Queso Fresco..easiest way possible

Bunch of varying recipes online. Heres an example.

So I did it as simple as possible on this first try.

-Heat 1/2 gallon of (I used 2% this time bc i ate an entire gallon of whole milks worth of mozz on friday) to 190 degrees

-Add 5 tablespoons distilled white vinegar, and a pinch of citric acid.

-let sit 10 mins.

-strain through cheese cloth

Result:

Fresh Homemade Mozzarella

First attempt:
Not sure if I'm a fan of this "Pioneer Woman"...but the recipe is straight forward and the result looks good so I gave it a try...

You need three things: whole milk, rennet and citric acid. Berkeley bowl didnt have either, I went to a cheese shop on shattuck called the Sacred wheel...$10 each, so not cheap, but its enough to make many many batches.


Didn't look quite right after letting it sit, super curdy, and not custardy looking, but I just continued on.

Here is what I came out with (only microwaved it twice, not thrice)


YUM.

Pita Bread and Hummus!

Wanted to make hummus. Needed a vehicle.

Another dough. Pretty damn simple, basically pizza dough.

Looked over a few recipes, used  smitten kitchen's. 

Used a cast iron skillet in an oven heated to ~500 F

Made about half of them after only letting the dough rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Didnt bubble up and expand very much but still good. 

Made the other half the next morning and they turned out even better!

Pita Bread and Hummus!

Wanted to make hummus. Needed a vehicle.

Another dough. Pretty damn simple, basically pizza dough.

Looked over a few recipes, used  smitten kitchen's. 

Used a cast iron skillet in an oven heated to ~500 F

Made about half of them after only letting the dough rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Didnt bubble up and expand very much but still good. 

Made the other half the next morning and they turned out even better!

Pickles!

Pickles are great. Pickle all of the things. 

Whadya got?

ALL OF THE SALSAS

I love salsa.
Standard one from a while back:


More to cum

Homemade Ravioli! Pasta dough and fillin's

12/22/19 Homemade Ravioli
Pasta dough base for ravioli
Spinach ricotta filling





2011 some time, attempt 1:
I was on a dough kick for one of the first times (there have been other dough kicks).
This was the first attempt at homemade ravioli the year after college. we did it all by hand, it took all day:

filling:

Soft Pretzels

Soft Pretzels 3.7.20
Trying this recipe this time

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Great paired with some homemade or infused mustards.

Soft pretzel bites I made for a dinner party:

Tried this once before at the rent's house and it went pretty well.


Onion Jame as a pretzel dip:

Pizzas.. all of the Pizzas

I love pizza. I make it a lot. It has endless possibilities. Post all of the pizzas..

quail eggs on the za:

 

Red onion marmalade and mushroom:

red onion jam, homemade ricotta, and pruschuto (sp??) fucking good


this one at a pizza place in Baltimore, BBQ chicken, cilantro, corn, jalapeno. i was hooked, went back twice in one weekend.

Tofu Pad Thai

Anna and I made this a couple weeks ago. Tofu. normally dont go out of my way to eat it, but was feeling like it this particular night. 

THINGS WE WANT TO TRY MAKING

• Kimchi
• Bagels
• bacon red onion marmalade
• creamed corn
• pot stickers (try somethign unique with these?)
• fruit preserve hand pies (mind of a chef)
• rum balls (Anna was talking about this)
• Chickedn tikka masala
• homemade bbq sauce
• garlic naan
• mustards of sorts

Quick Pickled Red Onions

Awesome quick way to make some pickled red onions. Great taco topping

• 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• Combine in jar/bowl and let sit
• What else could you add?
• Jalapeños
• garlic

Habanero (or any chile...or anything!) Infused Maple Syrup

For a brunch at a friend's house I wanted to mix it up. I made little pancake/sausage corndogs using pancake batter and brown and serve sausages. I made some infused syrups as a compliment

Warm up the syrup. I believe I added a little bit of water, because it was reducing as it was warm.
Low heat, added sliced habenero peppers and let it simmer for 30 minutes? removed the peppers and that was that. EXTREMELY SPICY but so darn good. The little "corndog" pancake dogs were awesome in it.

Honey and Balsamic Vinegar Reduction

• Add balsamic vinegar to a saucepan, get it hot but not too hot, its easy to burn
• Add honey as you see fit
• stir a lot
• reduce heat to medium/low and stir every once and a while for a half hour-hour, as long as it takes to reduce to a more syrupy sticky consistency
• cool it off

liquid gold

serve it on caprese salad, or…?

Mom's Simplest GNO famous Grape Jelly Meatballs

• 1:1 ratio chili sauce to grape jelly (usually like 32 oz for a couple bags)
• frozen mini meatballs
• throw it all in a crockpot on high

Serve on hotdog buns (the best way) with parmesan cheese and sriracha. Prepare to eat about 100 and feel sick.

Shishito chile damn good appetizer snack

had this one at forge in jack london square oakland as an appetizer. Loved them and they seemed super simple to make. Heres the simple deets:

• high heat in a pan veggie oil
• toss chiles
• once almost done add
• lemon
• garlic?
• salt/bpep

I've made dips for them as well that people liked.

Simple good one - Dijon/sour cream/sriracha mixed together. haha yum.

Red Onion Jam

Lemon Garlic Confit Aioli

OK so Anna and I had brusselsprouts at Mockingbird in DT oakland, with lemon garlic confit aioli, blue cheese, and saba (an aged balsamic of some sort). We loved it so I set out to recreate it.

I didn't find anything that completely fit the bill, but the combination of these two recipes got me close:
Aioli made with garlic confit
Meyer lemon garlic confit

I made a lot so I could play with it after. The sprouts turned out OK, but they just weren't as crispy and delicate as the ones we had at Mockingbird.

I filled a mason jar with the aioli and I ended up using it all over the place.
-coating cauliflower with it and baking.
-on grilled cheese...so good
-spread on little breads under bruschetta

Here it is on some little breads:

Mushroom Pate/spread

I loosely followed this recipe and it turned out really well. I added a good bit of garlic and a decent amount of brown sugar.
Spread it on toast
Going to try it as a Pizza sauce

Mustard Mustard Mustards

This is the first link you find when you google it and it happens to be a really good one.

My first attempt I went to whole foods and got white/yellow mustard seeds (all they had)
I added honey, and rosemary from our garden. I processed the seeds in the ninja blender, did not use any ground mustard. This turned out to be a REALLY pungent mustard, nearly too harsh for much use. I've tried it as a dip for fried chicken. Anna used it as a marinade for chicken, which turned out ok.

Next, I've purchased black, yellow, and ground mustard seed from Berkeley Bowl.
Goal is to make a dijon and some sort of spicy/chili mustard...tbd