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 lpgourmett@aol.com or leave me a comment here and I will email you the schedule/registration.

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I failed to mention while posting the asparagus soup a couple of days ago, that the main reason Sharon asked for the recipe was that asparagus is a smoking deal at Bashas’ grocery stores this week. Gorgeous pencil-thin bunches for .99 a pound! You only have today and tomorrow to run out and pick it up before the sale ends… hurry – grab your keys and leave now – get it before it’s gone! And in case you are like me, and can’t let a good deal pass you by and you pick up a couple more pounds than needed for the soup… here’s another healthy recipe using asparagus.

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There’s nothing like a little salt with your chocolate, the flavor combination is irresistible, no wonder peanut M&Ms are a snacking favorite. The pretzels can be difficult to make into crumbs for this crust, but not to worry, the mixer will do the finishing work for you. Be sure to use the pulse button of your food processor to coarsely chop the pretzels, otherwise, you’ll just have a pile of fine crumbs. Then when you add them to the butter and powdered sugar in the mixer and let it go to town, they’ll end up being a perfect consistency. Picture proof below!

Valentine’s Day is only 2 weeks away. This is a special little something you might like to consider making for the sweethearts in your life.

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I haven’t had the opportunity to cook at home much this week. In fact, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights, I wasn’t even home. There were plenty of leftovers in the fridge for Dave and Marissa to help themselves to, but did they? No! Instead they just picked at stuff, never going to the trouble to even re-heat something and eat a real meal. I’m talking cheese and crackers for dinner. So when I finally was home to make dinner on Thursday night, it was up to me to use the leftovers. I made this stir-fry, using the Spanish pork from earlier in the week. That’s one of the great things about stir-fry, as long as you have nice fresh veggies, you can start with raw or cooked meat and end up with great results.

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Marissa hasn’t been feeling quite right lately, so she is self-diagnosing and trying to go gluten-free for a week. Oh well, what can a mother do? The one thing this mom can do is help with food prep. Along those lines, we made this calamari recipe with rice flour instead of all-purpose flour. It tasted fine, but the rice flour doesn’t stick quite as well as wheat flour, which left the calamari a bit less crispy than we like, but still plenty tasty.

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I’m making these quick and easy appetizers for our neighborhood Bunco tonight. I know I’ve said it before, but I have the best neighbors and the most fun neighborhood! We are very blessed!

The Ahi tuna marinates for only 20 minutes in a mixture of sherry, sesame oil, sugar, and mushroom soy sauce. (Do not marinate longer or the marinate will totally mask the wonderful tuna flavor, and you paid good money for that!) Mushroom soy sauce is a Chinese dark soy sauce that adds straw mushroom essence to the sauce’s brew. It has a deep, rich flavor and more body and complexity than regular soy sauce and can be used in place of other types of soy sauce in most recipes. The brand to look for in Asian markets is Pearl River Bridge. [Read more →]

I’ve taken four of my favorite Spanish ingredients and stuffed them into a pork loin, creating a perfect Sunday supper. I believe you could take Spanish dry-cured chorizo, piquillo pepper, Marcona almonds, and smoked paprika and make just about anything more wonderful than it was before!

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