Homemade chèvre

If someone put a gun to my head and told me to pick between savory and sweet, I would definitely go for savory. No second thoughts. There are so many options with savory food, you can make anything your heart desires, from fish and meat to pasta and every kind of salad imaginable. You can be freer, you can improvise, cook on a whim, not worry about grams and egg sizes and baking pan dimensions.

I could never live without my favorite savory dishes but I can live without sweets, well, at least for a day or two. There is something you can make though, that with the right combination, can offer you the best of both worlds. Something that can be used both in savory and sweet dishes. That is of course chèvre aka goat’s cheese. [Chèvre means goat in French]

The tart flavor of goat milk is what makes this cheese unique and the tang is what makes it pair so well with spinach and beef but also with honey and fruits.

Soft, crumbly, moist goat’s cheese is so easy to make at home that it’s crazy not to try it. The freshness, the aroma, especially when still warm, is incomparable to the mass-produced goat’s cheeses that you find at your local supermarket.

In my humble opinion, chèvre is far better tasting than ricotta or similar soft cow’s milk cheeses as it is more complex, creamy and rich due to the fact that goat’s milk has more fat than cow’s milk. And when you are lucky enough to find goat’s buttermilk and add it to the mix, it gives the cheese even more depth of flavor.

I have made chèvre many times and it always disappears from the fridge in a matter of hours. We like to smear it onto freshly toasted baguette slices or homemade barley bread drizzled with Greek extra virgin olive oil. It’s a snack that can only be surpassed by juicy tomatoes on sourdough but let’s not go there yet.

As I stated in the beginning of this post, this cheese is versatile in every sense of the word. You can add it to spanakopita or tyropita along with some good Greek feta, to this tartine, or perhaps this smoked trout and lentil salad. Crumbling it on top of pizza is an excellent idea, but so is adding it in a sweet tart with pistachios and honey. You can add some herbs like rosemary or thyme to your freshly made, supple cheese and serve it alongside crostini or grissini, or add it to an omelette which will most probably equal to the simplest, tastiest lunch you’ve had in months.

It’s just a matter of waiting; waiting for the whey to drip out, waiting for the cheese to dry. You will have to be patient, but in the end you will be rewarded with the clean, tangy taste of fresh, homemade chèvre.

Homemade Chèvre - Goat’s Cheese

The process of making this cheese is very easy but you will need a thermometer. It really helps and, if you cook a lot, it’s a good idea to buy one.

If you can’t find goat’s buttermilk which luckily I did, use cow’s buttermilk.

If you want a creamy consistency then I would advise you to let the cheese drain for 1 hour. After 2 hours it will be semi-soft and after 4 hours it will be very crumbly. Experiment, and if you end up with a more dry cheese than you’d prefer, add the whey back to the cheese, about ½ tsp at a time, folding it in until you reach the desired consistency.

Yield: about 300 g

Ingredients
750 ml fresh goat’s milk
500 ml fresh goat’s (or cow's if you can't find it) buttermilk
Juice of 1 lemon (about 60 ml)
½ tsp fine sea salt

Special equipment: candy/deep-frying thermometer, large cheesecloth or muslin cloth, fine sieve or colander


Preparation
In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the milk and buttermilk and attach the thermometer to the pan. Heat over medium-high heat and bring the milk to a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius / 175 Fahrenheit. It will take about 10 minutes to reach that temperature and at this point, the milk should bubble and start to curdle. If not, leave it on the heat until it does but don’t allow it to come to the boil.

Take it off the heat and add the lemon juice. Lightly stir with a spatula and you’ll clearly see it curdling. Don’t stir anymore and allow the temperature to drop to 55-60 degrees Celsius / 130-140 Fahrenheit. It will take about ½ hour and the curds will thicken as the temperature drops.

Line a fine sieve (or colander) with cheese or muslin cloth and set it over a large bowl to catch the whey. Slowly pour the curds into the cloth and drain the whey into the bowl. You can either save the whey for another use or throw it away. It would be good to throw it away after your cheese is ready in case it turns out too dry. By adding whey back into it, it will become creamy. Tie the top of the cheesecloth with baker’s twine, as close to the cheese and as tight as possible, and hang it somewhere in your kitchen over a bowl to catch the drippings.

Leave it for about 2 hours to have a proper chèvre consistency. (Or read notes above the ingredients list for alternatives).
Untie the twine, open the cloth and remove the cheese carefully. At this point, you can add your herbs and salt stirring them into the cheese or if you don’t want to mess with the nice ball of cheese, simply sprinkle salt over the top.

You can keep it in the fridge, inside a plate and covered with plastic wrap, for up to 1 week but if you’re anything like us, it will not last more than a day or two. Having said that, the flavor of the cheese will intensify after a couple of days in the fridge so perhaps the second time you make it, it would be worth it to leave it there to see the difference in taste.

The simple things

Sometimes I need to be reminded of the simple things; to stop and let the sun shine on my face, be alert, not let any chance pass me by, be in the moment, not think too much, enjoy the successes and not sweat the failures, taste food that is simple and unadorned and so flavorful it almost hurts.

I was planning on posting something else today. I almost hit ‘publish’ when I suddenly got so hungry I jumped up from my desk and landed in my kitchen, in front of the stove, heating up water to poach eggs. Me, eggs. I rarely eat eggs yet today I found myself craving them. The simple things…

Not a lot in my fridge, haven’t had the chance to go grocery shopping but felt like I didn’t need a lot anyway. Bread—two days old but still perfect for toasting—and butter would be enough to accompany my eggs that were now swirling around in the hot water all naked and exposed. Careful…

Salt, black pepper. Lunch.

The simple things...


I’ll be back soon. ‘Til then, let the sun shine on your face.

Poached Eggs on Buttered Toast

Yield: lunch for 1

Ingredients
2 eggs (I used small but go large if you prefer)
2 slices of whole wheat bread (or any other type of bread you like)
Butter
Salt
Black pepper, freshly ground


Preparation
Read here on how to poach eggs.

Toast the bread, generously butter the slices and place the poached eggs on top. Season with salt and pepper. Eat. Enjoy!

Poffertjes – Dutch mini pancakes

Holland is not famous for its culinary heritage and the Dutch will attest to that themselves. Their influences are so varied that everything is kind of intertwined. Flavors from Indonesia and Surinam (former Dutch colonies), from Morocco and Turkey, the Caribbean and the Middle East are all evident in Dutch cooking. The use of spices is prominent, they were the kings of the spice trade after all, and there is a strong influence from the French and German cuisines as well.

When people ask me to describe Dutch cuisine for them, I never know what to say exactly. The traditional Dutch food is based on mash and meat, soups and stews that are not at all appealing to my Mediterranean palate. I find them bland, boring and uninteresting. There are exceptions of course like their heavenly and famous cheeses, the bitterballen (meat-based fried snack) and other meaty and cheesy snacks, but where the Dutch really shine, is in their sweets. There the Dutch have something special going on for them.

It all started with the stroopwafel (thin waffle filled with caramel syrup), the first ever Dutch sweet I had in Holland; I swooned when I ate that. Then came the olieballen, large doughnut fritters filled with apples and cinnamon drenched in icing sugar, then came the bosche bollen, a riff on the French profiteroles but bigger, lighter and with more chocolate and cream, then the Dutch panenkoeken (large thin crepes) that are the best, and finally the little poffertjes.

Poffertjes are small pancakes made in a traditional poffertjesplaat, a special pan that has indentations which give the poffertjes their characteristic puffed up appearance on both sides. Poffertjes date back to the 17th century when Dutch monks used to offer them as hosts. During the French revolution, there was a shortage in wheat-flour so the monks started making the batter with buckwheat flour; the end result was a thicker and tastier host. Today, poffertjes are commonly made with a combination of wheat and buckwheat flour.

They are about two centimeters in diameter, they have a light, spongy and fluffy texture with a slightly creamy center and their flavor is somewhat neutral. They’re not sweet, as the batter doesn’t contain any sugar, which is why they are traditionally accompanied by copious amounts of icing sugar and are dotted with salted butter that slowly melts over the warm mini puffed-up disks.

If you ever travel to the Netherlands and visit any type of fair, you will see stalls making and selling these little beauties by the hundreds; the Dutch love them, especially the kids. Below you can see how they make them in Volendam.

You would, with good reason, think this is a breakfast kind of pancake but no, the Dutch don’t eat poffertjes for breakfast. To them, it’s a sweet snack, enjoyed any other time of the day, but you can cheat and have these with a hot cup of coffee in the morning. No one needs to know.

Poffertjes – Dutch Mini Pancakes
Adapted from Janny de Moor

I understand that most of you will not have a poffertjesplaat (pan) to make these but don’t be discouraged because you can certainly make them in a regular non-stick or cast-iron pan. They will not have a two-sided puff but that’s fine, the taste is what matters the most.

If you have a squeeze bottle, it will be easier to fill the indentations of your poffertjes pan or make mini pancakes in a regular pan.

In Holland they may be traditionally served with butter and icing sugar but you can treat them as typical pancakes and douche them in maple syrup, honey or a berry coulis, or serve them with fruits and whipped cream.

Yield: about 100 (I know, it sounds a lot, but trust me, they are very small and if you have people over for brunch, they will disappear in a flash. Also, you can reheat them the next day and have them for breakfast)

Ingredients
4 g instant dried yeast
150 g all-purpose flour, sieved
100 g buckwheat flour, sieved
300 ml lukewarm whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten lightly with a fork
Pinch of salt

100 g unsalted butter, melted, for greasing the pan

Butter, for serving
Lots of icing sugar, for serving

Special equipment: sieve, wire whisk, measuring jug or poffertjes bottle (squeeze bottle), poffertjes pan or regular non-stick pan (or cast-iron pan)


Preparation
In a large bowl, add the yeast, the sieved flours, half of the milk and the beaten eggs and whisk until you have a stiff dough. Add the rest of the milk followed by the salt and whisk well until you have a smooth batter without any lumps. The batter will be runny.
Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and place at a warm place for about 1 hour to rise. It should look bubbly.
Whisk again lightly and empty the batter which will be slightly runny, in a measuring jug or a poffertjes bottle which is a squeeze bottle.

Using a poffertjes pan
Heat your poffertjes pan over a medium-high heat and when hot, grease the whole pan, not just the holes, with melted butter. Fill all the holes with batter by ¾ and cook for 3-4 minutes on one side. Once you see that they’re dry on top with small holes and the bottom is golden brown, it’s time to turn them over with one or two forks and let them cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown. (A two-pronged fork is traditionally used to flip over the poffertjes and remove them from the pan). Be careful not to overcook them. You want the centers to be creamy and just set, not dried out.
Remove them from the pan and onto a plate, grease the pan again with melted butter and continue coking the next batch. Continue in the same manner until you have no more batter left.

Using a non-stick (or cast-iron) pan
Heat the pan over medium-high heat and when hot, grease the bottom with melted butter. Add 1-2 tablespoonfuls of batter to create each poffertje. Each one should be around 6 cm in diameter. Space them well apart, otherwise you might end up with one large pancake. Cook for 3-4 minutes on one side. Once you see that they’re dry on top with small holes and the bottom is golden brown, it’s time to turn them over with one or two forks and let them cook on the other side for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown. Be careful not to overcook them. You want the centers to be creamy and just set, not dried out.
Remove them from the pan and onto a plate, grease the pan again with melted butter and continue coking the next batch. Continue in the same manner until you have no more batter left.

Poffertjes are eaten hot. Serve them, dotted with salted (or unsalted if you wish) butter and a generous sprinkling of icing sugar.

If you have any poffertjes left, you can reheat them in the microwave the next day. They will not be as good as the first day you made them but still, they’ll be enjoyable.