade with the wine and eats.

If you’ve done everything just right, your curds will form.

You let the curds sit for a bit and they’ll firm up on the bottom of the pan.  The top part is the whey.

If you haven’t done everything just right, then you call Matt in to sort things out.

There is much discussion about the ability of these curds turning into mozzarella.

Oh well, may as well just start on the Ricotta.

The nice thing about making homemade ricotta is that you don’t need any special chemical & the only special equipment is a thermometer & a bit of patience.

Fresh Ricotta
(per Lauren at I’ll Eat You)

1 gallon milk, you can use 1 percent on up, remember that the more fat in the milk, the more cheese it will yield
1 quart buttermilk
-cheesecloth,a good, tightly woven one, not the kind you buy at the supermarket – If you don’t have one of these, you can get by with a slotted spoon, but you may lose some of the cheese. ( I used supermarket cheesecloth & just doubled it. That worked just fine.)
-a thermometer
- A collander

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

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. Remove from cheesecloth and place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week..

This recipe will give you about a pound of cheese. I made 1/4 of it & got 6 oz.

It will take Matt’s skill to save the curd.

In the end it all works out.  Team 2 has achieved good curd!

Homemade Mozzarella

1 gallon milk (see the notes on milk in the supplies post)
1/4 t calcium chloride mixed in 2 T distilled water (check your calcium chloride it may call for a different amount per gallon of milk) (optional, this will give you a firmer finished cheese)
2 t citric acid
1/4 t liquid rennet mixed in 1/4 c distilled water
flake salt

Place the milk in a large enamel or stainless steel pan over medium-low heat & stir in the calcium chloride. When the milk reaches 55 F stir in the citric acid. Continue to heat until the milk reaches 88 F. You should see curd starting to form. Gently stir in the diluted rennet. Continue heating the milk until it reaches 105 F, do not stir if at all possible so as not to break up the curd. Once it has reached 105 F, turn off the heat & cover the pan. Let sit for 20 minutes allowing the curd to gel. The curd should pull away from the side of the pan & be firm almost to the bottom of the pan. Let sit another 10 minutes if not quite set.

Using a slotted spoon carefully remove the curd to a microwave-safe bowl. (Save the whey!) Press the curd & pour off as much whey as possible. Microwave the curd on high for 60 – 75 seconds. Press again with a spoon & drain as much whey as possible. Start kneading the whey as you would bread either with your hand or the back of the spoon. Microwave for another minute. Drain any remaining whey. Knead again with the spoon adding 1/2 t salt a little at a time. The curd should have come together in a smooth mass & be sticky. Continue to knead until it is smooth. Try stretching the cheese. If it stretches easier stretch & pull like taffy until cool. If it doesn’t microwave for another 35 minutes & try again. For a softer cheese don’t stretch. Put cheese in a cold water bath (I salted my water for extra flavor.)

After all that work, we need cheesecake!

This cheesecake was very light & quite smooth. We used local Ames honey from the farmer’s market & it has such great flavor we didn’t miss the orange zest at all. The nuttiness of the biscotti made for a fabulous tasting crust.

Honey Ricotta Cheesecake

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 8 ounces purchased biscotti
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 (12-ounce) container fresh whole milk ricotta, drained
• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup orange blossom or clover honey (I just used some good local honey)
• 1 tablespoon orange zest (I didn’t have any so I just skipped this)
• 4 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Wrap the outside of a 9-inch springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Finely grind the biscotti in a food processor. Add the melted butter and process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom (not the sides) of the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a cooling rack.

Blend the ricotta in a clean food processor until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the work bowl. Blend in the honey and orange zest. Add the eggs and pulse just until blended.

Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the cheesecake is golden and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour and 5 minutes (the cake will become firm when it is cold).

Transfer the cake to a rack and cool 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. Cut the cake into wedges and serve.

Ahh.  That was nice.  I’d like another dessert, please.

Ricotta Gelato
(from Bon Appetit Sept’ 07)

4 c fresh whole-milk ricotta
1/2 c whole milk
1 1/2 c chilled simple syrup**

Put the ricotta & milk in a blender & process until smooth. Add the simple syrup and continue to process until completely smooth. Put in an airtight container & chill.

Transfer to an ice cream maker & process according to the machine’s directions.

Put into an airtight container & freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

Can be keep for 2 days.

** Simple Syrup

1 1/2 c water

1 1/2 c sugar

Put the sugar & water into a saucepan & bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Turn down to simmer. Let simmer for 3 minutes. Chill.

A lovely time was had by all.  A big thanks to Kat and Matt for opening their home and refrigerators to us!

If you would like to join us at our next event, go to Cooking Minnesota, www.meetup.com/cookingMN.