Say cheeeeese

Ricotta Cheesecake. It’s a marvelous thing. Do this.

If you will recall, a while back, we were cheesemaking with some abandon. And we quit, mostly because we couldn’t get raw milk for a while. And then we got on that fling with kefir, which has since gone by the wayside. And I got to jonesing for some cheese.

So I got a gallon of milk from the Mountain Pastures people, and I set about making a batch of ricotta over the Memorial Day weekend. It would’ve been mozzarella, but for the fact I’d left my Whole Foods bag with the rennet in the fridge at work and I didn’t feel like going back down there and fighting the alarm system, which doesn’t like me. So, ricotta.

I heated the milk to 185 degrees, poured in a quarter-cup of cider vinegar, and let it sit. Went away for 30 minutes, let the curds form. I kind of drug the spoon through it, and instead of whey, found….milk.

Experimental cookery Sunday

As usual, Sunday is my day for kitchen experimentation.

So far, I have made pie crust dough, for the tomato pie I’ll cook later today, and I have a cheesecake just out of the oven. And later on, I’ll make the pasta with peas  and pancetta. Maybe. If I don’t save it until later this week.

I have this thing with pie crust. I don’t do it well, or at least never have, and then Pillsbury came out with those rolled-up-in-the-dairy-case numbers. But I volunteered to test this recipe for Food 52, so I’m obliged to follow it to the letter, or at least as nearly so as I can.

Updated Friday check-in

Well, I can tell it’s getting close to move day; I’m getting wired. It’s past midnight and I just left the kitchen. I have done some prep work for the frittatta — fried up the potatos, browned and drained the chorizo. They’re in plastic bags awaiting transport to the mother-in-law’s (Child B’s, not mine). I’ve made the cheesecake. I’ve made the salsa, a smidge of which I stole as a mixer for some rum.

Come to find out, the Key Lime cheesecake out of Calypso Cooking is pretty close to Grandma’s, as best I recall. Thusly:

FILLING:

• 3 8-0z packages cream cheese, softened
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup Key Lime juice*
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour*
• 3/4 cup sugar

TOPPING

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar

*In deference to Child B’s gluten allergy, and because I was doing the salsa, I cut the lime juice back to 1/4 cup and used regular limes because I had them and wanted to use them up, and left out the flour. You need the flour if you’re going to use that much lime juice, else it’ll never firm up. I also omitted the crust, just using a cooking spray pretty liberally on the pie plate. One day, I shall have to splurge on a springform pan.

Blend all filling ingredients with a mixer or food processor until creamy. Pour into graham cracker crust or greased pie plate, and bake at 350 for 10 minutes; lower heat to 300 and continue baking for 55 minutes. Cool. Mix topping ingredients, spread over cooled cheesecake, and bake for 10 minutes at 400. Chill at least 24 hours before serving (mine will chill closer to 12, but that should do it).

For the salsa, I made some adaptations based on stuff I didn’t have, and didn’t want to buy a big quantity to get the small quantity I needed. Here’s my version:

Delta Rumrunner Fruit Salsa (Adapted from Calypso Cooking)

• 1 pound container frozen sliced strawberries in sugar, thawed
• 1/2 cup dark rum
• 1 tbsp coconut extract
• 1 sliced banana
• 1 cup orange juice
• juice of 2 limes
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup blackberries
• 2 diced bananas
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, halved or quartered, depending on size
• 1 cup diced pineapple

UPDATE: I have, above, changed the orignial 2tbsp of coconut extract, which Ihad adapted from 6tbsp coconut rum, to 1 tbsp. 2 is way too much coconut.

Blend, in a blender or food processor, first six ingredients (strawberries through lime juice). Pour over fruit, and fold gently to blend. (There’s enough blender mix to sneak a half-cup and use it to mix yourself a rum fruity thing. Since the rum’s out there on the counter already and all.) Refrigerate overnight, and up to a week.

I could SO see this over ice cream, pound cake, pudding, angel food cake, or damn near anything, up to and including straight out of the bowl with a spoon. It might could do with a bit less coconut; (NB: Yeah, it could. See above.)  I will reserve judgment until the flavors have a chance to blend tomorrow. (NB2: Doesn’t help.)  If you had a bounteous crop of strawberries, there’s no reason you couldn’t macerate a couple of pints in maybe 1/4 or so cup of sugar and not use the frozen ones.

Child B’s mother-in-law (whom I think I will abbreviate as “the mother-in-law” as Child A’s M-I-L is deceased and Child C has not yet acquired one) is making creme brulee in the morning. I may die. If so, I will die happy. I love creme brulee more than, well, lots of things. And she’s making cheese grits, and a fruit tray, and I dunno what all else. And we are going to eat copious quantities of everything. Because we can. And then I’m going to come home and go borrow a pickup truck and go get bookcases, so the movers can move them.

And I’ve got to be out in East Jesus (Cordova, TN) at 9:30. So I guess I’d best go to bed. Tell y’mama ‘n ‘em g’night.