Tag: cheese

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grilled cheese and tomato soup

Cheese sandwiches have been pretty popular in Chez Jojonoodle as of late. We’re both in the thick of things at work and at school; we need quick and satisfying meals in a big way. Bread + cheese + hot pan = an undeniably good thing in less than 15 minutes. Plus, not much goes better with grilled cheese on a rainy day than tomato soup.

For the Grilled Cheese
4 slices sourdough bread
2/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 T butter

For the Tomato Soup
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 T olive oil
1 – 32 oz can whole tomatoes
1 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
salt and pepper

In a dutch oven or large saucepan, saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat. Once translucent, add the garlic and saute for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes and their liquid, vinegar, sugar and a good pinch of salt to the onion mixture. Simmer for 20 minutes and then puree. Season with more salt and pepper.

While the soup is simmering, spread the butter the bread. Heat a non-stick pan over low heat, place the bread butter side down, spread an even layer of  cheese and top with another slice of bread. Cover the pan. Let cook for about 5 minutes until golden brown and flip. Cook the other side until golden brown and serve alongside a warm bowl of tomato soup!

-Emily

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buckwheat crepes with ham, cheese and egg

This recipe is another gleaned from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis. He recommends it as a light lunch or as a first course, but Jordan and I had it for dinner without complaint. This crepe is actually sublime. It is simple, but hits on all the right notes. It is cheesy, smokey and slightly sweet from the ham, and earthy from the buckwheat—heavenly. We balanced out that goodness with this cauliflower soup and green beans.

Don’t be afraid of making these crepes if you’ve never made crepes before (or never made crepes with success before). This batter is quite robust and the crepes are really easy to flip. Just do yourself a favor and use a non-stick pan. The recipe below makes four to six 10-inch crepes, more than enough for 2 people.

Buckwheat Crepes with Ham, Cheese and Egg, adapted from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 salt
2 T honey
2 slices of good ham per crepe
1/4 cup grated gruyère cheese per crepe
1 egg per crepe

Whisk together the flours, egg, milk, salt and honey. Put in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Quickly ladle in 1/3 cup batter. Swirl the pan to spread out the batter. Let the crepe brown on one side, about 3 minutes, and flip using a spatula or carefully with your fingers. Remove the crepe from the pan and set aside. Cook the remaining crepes.

To fill the crepes, lay each one top side down on a baking sheet. Make a ham and cheese barrier around the edges to contain the egg. Crack the egg into a small mug. Gently pour the egg into the center of the crepe and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake until the egg whites are white and the cheese is melted. A runny yolk is ideal. Serve immediately.

You can also prepare these crepes without the egg—a ham and cheese sandwich variation—which is just as good. To fill the crepes, sprinkle one side of the crepe with cheese and ham and then fold the crepe over to make a half-moon. Brush with a little melted butter.  Warm for a few minutes in the 400 degree oven, until the cheese is melted and the crepe is crispy.

-Emily

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breakfast sandwich

Jordan made these sandwiches for breakfast on Saturday. Leftover brioche bun + black forest ham + swiss cheese + farm fresh fried egg = awesome.

They are easy. Toast some bread under your broiler. Add a slice of ham (or turkey or bacon or whatever else you have around) and a slice of cheese. Broil that. While your melting the cheese, fry a quick egg. Top the whole thing with some parsley and pepper. Ta-da!

Why brave brunch lines when I can eat this awesome sandwich in my pajamas with wacky hair and my pup at my feet?

Am I right, or am I right?

-Emily

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Queso Chronicles Recipes

queso chronicles: homemade ricotta

You all might remember my trials and tribulations in the mozzarella realm. Well, after some deliberation, I decided my faint heart could not handle another mozzarella failure and that I should try to make an easier cheese. Ricotta is probably the easiest cheese to make (according to cheesemakers on the internet) and recently I found a new recipe on a great blog called I Made That. I followed her directions and ended up with a perfect ricotta. No tears or wasted milk!

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

6 cups whole milk
2 cups cultured buttermilk
1 1/2 cups cream
1 T salt

Combine all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, heat until curds begin to form, stirring gently. After the curds form, turn off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes. Put two layers of cheesecloth in a strainer. Strain cheese until it has reached your desired consistency. I let it sit for about an hour. Transfer cheese into a tupper and refrigerate. When you pull your cheese out the next day, there may be some residual whey. Just pour that off and continue eating and cooking with your delicious fresh cheese!

Making ricotta from scratch is not any cheaper than buying it at the grocery store, but it is much more flavorful. I’ve found that many store-bought ricottas taste like nothing and often have a grainy texture. The milk flavor is very prominent in this homemade cheese and the texture is smooth and creamy. Yum!

-Emily

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Recipes

celeriac and leek gratin

One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the wonderful root vegetables that are available, and I think the best way to utilize them is to make a gratin.  You can make a gratin with just about anything, but today’s awesomely cheesy preparation includes celeriac (a.k.a. celery root), some yukon gold potatoes, leeks, and gruyere.  Assembly is very simple and if you have a nifty Japanese mandolin, the dish practically makes itself.

A note on quantities: I’ve found that one medium celery root, two potatoes, and two leeks filled an eight inch round casserole that was about 4 inches high, but this recipe can easily be adjusted to fit whatever size or shape dish you have.

First, peel the potatoes and celeriac and cut them into very thin slices (imagine a thick potato chip) and cut the leeks into similarly thin rings.  Wash the leeks in a bowl of water to remove the grit.  Then, butter up a casserole or, if you have one, an au gratin dish and begin layering.  Just make a thin layer of each vegetable and sprinkle with salt and pepper; you can put some parmesan if you like, I did … of course.  Then repeat until you’ve used up all your ingredients.  Last, pour about a cup of cream over the top and plenty of grated gruyere.  I had some homemade breadcrumbs lying around, so I through those on too, but that’s optional.  Bake with the lid on at 375 until the vegetables are tender (I stick a fork in and if there’s no resistance, it’s done).  Broil to get the top brown and serve after it’s had a chance to cool for a few minutes.

Conclusions: What’s not to love?  This is a rich, satisfying dish, perfect for these rainy San Francisco days we’ve been having.  Also, the nerd in me loves how evenly the vegetables cook because they’re sliced to the same thickness; the mandolin makes this impressive dish so easy to throw together.  Go get one and make this dish!  You won’t regret it!

-Jordan

P.S.  I haven’t specified what all this mandolin business is about.  I know that there are these products out there that cost $50-150 and look completely impractical, but Japanese mandolins are much simpler and more cost effective.  Specifically, the Benriner brand is great and the best price you can get is from Jon at Japanese Knife Imports. They’re only $20 there (compared to at least $30 from other stores) and he sells the replacement blades.  I take knives and such very seriously and I can tell you, these things are sharp.  Enjoy!

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Queso Chronicles

queso chronicles: brie and blue

Here we have two delightful cheeses that are both reasonably priced and crowd-pleasing.  One is a triple-cream brie (I’m really sorry, but I forgot which it was exactly, but you really can’t go wrong with anything that starts its name with ‘triple-cream’).  This cheese is so creamy and buttery it almost doesn’t count as cheese.  Typically, I’m not one for brie because of how mild it is, but while this one lacks in flavor it makes up for it with texture.  A great mild cheese for spreading on bread (which Emily always wants to do for some reason).

The second is one of my personal favorites: gorgonzola dolce.  This creamy blue is mild and sweet with a bit of nuttiness.  If your don’t like blue cheese you should give this one a shot; I characterized it as an “entry-level blue.”

Of course we couldn’t have these cheese by themselves, so as you can see they are accompanied by a very nice prosciutto americano by La Quercia and a sopressata by  Fra’mani.

-Jordan

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Queso Chronicles

the queso chronicles: cypress grove purple haze

Inspired by the San Francisco Chronicle’s lovely weekly feature – the cheese review –  and fueled by our frequent purchases of new, occasionally obscure or artisanal cheeses … the Queso Chronicles is born!

Up this week: Cypress Grove’s Purple Haze, a pasteurized goat milk cheese with lavender and fennel pollen.

The cheese was creamy with a flavor similar to most chevre. The fennel pollen lent a nice, but subtle anise flavor. Lastly, with a direct quote from Jordan, “this is the only application of lavender in food that I actually enjoy”. The additional flavor profiles were tasty and interesting, but did not over power the goat cheese flavor. I love goat cheese, and this one did not disappoint.

Added bonus … Jordan singing Purple Haze all night long.

-Emily

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Recipes

quick cauliflower

We’ve been getting really into cauliflower lately … sauteed cauliflower, baked cauliflower, broiled cauliflower, maybe even braised cauliflower … perhaps because it’s cheap, but certainly because it’s delicious.

We made this quick side dish last night with ingredients we had languishing in the fridge.

Cauliflower with Fontina, Chives and Chili Flake
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 T olive oil
Salt, pepper, chili flakes
Chives, sliced
1/2 -3/4 cup grated fontina cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss cauliflower with olive oil, salt, pepper and chili flake. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, or until fork tender. Turn oven to broil. Sprinkle with fontina. Melt cheese under the broiler for a few moments. Sprinkle with chives and enjoy!

-Emily

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Recipes

pasta with ricotta and heirloom tomatoes

This pasta dish was another of our quick, fresh, light dinners from the week. I wanted to celebrate the last of the tomatoes of the season!

Pasta with Ricotta and Heirloom Tomatoes
2 lbs heirloom tomatoes, sliced
1/2 c mixed herbs, chopped (I used parsley, basil and chives)
1 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
salt, pepper, chili flakes to taste
12 oz dry pasta (I used conchiglie – cute snail shell shaped pastas)
1/2 – 3/4 c ricotta cheese
1/2 c finely grate parmesan cheese

Slice tomatoes and toss them with the chopped herbs, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Drain. Return pasta to the pot, add ricotta, parmesan, and pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Top with tomato and herb mixture and enjoy!

Conclusions: A direct quote from Jordan: “This is the best thing I’ve had since …  since I can remember. Except for Lobster Day”. And from me: “the easiest ‘mac and cheese’ you’ll ever make that doesn’t come from a box”.

-Emily

 

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pizza, pizza, pizza

Friday night we had a couple friends over to our place for dinner.  Emily and I discussed a dinner menu; we knew we wanted something casual that would be a crowd pleaser.  Obviously, the perfect answer was pizza.  (On a more personal note, I think pizza is one of the two perfect foods in the universe.  Maybe I’ll discuss the other later, but for now, I’ll keep you in suspense).  When making homemade pizza, I usually assume one pizza per two people.  It seems like a lot, but it’s really difficult to make large pizza at home (more than 12″) and I make pretty thin crust, so it’s not too filling.

I’m going to make a confession right away.  I bought the dough from Whole Foods.  I know it’s a terrible thing to do, but to be perfectly honest, their dough is really good.  I’ve made my own before and it only comes out okay in my opinion.  As an added bonus, they only cost $1.30 each.  I’ve also heard that Trader Joe’s dough is tasty too, but I’ve never tried it.

To make up for my store bought dough, I did make the sauce from scratch.  This is something I highly recommend because it’s super easy, cheap, it tastes better than jarred sauce, and you can make a batch as large as you want and just freeze it for at least a year.  I made a very basic version where I simply sautéed an onion, a carrot and a few cloves of thinly sliced garlic.  Then I deglazed with some red wine vinegar (probably about 1/4 cup) and added two 28oz. cans of whole tomatoes.  Let that simmer for a couple hours and puree to your desired consistency.  Season with salt, pepper, chile flake, and a couple tablespoons of sugar (to cut the acidity).

Now for the fun part.  Preheat your oven as high as it will go (If you have a pizza stone, which is highly recommended, preheat for about an hour so the stone gets good and hot).  I like to take the dough out of the fridge about a half hour before baking to make it a bit easier to work with.  Stretch it out with some flour on the counter and get it to a nice thin disc about 12″ in diameter.  Put some cornmeal on your pizza peel and lay the dough on it (I leave about an inch hanging over the edge of the peel as the dough seems to slide off more easily that way, that could just be me though).  Then you just throw on your toppings.  The only advice I can really give here is that less is more.  Just use a little bit of sauce, a good quality cheese (I like fresh mozzarella) and no more than 4-5 toppings.  We made three pizzas: one was sausage (pork of course), olives, and cherry tomatoes; basic mozzarella and basil; and bacon, sautéed chanterelles, goat cheese, garlic, and onion (I also threw some fresh tarragon on after it came out).

Conclusions:  We’ve done this before and we will do it again.  It’s super fun and not too difficult (your friends will love you for it too).  If you’ve never made homemade pizza before then just give it a try; it seems really hard at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets.

P.S. We had a salad too.  Just spinach and arugula with more cherry tomatoes and a balsamic vinaigrette.  Tasty.

-Jordan