Mozzarella

Once again, totally not baking but still awfully interesting...to me at least. I recently read a book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver a great read it makes me wish I had 1/4 of an acre and the ability to grow things. Anyway, in the book she mentions making cheese, which sounded rather good to me. So I sent away for a package of goodies that included: citric acid, and rennet tablets (vegetarian) (amongst other things. And I made cheese. Not the greatest, but just the beginning!

In nut shell you add citric acid to cool milk (whole milk, pasteurized not ultra pasteurized) then heat it up. You add some rennet, let it sit, until the curds have separated, drain it, heat it up again pour out the excess whey and stretch it to create the shape. I also added thyme and lemon. That's it! For the milk I used Jersey Cows Milk which tastes pretty good - more of a warm flavor.

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

This is a strange one. It is at once sweet (due to the thick layer of jam) and yet strangely savory in the cheese portion. It is very easy to make, and you can use low fat versions of the cheeses as I did, and it sets just as well.

Ingredients: Crust
1.75 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ingredients: Filling
1/3 cup of thick berry jam (I used raspberry jam, with some fresh raspberries thrown in as well)
9 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
8 ounces cottage cheese, at room temp.
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly grated cinnamon
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs at room temp.

Method: Crust
1. Butter a 9 inch springform pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place on a baking sheet.
2. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse just to blend.
3. Toss in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Stir the egg yolks and vanilla extract together with a fork, and add to the flour/butter mixture.
5. Pulse until the dough forms clumps - but not a single ball.
6. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead to get the dry ingredients integrated.
7. Press into the springform pan. The crust should come up the sides around 1.5 inches.
8. Refrigerate for at least 30min.
9. Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 375F.
10. Fit a piece of buttered aluminium foil against the crust, covering it completely.
11. Fill the crust with dried beans or with rice and slide the baking sheet with the pan into the oven.
12. Bake for 20min, then carefully remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5 min.
13. Transfer to a rack to cool.
14. Lower the temp. of the oven to 350F.

Method: Filling
1. Stir the jam and spread it over the bottom of the crust (it's quite alright to do this when the crust is still warm). It was at this stage I also added fresh raspberries, I simply put them on top of the jam and then squished them down with the back of a fork.
2. Put the cream cheese and cottage cheese into the food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times, for 2 min.
3. Add the sugar, salt and spices, and process for another 30 seconds.
4. Add the eggs and process, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl some more. Process for 1 min.
5. Pour the filling over the jam layer.
6. Bake for 60-70 min, or until the filling is uniformly puffed and no longer jiggly.
7. Gently transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool to room temp. During this time, the cake will lose its puffiness and will collapse to forms a thin layer of cake.
8. Run a blunt knife between the crust and the sides of the pan, then open and remove the sides of the springform.
9. If you like you can dust the slices of cake with icing sugar.

Once again this is from the amazing book by Dorrie Greenspan "Baking: From My Home to Yours" pp. 240-3.

Hatchapuri

An easy, doughy, cheesy pastry. Feel free to add more cheese, or less, or even change the cheeses completely. A very satisfying savory pastry.

Ingredients: Dough

2.25 cups all purpose flour

1 cup plain yogurt

1 egg

1/4 stick butter, softened

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

Ingredients: Filling

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup Swiss cheese

2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425F or 220C. Put in a baking tray to heat up.

2. In a large bowl tip in yogurt and break in eggs, with a fork mulch the butter into the mixture.

3. Add scoopfuls of flour, until a dough is made. You may not need all the flour. Keep working the mixture until it comes away from the bowl.

4. Sprinkle the salt and baking soda, a little at a time, working it in with your hands.

5. Put the dough in the fridge for 20min.

6. For the filling grate the Swiss and Parmesan, and combine together in a bowl with the ricotta cheese.

7. Divide the dough in two. Flatten out half the dough, and place the filling on it, leaving a gap of 2cm (around 1inch) from the sides.

8. Flatten the second half, and place over the first. Curl up the edges, and press with a fork to make the edges stick.

9. Put onto the heated baking tray, and bake for 15--20min.

Taken from Nigella Lawson “Feast: Food to Celebrate Life” pp. 306-309