Homemade halloumi in a horsebox

The first time I made halloumi, over a year ago, it was incredibly easy and the result was a wonderfully textured firm cheese that fried perfectly and squeaked when you chewed it. I even made ricotta from the whey, although the amount that was produced was so little, and it was such a faff, that I haven't bothered again.

This time around though, I messed it all up. I tried twice and both each occasions I got distracted at a crucial point and ended up with an array of dairy products. I made quark, cottage cheese, something white and wobbly and a big old mess. All were edible but not the squeaky cheese I was looking for.

It got me to thinking, quite often my first attempt at making things works out perfectly. Annoyingly perfect. I can show you needle felting/knitting/silver-smithing/whittling projects where my initial efforts are flawless but rarely repeated.

Why?

Because the first time I try something, it's interesting. I holds my attention and my concentration. I don't know how it's going to go so it intrigues me and at every step I am learning something new. Second time around, it's less interesting. I kind of know what's going to happen and I become distracted and forget what I'm supposed to be doing. Then it goes wrong and I'm learning all over again. Learning what not to do.

The great thing about halloumi, apart from the squeakiness, is that you don't need loads of special apparatus to do it. The most technical bit of equipment you need is a thermometer. However, as the critical temperatures required are around body temperature, I just delved into my first aid kit, dug out my thermometer and used that (I've not had a fever in over a decade so I knew it hadn't been anywhere undesirable). The first time I did this, I didn't use one at all, I just judged it using my finger. Add to this a big pile of books and a colander and you're ready to start. As far as cheese making goes, you can definitely wing this one.

An unorthodox, but interesting, cheese press

So, on this, my final attempt, I walked down to the neighbouring badger-friendly farm and bought six pints of milk from the rosy-cheeked famer's wife, chatting about the struggles of small-scale farming and caring for sick livestock. It's great when food-miles become metres.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

For the cheese:
3 litres whole milk
3 tsp rennet

For the brine:
Half a litre of water
Half a litre of whey
50g salt

1. Warm the milk to 32°C and remove from heat.
2. Add rennet and leave for an hour.
3. To test the curds, place your finger into them at 45° angle and lift upwards. The curds should lift and break around your finger. If not, you've messed it up.
4. Use a long knife to cut the curds into small cubes and leave for 30 minutes to set.
5. Gently warm the mixture to 38°C.
6. Use a slotted spoon to remove the curds and place into a perforated container (I use a colander). Put a container underneath to collect the whey.
7. Weigh down with big books and leave for 2 hours or overnight.
8. Turn the curd out and cut into slices, 2 inches thick.
9. Warm the whey to 85°C and put the cheese blocks into the hot liquid and gently cook until the cheese rises to the surface.
10. Make the brine by warming the water and dissolving the salt. Add the whey. When both are cool, add the halloumi.


And the result?

After following the recipe to the letter and giving it my bestest concentration... I have a blob of something that looks and tastes nothing like halloumi. I mean, really, how on earth have I managed that? This time was exactly like the first time but with the opposite result. I have more learning to do.

Maybe I'll try to make some brie. I've never made brie before. It'll probably work out perfectly.

Secret Family Recipe (sorry Mum)

The first eighteen months of my life were spent in America. Along with a batch of sunny baby photos and dual nationality, one of the things that came back with us from the West Coast was a recipe for 'Sandies' - melt in the mouth shortbread cookies rolled in icing sugar. These tempting treats are synonymous with Christmas in our house. They are never made at any other time of the year and, to our family, they are more festive than mince pies (and disappear in half the time). The recipe never varies (one year Mum added chocolate chips instead of walnuts and there was almost a mutiny) although the Americans seem to favour pecans over walnuts.

I'm rubbish at taking photos of food so I've borrowed this one from t'interweb

This year, a lot of my Christmas gifts have included a batch of Sandies and I have been asked repeatedly for the recipe. If you didn't get any for Christmas, I apologise, but at least now you can make your own:

Ingredients: (makes about 40)

225g butter

75g sugar

2 tsp water

2 tsp vanilla essence

250g sifted plain flour

120g chopped walnuts

Icing sugar

1. Put the oven on at 180.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

3. Add the liquids and mix.

4. Add the flour and nuts and mix to form a dough.

5. Chill in the fridge for 3 hours if you can wait that long. I never can.

6. Roll into small balls (about the size of the big marbles that you always wanted to win when you were a kid) and place on the baking tray.

7. Bake for about 20 minutes.

8. When the Sandies have cooled but are still warm, roll them in icing sugar so that it coats each biscuit and melts a little.

9. Hide them or they will disappear in no time.






I'd also like to point out that I did actually ask permission from my mum before I posted this.

A tasty treat for Bonfire Night

Happy Bonfire Night! Here comes a recipe for Pinnebrød, a slightly sweet Scandinavian twist bread cooked on a stick over the fire.

On Saturday, I ran a Bonfire Family Firelighting day at the Wild Place Project in Bristol. Ten families came to the woods to learn all about lighting fires and how to involve children safely. The afternoon was spent toasting and roasting various foods over the fire. Pinnebrød was a favourite for both adults and children alike.

The recipe I used was from Signe Johansen's Scandilicious Baking (warning: that book is full of tasty treats). I've simplified it slightly and my method is a little more slapdash than the original!

Pinnebrød

Ingredients:

290ml whole milk

50g butter

1 tbsp treacle

500g plain flour* 

1 ½ tsp sea salt

7g fast action dried yeast

1 medium egg, beaten

(*the original recipe calls for 400g spelt flour and 100g rye flour ... but those aren't usually kicking around in the kitchen!) 

Method:

• Melt the butter and treacle then add enough milk to make it 'blood temperature' (stick your finger in it until it feels neither hot nor cold. Don't scald yourself).

• Add the beaten egg.

• Sieve all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and make a well in the centre.

• Mix in the warm wet ingredients and add as much of the remaining cold milk as you need to make a slightly sticky dough.

• Knead for five minutes.

• Either leave somewhere warm to rise for about an hour, or shove it in a big food bag and pop it in your rucksack while you go out to the woods (or garden) and get your fire sorted.

• To cook, find a suitable stick and then make long thin sausages from the dough and wrap them in a spiral along one half of the stick, pinching the ends to secure them.

• Hold your stick above the embers of the fire and cook until the dough is light brown and feels firm to the touch.

• Eat it as it is, dipped in jam or rolled in sugar.

Happy Bonfire Night!