So...anyone else make cheese this weekend? Just me, then? Okay.
I whipped up a batch of paneer, which in the past I'd always confused with the Panera Bread Cafe. I've heard good things about both and they're both food related, so it's understandable.
Coconut & Lime gave a recipe a couple weeks ago and I was intruiged. It didn't seem too hard. The ingredients are basically whole milk and lemon. Simple, right? It did require an adventure through the aisles of Albertson's, which I like to call The Epic Quest for Cheese Cloth.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Once milk heats up, it froths up very fast. There was some spillage onto the super hot burner and now we have this burn mark that we can't get off of our stove. Oops.
2. It's because of this that I don't think it got quite as hot as it needed to be. I still added the lemon juice anyhow and let it curdle, which is a pretty cool process to watch.
3. The draining took longer than I thought and was quite messy.
4. The yield was much less than I anticipated--that was a bummer. I only got about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup, when the recipe said I'd get 1 1/2 to 2 cups.
5. The texture is similar to mascarpone and it tastes a bit like unsalted ricotta.
6. So far, I've tried it with rice and cinnamon and vanilla--that was tasty. Even better was Sunday dinner. We made sausage marinara sauce and mixed a bit of the paneer in with that. Yum. Next time I make it, I want to try Saag Paneer.
Fun fact: I bought the plate with three other vintage poster style dessert plates on Saturday at the dollar store of all places. Better yet, they were only sixty-six cents because the store's going out of business. They're enough to keep me satisfied and smiling until I can afford these.
P.S. I went this whole post without making a "That's so cheesy!" joke. You should be proud.
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Skillz! ;) (Making cheesing AND refraining from the pun.)
Holly said...
June 24, 2008 at 6:19 PM
You made your own cheese? That is very ambitious! And awesome.
shelleycoughlin said...
June 24, 2008 at 6:33 PM
Cheese and plates are two things I am coveting right now
Anonymous said...
June 24, 2008 at 6:34 PM
I cannot believe that you made your own cheese! For whatever reason, I imagined cheese being a more drawn-out, complicated process.
I kind of want to try it now!
EP said...
June 24, 2008 at 8:48 PM
Ooh! I've had Saag Paneer at a local Indian place, and it was REALLY good.
Q said...
June 24, 2008 at 9:38 PM
I love trying to make that. I've never even heard of Paneer though, so I'm not sure if I'd know if I made it right.
Anonymous said...
June 24, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Wow, I am incredibly impressed by your super mad cheese making skillz! Seriously... I don't even shred cheese by hand, so I am in awe of your home made cheese!
Anonymous said...
June 25, 2008 at 12:47 AM
Did you use whole milk? 2% makes less.
You also probably lost some milk when it over boiled, that happened to me the first time I made it. That's also probably why it took so long to drain/was so messy-less churds, more whey.
Cheese making a variable thing! Some times I've made it and gotten a ton more than expected, other times, not so much.
Rachel said...
June 25, 2008 at 4:53 AM
That is SO COOL.
I've always wanted to make cheese. Maybe I will. :)
Ashley // Our Little Apartment said...
June 25, 2008 at 6:35 AM
wow, seriously awesome. Now I want to make and consume paneer!
Anonymous said...
June 25, 2008 at 7:00 AM
Cool! I made gouda cheese a couple of months ago, myself. (http://la-belle-ecrivaine.blogspot.com/2008/03/thats-some-gouda-cheese.html)
It was quite the interesting process! I was going to try and age it for six months, but without a proper temperature-controlled wooden crate, I was afraid of what sort of nasty could grow from it.
I've never had paneer before, but it sounds tasty enough if you compare it to ricotta and marscapone. Do you think it'd be a nice cheese to use in a lasagna? If so, we may attempt to make some when we go all out on Lasagna Night next month!
Belle Ecrivaine said...
June 25, 2008 at 7:36 AM
I love saag paneer. I just wish it didn't look so narsty.
golfwidow said...
June 25, 2008 at 7:53 AM
I'm highly impressed! I had no idea that paneer could come from anywhere other than the Indian restaurant.
Noelle said...
June 25, 2008 at 8:12 AM
I LOVE cheese...a few months ago we were on a real cheese kick. We would buy all these different kinds and eat them every day. Paneer is yummy stuff, although I haven't quite mustered up the courage to make my own. Kudos to you for trying! Panera Bread is also quite yummy :)
Marissa said...
June 25, 2008 at 10:12 AM
My gramma used to make cheese that way, usually when the milk was just about ready to spoil. (It was a lot easier to find cheesecloth back in the day.)
But I'm a little wary of saag paneer. I thought it sounded like a good vegetarian dish, but my vegetarian daughter told me you have to eat it with your eyes closed; evidently it looks a lot like a baby's diaper. (TMI, right?)
harrietv said...
July 20, 2008 at 11:49 AM