Remember all that milk we had? Here's where more of that homemade ricotta ended up. This time, it's polenta (bought from a local farmer) with tomato braised chard and white beans with homemade ricotta. More milk went to homemade yogurt. Troy and I were up early one morning, before Jasper woke up and both prepping something in the kitchen. As I looked over what he had going, I realized we were both working on the same thing-- homemade yogurt. So we've been having said yogurt with local blueberries and raspberries from our garden for breakfast. I wish the blueberries were from our garden as well but we can't seem to produce them...
Ok, I admit it. It was so hot, we ate take-out three days in a row. But before the lethargy hit, we made and ate a delicious steak salad. We sat outside and enjoyed the tiniest breeze until we just couldn't take the mosquitoes anymore.
Grilled hanger steak salad with garden lettuces, grilled corn, garden sugar snap peas, basil and mint.
So, we're getting WIC (coupons for free food for women, infants and children). For a family of three, we're getting 5 and a half gallons of milk a month. That's insane! Do people really consume that much milk? I wish that we could up the amount of veggies we get (only $10 worth) and forgo some of the milk (and frozen juice and 6 cans of tuna a month too!), but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Instead, I decided it was finally time to learn to make cheese.
So, here's my first attempt. I made ricotta and we had:
homemade pizza with tomato sauce (from last year's garden tomatoes), zucchini and crookneck squash, corn, spring onions, basil and fresh homemade ricotta.
We also had a lovely salad with garden lettuces, garden sugar snaps, spring carrots and cucumber.
After a year long break from documenting our every tasty morsel, we're back to gardening, cooking and enjoying the fruits of our labor.
First up is a beautiful roast chicken with crispy roasted potatoes and arugula salad. The cherries in the salad come from our lapin cherry tree, planted in honor of chauncey the bunny (rip after 13 long years of life).
And here's the reason for the long break, and our new favorite past time:
David’s mac & cheese, as re-interpreted over the years
Preheat oven to 350*
Boil in salted water (should be like sea water) until just before al dente: 1 lb pasta (like macaroni shaped or penne or whatever you like)
Grate 1 lb+. cheese of choice. I like to use some jack, as it melts well, and is a good medium for the other highly flavored cheeses you should consider using like: sharp cheddar, gruyere, pecorino, goat cheese etc.
Meanwhile, sauté a small diced onion in a few TBSP butter until soft over medium heat. Add a couple cloves of garlic, smashed, and sauté another minute. Add another TBSP butter and four TBSP flour, sauté to lightly toast the flour, about a minute (should be the consistency of wet sand). Add, oh, 1 cup milk slowly and whisk to break up clumps. Slowly add milk until you get a sauce with the consistency of heavy cream or campbell’s tomato soup, just out of the can (should be about 3 cups total). Add salt; I like to add some smoked paprika and woscheshire sauce. Taste for seasoning (should be highly seasoned). Add oh, ½ the cheese.
Now, layer in a buttered casserole (I actually make this recipe in 2 dishes and freeze one): pasta, roux (milk/cheese sauce) and cheese in about 2-3 layers.
In David’s version, you’d put some pats of butter over your pasta layers, then sprinkle on wheat germ. That’s good—the germ is kind of sweet, and yummy. What I do is sauté some breadcrumbs very lightly in butter and garlic and toss in some wheat germ at the end and sprinkle this (liberally) over the pasta.
Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly. If you’ve made two casseroles (you smart thing), take the one you’ll freeze out of the oven after about a half hour, let cool, wrap in foil then in plastic, label and freeze.
