Homemade Cheese / Queso Casero

Cheese is a food derived from milk, produced in a wide range of flavors, textures, and forms. It consists of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. Wikipedia

There are hundreds of types of cheese made around the world and I love them all, or almost all. In fact, cheese is the number one thing in my grocery list. I love it so much, I can’t live without it! 

Here in San Diego, we have stores like Assanti’s who has a great variety of Italian style cheese, like fresh mozzarella and smoked scamorza.  Venissimo Cheese sells many kinds of European style cheeses. At La Jolla farmers' market, we have Spring Hill Cheese Petaluma Creamery who offers numerous types of aged cheese. And let’s not forget the many Mexican shops that sell freshly made queso fresco, a ranch style cheese, one of my favorites! All these places have fantastic cheese.

Long time ago, my cousin Rosa taught me how to make queso fresco which I made every now and then. I also learned how to make yogurt cheese. Recently, I learned how to make two new varieties; paneer, an Indian cheese, and goat cheese. I’m so excited to show you how incredibly easy preparing homemade cheese is. Here is a recipe for goat cheese; I will show you how I made paneer in a different post.

Homemade Goat Cheese

1 quart of goat milk

¼ cup of water

1 hipping teaspoons of citric acid

Sea salt to taste

Dissolve citric acid in water. In a heavy bottomed pot, combine milk with citric acid mixture and cook over medium heat, stirring continuously. When the milk reaches 180°F, remove from the heat and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Invert the mixture into a kitchen towel draped over a bowl - I suspended a strainer between the bowl and the towel - let it drain for several hours in the refrigerator - I drained mine overnight.  Transfer the cheese to a bowl and season it with salt to taste. Form into a log with the help of plastic wrap or spoon into a container and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour before serving. Enjoy it spread on bread or crackers or marinate it like I did in the following recipe.

Marinated Goat Cheese

4 oz goat cheese 

2 sprig rosemary

2 sprig thyme

2 bay leaves, broken into pieces

½ Tablespoon black peppercorns, coarsely crushed

½ Tablespoon white peppercorns, coarsely crushed

2 garlic cloves, pealed

Extra virgin olive oil as needed

Cut cheese in medallions and form balls the size of a large marble. In the bottom of a clean jar, place half of the herbs, garlic and spices. Add the cheese, the remaining herbs, garlic and spices, and cover with olive oil. Let the cheese marinade for several hours. Store in the refrigerator but let it come to a room temperature before serving. This will last for several days in the refrigerator, if you can stand it. Mine did not last; we ate it all in one sitting!

Flor de Calabaza

Nowadays, I find myself spending more time admiring the flowers in my back yard. Oh, what a beautiful flor de calabaza, squash-blossom, that is. I love it, the bees love it, it's good for my garden and it's good to eat too!

Flor de calabaza is one of the many edible flower that you can find in farmers' markets or specialty stores. But if you grow your own zucchini and summer squash, you can enjoy the extra bonus of their blossoms. You can prepare it in many different ways; in soups, tamales and crepes. You can stuff the squash blossom with cheese or mince meat, dip it in a batter and fry it; or use it to stuff chicken, meat or even vegetables. The possibilities are endless. My favorite way of eating this flower is in a simple but delicious quesadilla.

When I hear someone say quesadillas de flor de calabaza my mind is immediately transported to Oaxaca, a city in the southern part of Mexico. In Oaxaca I ate the most incredible food and the best quesadillas ever! The reason I think the quesadillas are so good in Oaxaca is because they are prepared with a locally made cheese called, if you can believe it - Oaxaca! I remember stopping at a food stand in the mercado. The women were mixing masa and making corn tortillas for my quesadilla right in front of me. Mmm, they smelled so good!

This meal can be made as easy as 1-2-3, with just a couple ingredients from your garden, freshly made corn tortillas and, of course, cheese (Oaxaca cheese if possible).

Here is a recipe:

Quesadilla de Flor de Calabaza

12 squash blossoms, cleaned (remove pistils)

2 Tb. fresh epazote or fresh oregano, cleaned

and coarsely chopped

1/ 2 lb. Oaxaca cheese, shredded (substitute with monterrey jack if Oaxaca is not available)

1 lb. masa harina flour (I use Maseca brand) or 6 small corn tortillas

If using masa harina, mix according to the directions on the package to make the dough. Form masa into 6 1 1/2" balls then loosely cover with a damp kitchen towel. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap (a cut up plastic bag works well) over base of tortilla press, draping it over the sides. Place 1 ball of masa on plastic. Lay another sheet of plastic wrap over the masa, draping it over the sides, then close the press to flatten masa into a tortilla. Peel the plastic from one side of the tortilla. Fill half of the tortilla with cheese, a couple of zucchini blossoms and sprinkle with epazote or oregano. Then, holding the remaining plastic with one hand, fold other half of tortilla over the filling to form a half circle. Press edges, carefully remove plastic from quesadilla, then place on a flat pan or griddle at medium heat. Cook for a few minutes on each side until cooked through and cheese has melted.

If using already made tortillas, slightly warm the tortilla. Remove from the heat, add the filling to one side of the tortilla, fold the other side over the filling and return to the griddle. Cook about 1 minute on each side or until the cheese melts.

Serve hot with your favorite salsa.

The Other Kind of Leftovers

Leftover meals are some of the best food, some people say and I agree! There is nothing better then a fried tamal the day after Christmas, or reheated chilaquiles for lunch (chilaquiles are a breakfast meal). These are one kind of leftovers but there is another kind of leftover food that forces me to be creative with dinners.

Towards the end of the week, when almost all my groceries are gone and I don't feel like going grocery shopping, I have to use the little pieces and bits of leftover produce, cheese and sauces that are in my fridge. I don't know why but at the end of the week, I always end up with little containers of tomato sauce. Plastic bags that store a piece of vegetable or three or four green beans, or a very small amount of cheese but I don't have any tortillas to make a quesadilla and there are no more leftovers from last night's dinner. This is when I ask myself; What should we have for dinner? It is time for the other kind of leftovers.

Here are two very good dinners that I made with leftover food. They turned out very nice!

Eggplant Rolls

(with leftover

lasagna ingredients)

2 thin slices (length wise) of eggplant

4 T of cheese mixture (ricotta, parmesan, egg, crushed red pepper, and black pepper)

1/2 c homemade marinara sauce (this is what made this meal special!)

2 slices of mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350°

Blanch the eggplant slices in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl full of cold water to stop the cooking. When cold enough to handle, spread 2 Ts of cheese mixture on each slice of eggplant, form into a roll and place in an ovenproof dish. Pour the sauce over the rolls and bake covered for approximately 15 minutes. Top each roll with 1 slice of mozzarella, and continue baking until the cheese melts. Serve hot.

Gilled Cheese Sandwich and Veggies

(with leftovers cheeses, green beans and fennel)

For the sandwich:

1 Ciabatta bread, sliced

mayonnaise

2-4 slices of cheese (my leftovers were colby jack, fontina and ricotta salata)

3-4 spinach leaves

Spread the inside of the bread with as little or as much mayonnaise as you like, top one half of the bread with layers of cheese, spinach and more cheese and cover with the other half of bread. Grill in a panini press or a griddle until the cheese melts. The ricotta will not melt but it gives this sandwich a very nice salty flavor.

For the veggies:

1T olive oil

1 handful of green beans, trimmed

1/4 head of fennel, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

salt and black pepper to taste

In a shallow pan, heat the oil, add the veggies and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes or until desired doneness (I like them crunchy). Season with salt and pepper. Enjoy.

Para leer en Español pulse aquí: La Otra Clase de Sobrantes