Tuesday is becoming our “Make Your Own Salad” night. We all look forward to it, and we all participate in the preparation. I look on it as a little kitchen class for the kids. They get to use sharp knives – great fun!
Anyway, here’s a look at last night’s culinary adventures…
I almost feel like I should post this under an assumed name, what with all my perky, healthy, Look! We Grow Vegetables! posts lately.
It’s…I don’t even know what to call it, other than one of the yummiest breakfasts I’ve ever had.
It’s a fried egg on top of warmed goat milk mozzarella on top of arugula on top of a piece of leftover pizza dough that was fried in bacon fat.
Yes. Bacon fat.
And yes. It was that good.
Here’s how it happened…
I’ve been making cheese for a few years now, but not as frequently as I’d like, and certainly not as many varieties as I’d like. I’m hoping to kick myself into a higher gear as this summer flies by, and maintain that gear through the rest of the year.
Well, it smokes at one a.m., anyway.
Yep, it’s the middle of the night, and I’ve just put a 9+ pound pork butt in the smoker. It should be done around twelve hours from now. Lunchtime tomorrow. Or, actually, lunchtime much later today.
My husband thinks I’m nuts.
When my husband got home from work yesterday I told him “I am SO cool!” And to prove it, I showed him what I’d done.
Actually, I wasn’t quite this far along when he got home – the cheese was still in the smoker.
But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Yesterday afternoon the kids and I went to my sister’s house. I was helping Natalie with a cooking project for school, and after we did that, I showed her how to make mozzarella!
This past Friday I came home with plenty of goodies from the Farmers' Market. With my haul, I planned to make mozzarella, ricotta, jam, and pie, at the very least.
Since I was going to make mozzarella, I figured I should make pizza for dinner. So I'd also need to make pizza dough.
And we were out of bread, so I needed (or kneaded, ho ho ho) to make a couple of loaves of bread, too.
That, plus whatever sanding/applying joint compound stuff I did in the bedrooms.
My problem was I didn't really start any of this - the baking/cheesemaking part - until after I'd picked up Alex from school. I felt like I had PLENTY of time.
Ha.
I admit it, I was poking around on Photograzing (the Serious Eats version of sites like Food Gawker and Tastespotting), checking to see if the bread photo I'd submitted had been posted. It had - but right next to my pale white bread photo was a luscious looking sandwich of roasted vegetables, goat cheese, and… Continue reading Open-Faced Flattery
I've gotten behind on my posts, so much so that I've done two more batches each of Ricotta and Mozzarella but haven't written about them yet. I'm not going to rehash the whole recipe and process every time. If you want to see the original Ricotta-making post, go here. And if you want to see… Continue reading Ricotta and Mozzarella: Practice Makes Perfect (Better Still, Practice Makes More Cheese)
WOO HOOOO! I DID IT! I told my sister yesterday that when I was done and all the mozzarella balls were formed (or eaten), I felt this urge to cry...it was similar to after both my kids were born, only without the pain. And, of course, not as wonderful and amazing as my children, flesh… Continue reading Fresh, HOMEMADE Mozzarella!