Cheese Admiration and Celebration

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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,629 Member
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    Last night I tried making a cacio e pepe type sauce but with additional ingredients which worked pretty well. I cheat by adding half a teaspoon of sodium citrate to a quarter cup of starchy pasta water in a small sauce pan and bring that to a simmer. The sodium citrate stabilizes the cheese, making the sauce less likely to split. Whisked in 50g of finely grated parmesan, then a few tablespoons of mushrooms the hubby sauteed earlier today. Finely stirred in a teaspoon of truffle artichoke pesto we dragged home from vacation in Siena last month. I wasn't sure if truffle pesto would lose it's flavour if heated. An easy way to make a cheese sauce base for other pasta sauces. I will try other pantry staples such as chopped sun dried tomatoes, olive tapenade for variations on a light cheese sauce.
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  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,629 Member
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    Apologies for spelling and grammatical errors. Finally on finely.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
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    acpgee wrote: »
    Last night I tried making a cacio e pepe type sauce but with additional ingredients which worked pretty well. I cheat by adding half a teaspoon of sodium citrate to a quarter cup of starchy pasta water in a small sauce pan and bring that to a simmer. The sodium citrate stabilizes the cheese, making the sauce less likely to split. Whisked in 50g of finely grated parmesan, then a few tablespoons of mushrooms the hubby sauteed earlier today. Finely stirred in a teaspoon of truffle artichoke pesto we dragged home from vacation in Siena last month. I wasn't sure if truffle pesto would lose it's flavour if heated. An easy way to make a cheese sauce base for other pasta sauces. I will try other pantry staples such as chopped sun dried tomatoes, olive tapenade for variations on a light cheese sauce.
    okn4q7f6f2le.jpeg

    I’m eyeballing your side salad with unadulterated lust
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,629 Member
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    That salad is cherry tomatoes, roast paprika, mozarella, and olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic. Every couple of weeks we buy 6 paprikas and blacken them in the air fryer to peel and store in the fridge covered in olive oil.

    Traditional recipes tell you to leave the whole blackened peppers to cool in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, but they are easier to peel if you cool them in a tupperware type air tight container. As they cool a layer of steam gets trapped between the skin and the flesh making the skins easy to rub off.

    You can buy peeled paprikas in jars from the supermarket, but they contain something acidic as a preservative that imparts a flavour I don't like.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
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    acpgee wrote: »
    That salad is cherry tomatoes, roast paprika, mozarella, and olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic. Every couple of weeks we buy 6 paprikas and blacken them in the air fryer to peel and store in the fridge covered in olive oil.

    Traditional recipes tell you to leave the whole blackened peppers to cool in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, but they are easier to peel if you cool them in a tupperware type air tight container. As they cool a layer of steam gets trapped between the skin and the flesh making the skins easy to rub off.

    You can buy peeled paprikas in jars from the supermarket, but they contain something acidic as a preservative that imparts a flavour I don't like.

    I’ve tried googling paprika peppers, but am confused. Looks like can substitute a red bell pepper?
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,629 Member
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    springlering62 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    That salad is cherry tomatoes, roast paprika, mozarella, and olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic. Every couple of weeks we buy 6 paprikas and blacken them in the air fryer to peel and store in the fridge covered in olive oil.

    Traditional recipes tell you to leave the whole blackened peppers to cool in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, but they are easier to peel if you cool them in a tupperware type air tight container. As they cool a layer of steam gets trapped between the skin and the flesh making the skins easy to rub off.

    You can buy peeled paprikas in jars from the supermarket, but they contain something acidic as a preservative that imparts a flavour I don't like.

    I’ve tried googling paprika peppers, but am confused. Looks like can substitute a red bell pepper?

    Sorry, that is a continental difference. Red bell pepper is the same thing. If you google for recipes you will get lots of variations, with halving, leaving whole, blackening them on the gas hob or oven. For me the easiest method is the air fryer, left whole.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
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    acpgee wrote: »
    . For me the easiest method is the air fryer, left whole.

    That is sheer genius.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
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    Well, I ate alllllll the Christmas cookies and can sincerely say, I’m over them.


    Til mid-afternoon, anyway, unless I can convince husband to hide them til the kids come back.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,221 Member
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    springlering62 wrote: »
    Well, I ate alllllll the Christmas cookies and can sincerely say, I’m over them.


    Til mid-afternoon, anyway, unless I can convince husband to hide them til the kids come back.

    That's because cookies aren't cheese. Me, I can moderate cheese, but I'm never going to be over it.

    Cookies? Mostly meh. And 100% not cheese (usually, except those cheesecake-layer ones).
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,221 Member
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    Biiig sale on cheese at WF, 35% off a bunch of good stuff (though one of the items shown was more like 17% off).

    I couldn't resist. The top two are both Cypress Grove, Humboldt Fog at left, Truffle Tremor at right.

    97onigpfwced.jpg

    That's a lot of cheese for one person. I will have to stay strong and soldier on with it. ;)

    I started by eating some of the Bijou alongside a slice of amazing "Danish Seed Bread" from the baker who sells at the farmers market. I can't remember what-all is in there, Einkorn and rye and a bunch of seeds . . . so good!

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  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Well, I ate alllllll the Christmas cookies and can sincerely say, I’m over them.


    Til mid-afternoon, anyway, unless I can convince husband to hide them til the kids come back.

    That's because cookies aren't cheese. Me, I can moderate cheese, but I'm never going to be over it.

    Cookies? Mostly meh. And 100% not cheese (usually, except those cheesecake-layer ones).

    Whoops! I thought this was the other thread.

    Lesson learned : never hijack cheese with cookies. Or serve together, either.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,221 Member
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    springlering62 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    springlering62 wrote: »
    Well, I ate alllllll the Christmas cookies and can sincerely say, I’m over them.


    Til mid-afternoon, anyway, unless I can convince husband to hide them til the kids come back.

    That's because cookies aren't cheese. Me, I can moderate cheese, but I'm never going to be over it.

    Cookies? Mostly meh. And 100% not cheese (usually, except those cheesecake-layer ones).

    Whoops! I thought this was the other thread.

    Lesson learned : never hijack cheese with cookies. Or serve together, either.

    :D I kinda figured you meant to post on another thread.

    And personally, I would take a chunk of delicious . . . oh, let's say cranberry Stilton . . . with some nice shortbread cookies, right about now.

    Cheese and cookies can go together. 😋
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,221 Member
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    I'm not usually a fan of the USA tendency to turn every food into a candy, and that skepticism applies to cheese. But Vermont Creamery makes some very delicious cheeses, so I was willing to take a chance . . . especially since it was on sale, more than 25% off.

    I can't overstate how delicious this is. It's not super sweet, but very rich, and tastes noticeably of cherries. The word "decadent" on the label is IMO not an oversell.

    (Apologies for the fuzzy photos; you get the idea.)

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    The ingredients are non-fake-y: Goat cheese (goat's milk, salt, enzymes), semi sweet chocolate chips (cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter), honey, dried cherries (cherries, cane sugar, rice flower, sunflower oil), cocoa (processed with alkali), natural flavor (which I'd bet includes cherry, because there's a noticeable but not overwhelming flavor of cherry). It's 5g added sugar per ounce of cheese, as if I cared, and 90 very worthwhile calories. ;)
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
    edited January 6
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    Lidl had a gingerbread goat cheese for the holidays that was good, too. It was half off yesterday when we did the shopping but I didn’t get any.

    Overseas daughter sent us some Wisconsin cheeses that arrived yesterday, from a creamery sharing the family name. My husband flipped out at that. She probably got the idea from the genealogy email that issues from the “family castle” in Scotland.

    Will be breaking that open very, very soon. 👍🏻

    I’m waiting for a text, too, asking if we’ve cut the (family) cheese yet. 😂
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,283 Member
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    While I was waiting for a key to be cut, I wandered next door to a store that sells overstocked foods. Some of it can be a decent value, some not so much. Sometimes the "best by" date is coming close. Sometimes it's just a distributor or manufacturer overstock. I picked up a few things, some being more treat-like. I figured this was a good time to try the Patagonia smoked Sockeye salmon - shelf stable. It's in the pantry for a river trip or a hike or who knows. It was discounted about 60% off, so I figured I'd try it.

    I also picked up a tub of sheep feta in brine from Bulgaria (that's practically Greece, right?) and a wedge of "Iberico Curado" from Spain. It's cow, sheep, and goat milk cheese packed in olive oil. Oddly, even with the oil added, it's still 120 calories per ounce. Obviously the feta is lower.

    Then I saw something familiar, so I had to get it. It wasn't even a great value. It was just a trip down memory lane. It's a small chunk of Muenster. The reason it's a trip down memory lane is that it's made in the city where I went to graduate school in Utah. We used to go out to their factory and buy their "ends and pieces" for cheap. They actually don't make the cheese - they buy it in huge wheels or blocks and cut it and repackage it. Indeed, this is an end-cut from a block of Muenster. And the "best by" date is my own personal birthday. I had to get some. It was only two and a half bucks.

    I picked up a wedge of a German brie with wild mushrooms the other day. It's become a regular, and I think it's great if you let it sit out on the counter for an hour or three before you dig in so the flavors can really come up.

    I am sure I will smile when I eat these. Yep - a cheesy grin.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,494 Member
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    I just realized yesterday that a small tour we are taking later this year will include not only a trip to a small cheesery in rural Romania, but the opportunity to make our own.

    I am wild with excitement.

    Learning to make a farmers cheese is HIGH on my bucket list.

    Still playing with sugar free Labneh cheesecake. Effort #2 was OK’er, but needs tweaking. I have read up and made a shortlist of technique improvements- less mixing and shorter bake time. The blueberry one I just made was 596 calories and sugar free except natural sugars in the labneh and berries. We were each able to enjoy a quarter pie at a time, since it was low cal.

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