Posts from — February 2011

Well, while my posts have been all about cheese the last three days, we’ve been in the middle of a big-time cold spell and we’ve been having soup every single night! Don’t love the overnight freezing temps (poor plants!) but I do love having the perfect excuse to have soup all the time.  Here’s a hearty favorite.

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When you make mozzarella cheese, you end up with a lot of whey; the nutritious and sweet-smelling liquid left over from curdled milk when the curds are removed. Whey contains water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and proteins in the milk. There are many things you can do with this leftover whey. You can feed it to your pets, it’s good for them and they love it! You can water your plants with it. And you can make more cheese with it – ricotta cheese!

Ricotta is Italian for “twice-cooked.”  It is a soft, smooth, fresh, unripened Italian cheese usually made from the whey of cow’s or sheep’s milk.  It can be used in a variety of sweet and savory dishes including lasagna, ravioli, cannoli, etc. Or you can just stir in some fresh herbs and freshly ground black pepper and use it as a cracker spread.

Ricotta is made by using heat to separate the remaining albumin protein from the whey left over from making mozzarella. Ricotta is not a high-yield cheese, but it’s deliciously worth the minimal time and effort.

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Here are the instructions to make fresh mozzarella in your own kitchen using fresh curds.  It may help to watch the Valley Dish segment, before doing it yourself.  HERE IS THAT LINK. Have fun!

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On yesterday’s Channel 12 Valley Dish, the “homemade mozzarella” segment that Tram and I filmed a few weeks ago, aired. You can watch the segment at THIS LINK.

You’ll notice that we begin with fresh curds and you may recall that I acquired those curds from a local chef friend. You can order fresh curds at THIS LINK … or bet yet, you can make your own fresh curds and whey by beginning with just plain old whole milk.  That is what today’s recipe will teach you to do.

One important note about the milk; Read the label carefully and make sure that the milk is NOT labeled “ultra-pasteurized”.  Ultra-pasteurized milk has been heated to a high temperature that kills the bacteria and cultures needed to make cheese. Raw milk or pasteurized milk is what you want to find. I think the best two options are to use either Straus Family Creamery milk, which can be found locally at Whole Foods, Sprouts, and AJ’s. Go to THIS LINK to find a store near you that carries this wonderful product. The second option is to go to a local dairy farm and purchase milk directly from the source.

We made fresh mozzarella and fresh ricotta cheese several summers ago at LPG and I’m thinking it’s time to do it again this year, so I’ll be adding that to my summer schedule, which will be emailed/mailed out on March 1, 2011.

Speaking of cooking classes, I also teach adult classes at Barbara Fenzl’s Les Gourmettes Cooking School in Phoenix. There are still a few spaces available for my series of three classes, which are held on Wednesday evenings; March 2, March 9, and March 16 from 6:30 – 9:30 PM.  If you are interested in signing up or learning more about the menus and price, please either email me at [email protected] or leave me a comment here and I will email you the schedule/registration.

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