Just in time for Shavuos – you can make your own cheese. It is surprisingly easy to do, it’s healthy and tasty.  Cheese has been around for millenia.  Prior to the onset of refrigerators the only (?) way of preserving dairy for an extended period of time was to make it into cheese.  Milk would last hours, yogurt could last days -but cheese could last years! Gorgonzola was first made in 879, Roquefort in 1070, cheddar in 1500, and parmesian in 1579.  As a relative newcomver – Wisconsin started it’s cheese making business in 1841 (Anne Pickert is cited as the founder of factory cheese production there).  Today Wisconsin makes over 2.6 billion pounds of cheese (with over 6,000 varieties).

The following recipe makes a soft cheese. Apparently, hard cheese is trickier to make (then you have to worry about rennet).  And here’s a question one of my students asked me – could a person who keeps kosher use a cow’s stomach to transport milk?  (Apparently, back in the day -say 4,000 years ago, transporting milk in a cow’s stomach was how it was transported, like a canteen. The cow’s stomach has rennit in it naturally, and turned the milk into cheese after some amount of time (in the heat and being sloshed around).  So, I don’t know that answer yet, I’m looking into it -if you know, tell me…

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon of milk
• 2 cups of plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of dill (though you can use any fresh herb)

Directions:

1. On high heat, simmer the milk in at least a 4 quart pot (so you have room to stir). 
2. When the milk just starts to bubble, add the yogurt, lemon juice, salt and herbs (the herbs are optional, but I find them tasty). 
3. Stir. 
4. Let simmer for 1 to 2  more minutes. 
5. Turn off the stove. 
6. Wait for the milk to curdle.  This means the milk will separate into curds and whey (the whey is a light, almost clear liquid). 
7. Prepare a 9×13 pan with a cheese cloth that extends over the sides.  Or, if you have a large coffee filter-you could use that instead of the cheesecloth. 
8. Skim off as many of the curds as you can and put into the cheese cloth. 
9. Pull the edges of the cheese cloth together and start to twist until the cheese is tight against the cheese cloth and liquid has stopped coming out.  
10. In a second cheese cloth (or coffee filter) and a second 9×13 pan pour the rest of the whey and see if there are curds you missed.  Strain this, as well. 
11. Put both strained cheeses between 2 flat plates and place a pot filled with water on top.  The goal is to press the cheese -and push even more liquid out. 
12. After about 20 minutes you can eat your cheese.  If you prefer your cheese chilled- put yours in the fridge before you eat it.  You can serve it on crackers, or eat it plain or use it as cheese in a recipe (you could use this cheese for your blintz cheese, if you would like).

• World Famous Spinach Dip

• Chicken Matzah Ball Soup

• Granny Harriet’s Brisket (upgrade of $8)
• Chicken
• Turkey

• Glazed Carrots
• Roasted Vegetables

This recipe is shockingly easy and delicious.  And no one will guess what the ingredients are (you could play the “what are the ingredients” game after your guests try it).  What I am about to tell you will shock some of you (those of you from Mexico, or familiar with Mexican cuisine will not be as shocked). If you would like to try a new dry rub that brings your entree into a whole new realm of flavor, I have a dry rub for you.   I came across this recipe while I was looking through Scharfenberger’s cookbook. 

The cocoa when used as a spice brings out the flavors of the meat or chicken and the reason it will be hard for people to identify the taste is because we’re used to eating chocolate with sugar.  The cocoa brings a fullness and a richness to the dish which is pleasantly surprising.   If you don’t want to risk it – I’m going to make some extra taste portions this week – and you can come by and taste it and see. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken cut into 8s (or however you want your chicken) or 2 pounds of meat
• 2 Tablespoon Cocoa (*not* dutch process)
• 1 Tablespoon Salt (you can use 1 teaspoon if you prefer)

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350 (or preheat your grill).
2. Pat dry the chicken or meat.
3. Mix the cocoa and salt together
4. Rub the cocoa mixture on the chicken/meat until completely covered
5. Roast your chicken at 350 degrees for 1 hour (or until desired doneness). You could also put the chicken or meat on the grill.

We had a great class on gluten free cookies and delicious home-made sodas this week.  As a reminder – we give classes – it’s a fun activity for camp or parties or just a good time to bring friends together and enjoy food.   

For this week’s special: Please order as soon as you know preferably by Wednesday at noon.    

Shabbos Special $15 per portion: Appetizer:

•  Watermelon cubes with mango salsa

Soup:

• Chicken Matzah Ball Soup

Fish:

•  Baked Gefitle Fish with red sauce ($3 upgrade)

Main Course:

• Radical Roast Chicken (*Shockingly* delicious)
• or Herbed Roast Chicken
• or French Onion Roast (upgrade of $8) 

  Side Dishes (pick 2):

• Potato Kugel
• Sweet Potatoes and Pineapple
• Roasted Beets

    For orders over $75 and in the eruv, there is free delivery.  For orders under $75 there is a $5 delivery charge or you can pick up. 

Bracha

410.358.6646

www.sweetandgoodcatering.com   

If anyone would like to send me ideas on specials – we would very much like to hear from you, send us an email or post a message on the website. Please keep us in mind if you are having a wedding, conference, dinner party, sheva brachos, vorts, etc during the week – we would very much appreciate the opportunity to put together some delicious food for your special occasions. Feel free to forward this to a friend; if you have any friends who want to sign up for our email, let me know and we’ll sign them up. 

Sweet and Good Catering not only catered our wedding, they’ve catered intimate dinner parties in our home as well. Their menu is to die for, a varied and savory mix of ethnic temptations. Every bite is literally saturated with taste, bursting with a new flavor surprise for your palette. The originality and quality of the food offerings is paralleled only by their presentation. Bracha, company owner, is a gourmet genius. I’ve never witnessed such a combination of loving preparation, professionalism, and attention to detail. Until Sweet and Good Catering, it was impossible, to find local catered food that is on par with the quality and ethnic variety of that available in Los Angeles or New York. I love that I can order Cajun, French, Mexican or Moroccan-themed meals, to name a few, and that the food arrives elegantly packaged and easy to serve. Plus, it’s startling how affordable the prices are, exactly the same, or less, than what I’d be paying for bland, traditional take-out.

You MUST try the homemade pesto – it’s the best I’ve ever tasted – and the samosas with chutney. And there aren’t any words to describe the avocado and apple salad, it’s an entirely new level of sensory experience.

-Shani D.

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