Cheesepalooza: Basic Chevre

While August and its ricotta zipped on by, September welcomed us with another Cheesepalooza challenge... a basic chevre. A basic chevre or goat cheese is another cheese that I enjoy (well... I can't really think of any cheeses that I don't enjoy) and was excited to give it a shot at home. Goat cheese is extremely flavourful, high in nutrients, reasonable in terms of fat and calories, and easier on the tummy for those individuals that have trouble with dairy (here are some interesting nutritional facts on goat cheese). All good things!

The directions for this cheese in Mary Karlin's book seemed simple enough - C20G, rennet, and your milk. Yep, simple enough until you realize that you neglected to order the C20G (a culture that is a combination of the bacterial cultures and rennet required to produce a goat cheese). Oh Christine. You'll laugh though, I had packed up my other cultures, thermometers, and cheese cloth on my September holiday (that's on your packing list too, right?). We were off to Ontario cottage country and I figured it would be a perfect time to rest, relax, and make cheese. But, when the closest town in 20 minutes away and the nearest goat's milk supply about 45 minutes away and you lack the correct cultures, the whole idea of zen-like cheese making whilst on holidays seems a bit silly. Just a bit... or a whole lot of silly?? 

Thankfully, our intrepid Cheesepalooza leaders reflected multiple methods in their individual chevre posts. Ian's post described a method using Aroma B and rennet. Deb's post followed the recipe precisely, while Valerie and Addie's posts highlighted buttermilk methods. (Plus, here is some good chevre reading on cheesemaking.com.) I was determined to figure something out too. 

Homemade Ricotta: Two Tastes

This whole escapade into homemade cheese has made me dream and concoct different combinations of flavours to create the perfect cheesy bite. When you put all of this effort into making your own cheese, you certainly don't want to see an iota of it go to waste. That said, there is only so much fresh plain ricotta that one can consume. I don't mean that to sound blasphemous, if you think it does! The 4.25 litres of milk and cream that I used to make my homemade ricotta yielded approximately 1.25 litres of cheese... and that's a lot of cheese!

So, I sat down with my new dedicated cheese journal and started jotting down potential flavour combinations. Then I grabbed my trusty Flavor Bible (if you aren't familiar with this reference book, I would highly recommend it) and went into flavour combination overdrive. What did I have in the house? What herbs were ample in the garden? Since it is such a subtle and mellow cheese, what would complement the ricotta without overpowering it?

These are the two bites that I landed on...

Fresh tarragon and lemon zest.

Cracked black pepper, fresh strawberry, and honey.

Cheesepalooza: Homemade Whole Milk Ricotta

I set some foodie goals back at the beginning of this year. It was a great way to focus my culinary efforts, learn some new things, and explore more of the food that I love. Well... one of those goals was to bake more bread and to learn to make cheese. 

Could the invitation to participate in Cheesepalooza have come at a better time!?!?

Well, Valerie of A Canadian Foodie, Deb the Locavore, Ian of Much Ado About Cheese, and Addie of The Big Cheese Project concepted and launched Cheesepalooza, a cheesy journey into the world of homemade cheese making. They invited and put an open call out to food bloggers from anywhere and everywhere to embark upon this cheesy journey together. With monthly challenges, optional extra creations and -of course- encouraged camaraderie and community learning, many signed up for Cheesepalooza. 

Our "curriculum" would follow through our guide book, Artisan Cheesemaking at Home by Mary Karlin - a beautiful book that seems to make the world of cheese-making infinitely more accessible than it was before I found this sort of structure for learning. Our first challenge for Cheesepalooza was issued at the beginning of August - to make a whole milk ricotta (check out the other challenges here). 

Camp-foodie

A few weekends ago (and ambitiously early in terms of my tolerance for outdoorsy activities), we packed up our world and trekked it out to Spray Lakes. For someone with a near-complete disinterest in the discomfort of the outdoors, I needed a beautiful setting, good company, and really good food in order to get to the point of suspended disbelief and settle into enjoying the escape. 

Our first trip to Spray Lakes was last year and while there was a general state of preparedness, there was one tremendous misstep, which led to one tremendous meltdown. We each thought that the other had put the bag full of blankets in the car..... it was cold..... there was one sleeping bag between the two of us..... there was ugly crying..... need I say more?

Well, we made it through (without driving back home in the middle of the night) and in true Christine fashion, we laid everything out upon arriving home and now have itemized Excel packing lists, prepacked tubs of gear, and dedicated camping blankets whose sole purpose is to get us through the camping cold snaps. 

So, obviously, the first thing that made it to the car this year was a tub full of blankets (haha!) and we got on the road and out to our little hideout in Spray Lakes. We even managed to procure our same campsite, which just made everything so familiar and lovely. It really is the perfect site. And because I was packed up and felt prepared (basically since last summer), I had the time and energy to focus on the part that I really love... the food!

Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes

Today's post is brought to you by duck fat. Need I say more??

Duck fat is amazing. And tasty. And amazing. And a healthy fat. And amazing. And inexpensive. And amazing. Another thing on my top 2359235273 list. hahah.

In planning our Easter dinner, we decided to go completely different from our usual turkey or ham proteins and opted to concoct an entirely different menu featuring duck. In preparation for Easter dinner, I sourced some beautiful duck breasts through the wonder of twitter. To the rescue was Ocean Odyssey Inland (Edmonton), Jessie Radies of the Blue Pear (Edmonton), and Kingsland Farmers Market (Calgary) all enthusiastically recommending Greens Eggs and Ham. The funny part is that they would have been my go-to stop for duck (amongst other fantastic sustainable grown produce and protein) in Edmonton but I had no idea that I could find them in Calgary. Enter: The corner booth in the Kingsland Farmers Market... at 5 minutes to close... Mary Ellen of Green Eggs and Ham.

Mary Ellen was a happy market-goer's dream. She was welcoming and enthusiastic, despite it being moments to closing. She stopped closing up shop for the day to not only help us purchase our duck breast but provide us many product recommendations, cooking tips, and overwhelming enthusiasm for her product. While we came for duck breast, we also left with duck fat (why not?) and some pretty little white almond potatoes. We probably could have bought up half the store but restrained ourselves with plans of returning on Thursday or Friday for a few more Easter dinner party items... and maybe some more cooking tips.

Kendall at City and Dale (a great Edmonton... I want to say blog but it really has become so much more than that... site that promotes all things in and about the city that she and several other contributing writers love so much) seemed to get a similar recommendation on these potato gems (see her post on City and Dale here).