My apologies again for a lack of posts recently. I could blame it on a couple trips out of town, but most likely the real reason is that it is too darn hot to do anything right now. My knitting is suffering, although I have recently started a new project.
I also - finally - attempted my first batch of cheese. Specifically, paneer, which seems to be the easiest cheese to make (no rennet or stretching as in mozzarella). Following is the recipe I used and a quick how-to with photos...
Ingredients: 1/2 gallon of whole milk and 1/4 cup lemon juice.
Next, create a device from which you can hang your cheese over a bowl to drain. This was mine: a plate rack and plastic spoon.
Prepare a colander lined with cheesecloth, set over another bowl.
Pour the milk in a large pot, and cook on the stovetop over medium-high heat until it begins to boil. Watch it carefully. I just stirred it the whole time because I've lost too many pots of boiling milk to that whole foam-explosion thing.
Once the milk is boiling, slowly add the lemon juice.
Almost immediately, curds will begin separating from the whey.
Turn off the heat or move your pot off the burner, and let sit for a few minutes. Then, pour the pot contents through the colander.
The curds will remain in the cheesecloth. Tie up opposite corners of the cheesecloth around your plastic spoon, or whatever you are using to hang it, and let it hang over a bowl for about 30 minutes.
Untie the cheesecloth, place it on a small plate, and lay the cloth flat across the curds.
Put another plate over the cloth and load it up with a couple heavy books. Let sit for about 2 hours.
Cheese!
I sliced the cheese into little cubes, which I then lightly fried and used to make palak paneer. It was delicious! The paneer is very firm. Well, mine was very firm. You should be able to knead the cheese during the post-hanging phase, but mine was too firm to knead. I think I might have been too ambitious in squeezing out all the whey. Some people add salt during kneading, or flour if it is too soft. You can also add herbs and spices to the paneer during the boiling phase.
You will have a large pot of whey when you are finished. Do not dump it down the drain! Whey has many, many uses. You can substitute it for water in bread recipes to make softer bread (I used it to make naan with my palak paneer). You can use it as a stock to make soups and sauces, or to cook rice or polenta. It is used to make ricotta cheese (ricotta means "recooked"). You can even use it in your bath to make your skin silky smooth - and judging by how soft my hands were after handling whey-soaked cheesecloth, I think it would work well. I almost want to make cheese just to have the whey available.
This recipe was a wonderfully easy way to start experimenting with cheese-making. Someday I would like to attempt mozzarella (caprese salad, anyone?). If you give this a try, let me know how you do!
