Tag Archives: curd

Making Cheese at Ballymaloe Cookery School

17 Aug

One of the wonderful things about going to Ballymaloe Cookery School is that you really get a chance to understand where food comes from – how its sourced, how it is produced, and sometimes… you even get to see the entire cycle. Its a very humbling process, and incredibly powerful. It makes you stop and think about the food that you eat, and how important it is for body, mind and soul to try and eat as cleanly and carefully as possible.

While I was at Ballymaloe, I dont think I ate very many things that were processed. The milk came from the Jersey cows on the farm, and they provided some of the butter, the buttermilk, and the cheese that we ate too! And we got a chance (if we wanted to) to make our own cheese. Mine is still awaiting me at Ballymaloe … I will pick it up in a few weeks and sample it. I cant wait!

Cheese making is a very zen process. Its all about feeling the milk turning into cheese, and knowing when each step is complete. A group of us gathered in the milking shed to help Tim turn milk into a cheddar style cheese… and it was such a powerfully beautiful process…

You can make cheese on the stovetop, but Ballymaloe has a very cool industrial sized container that heats the raw milk very slowly to the correct temperature.  After making sure we had all washed our hands, put on aprons, and hairnets (can you imagine finding a stray curly hair in your cheese?!), Tim added a vegetarian rennet to the warmed milk. This made it solidify … he then checked the temperature.

Making cheese!

When he felt the curd was at a proper temperature, he felt it by dipping his hands into it. He told us that once you start making cheese regularly, you can begin to get a feel for when its ready to be cut. There is a smoothness, a responsiveness to it that happens only at a certain moment.

He then got out what looked to be a massive square metal tennis racquet, and started cutting the curd into smaller chunks. This is when it got fun!

with a big metal tennis racquet!

The curd started separating from the whey – the liquid obviously inherent in milk. Once the curd had been cut by the metal tennis racquet apparatus, we were allowed to plunge our hands into the container and start squeezing and separating the curds out. A small tap was opened at the bottom of the container for the whey to drain out.

For the piggies!

I have to say, the process of separating the curd from the whey was very therapeutic. It felt so lovely to be elbow deep in this textural stuff, knowing that this movement was actually part of the making of the cheese. Tim told us that cheese makers have wonderful skin on their hands! I can believe it … the feeling of dipping into the vat was soft, smooth, warm, comforting. And cheese is a live thing, so you have to treat it with respect, no squeezing too hard, or sudden movements. It was beautiful.

No wonder cheesemakers have such young looking hands!

Once most of the whey was drained off, we started packing the curds into round plastic molds, with holes that allowed drainage. Each of us filled one mold full, and then covered the molds with heavy weights.

Making the cheese!

After about fifteen minutes, we were actually able to take the cheese out of the mold, and flip it over. We then covered it again with the weights (and some extra just for good luck) and waited again for another few hours. This process of flipping the cheese over ensures an even distribution of curd, and gets as much moisture out of the cheese as possible.

in their molds

After a day or two, and some regular flipping (my housemate Gina and I traipsed to flip cheese at midnight!) .. the cheese would be removed from the mold, salted, and set in this temperature controlled ripening cave. We had the responsibility of coming to flip our cheeses on a regular basis. They would be ready in about three months!

Yum ..

Very thorough notes were kept about each batch of cheese. When it was made, how it was made, how much milk, temperature, time of day. But this was not the end of the process! Gina and I accompanied Tim to distribute the whey on the farm…

It was like they knew we were coming!

It was like they knew we were coming! They were extremely happy to drink up every last bit of the whey, and Tim told us that it is very good for them.

They loved it!

The little ones loved it so much, they actually got into the trough to drink it. There was a little bit of a fight to drink it all up, so the runt took advantage of the ruckus, and went directly to the Mama source.

being clever

And this was just one evening in Ballymaloe .. magical, full of learning, part of the cycle, and so very wonderful. It taught me so many things … but most of all that I am connected to all that is around me, and if I treat the earth with respect, and a conscious understanding… well, then, the joy is infinite.

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Raspberry Curd Tart

22 Jul

intense raspberry flavourSometimes, simple is the most beautiful. I made some gorgeous raspberry curd last night, and decided to present it two ways – with a beautiful cold rice pudding, and in a stunning tart. Both are easy to make with the addition of the raspberry curd – and both ways of presentation really highlight the flavour and texture of the raspberry curd. It is incredibly intense, and a wonderful dessert for a dinner party or high tea.

This is an amazingly dramatic and beautiful tart. Such a pretty looking tart – very girly and yet totally sophisticated. I like to serve it with a blossom of lightly whipped cream flavoured with vanilla. The cream helps to balance the strong flavour of the curd, and adds another textural element to the whole.

Preferably, you should prepare this the day before to allow the curd some time to settle into the tart shell… though if you really want to serve it day of, its fine, it will just be a little bit more unctuous, and the curd will flow out when you cut into it.

First, prepare, your tart shell. This recipe makes enough so you can make two thin shells. I often flavour it with lemon instead of vanilla because lemon really complements the raspberry wonderfully.

For a 12 – 14 inch tarte shell, you will need

  • 2 1/2 cups of cake flour
  • 1 cup / 8 tbsp / 110 g of butter, frozen, then grated
  • 3 tbsp of icing sugar, or more to taste
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod scraped out or 1 tsp of lemon juice and the rind of a lemon, grated
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tbsp or more cold water

Measure out the cake flour into a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter directly over the flour, stopping twice during the grating to gently mix in the butter shards with the flour. Use the tips of your fingers, and just make sure you dont over mix. You want this to be a very gentle process.

Sieve the icing sugar over the flour-butter mixture, and sprinkle over the vanilla or scrape the seeds from the pod, or lemon if you are using. Mix gently again with your fingers.

Add the egg and toss the flour with your fingers, mixing to make a dough. Taste and add up to 1 more tablespoon of icing sugar if you want a sweeter dough. If the mixture doesnt come together as a pastry dough, add a tablespoon of very cold water. Be gentle. It will come together if you have patience, and mix properly.

Form the dough into a ball, cover in cling wrap, and put in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.

Once the dough has been refrigerated, roll out on a floured surface, sprinkling with a little bit of flour if needed. Transfer to a pie plate, and prick with a fork.

Cover the pie dough with tin foil, and fill in with beans or other pie weights. Bake in a pre-heated 200C oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, remove the beans and tin foil, and prick again with the fork. Brush with some egg white if wanted, to proof the tarte shell so it doesnt get soggy when you add the curd. Bake for another 5 minutes or so or until very lightly coloured.

Let cool.

Assembly

  • 2 – 2 1/2 cups raspberry curd, cooled
  • 1 cooled tarte shell
  • 1 – 2 cups cream, whipped with a little icing sugar and vanilla

mmmmmmmmmmmmmPour the cooled raspberry curd into the tarte shell, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Just before serving, whip the cream with a little icing sugar and vanilla.

Serve in wedges, with a few tablespoons of whipped cream.

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Raspberry Curd

21 Jul

Pure Raspberry TasteThese last few weeks, I seem to be inspired by my conversations with people online. Articles, notes, photographs, comments … all these things make me think of different foods and ideas. And of course, eating – Nathalie’s Gourmet Studio last night was a veritable treasure trove of inspiration, and reading about other people’s favourite meals makes me think of different connections and ideas. I was chatting with my dear friend, Floating Lemons, and she mentioned that she was hoping for raspberries picked from her garden. I dreamed of raspberries that night! They are such a perfectly gorgeous fruit – and most of the time, they need no adornment. Well, may be a little cream, but thats totally optional. At the same time, I was reading Tamasin Day-Lewis’ cookbook, Kitchen Classics, and in it, she had a raspberry curd tart…

It looked so dramatic and so gorgeous, but what really intrigued me was the raspberry curd. When I first encountered lemon curd, I could not imagine the alchemy needed to produce this tart sweet creamy fondant. It was like lemon candy, but softer; jam, but creamier; pudding, but clearer. Fruit curd was always one of those things that terrified me – I was sure I would try and cook it and it would turn into an almighty mess, coating me and my kitchen with drippy gloopy failure. Well, I stand here before you to tell you that fruit curd is unspeakably easy to make. It does take effort, dont get me wrong, but the benefit outweighs the pain. Home made fruit curd trumps anything you can get in the markets – especially if you are vigilant and use all organic ingredients.

Making fruit curd is, for me, a deep and intense meditation on the fruit. It is extremely relaxing because you really need to focus only on the ingredients in front of you, and how they come together to create something so different, yet so essentially the same as their individual parts. Butter, eggs, egg yolks, fine sugar and fruit. Thats it. Whisk it constantly over a low, slow heat and watch magic happen – literally. It will come together and thicken, and deepen in flavour, but it wont over cook as long as you keep the heat low and slow. You will come away with a thick jammy (but not jam) mix, that literally trembles when you serve it so delicate it is, that is the esesnce of the ripe fresh fruit.

I have made loads of different curds, but this one feels very exotic in a way. May be someone in Europe would feel the same about a pineapple curd, but the deep fuchsia colour and the bright raspberry taste make this unique and special to me.

I have made this two ways – in a tart a la Tamasin Day-Lewis, and rippled into a warm rice pudding. The first is rather dramatic and stark, but pretty sensational. The second is comforting and yet sophisticated all at the same time. However, dont be constrained. Use it as a spread for breakfast, stir it into yogurt, or eat it by the spoonful for the sheer joy of it. Its a wonderful present too. People are astonished that you can make it, but they are also so pleased with something so out of the ordinary.

This recipe makes about 3 1/2 cups of finished raspberry curd. If you want to keep it or give it away, please follow jam bottling protocols. I used all mine up, so there wasnt much to save but there was a whole lot to savour 😉 I will give the recipes for the tart and the rice pudding separately.

  • 450 g / 1 lb fresh raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups after sieving)
  • 2 eggs + 3 egg yolks (I use organic for this)
  • 1 cup superfine brown sugar (see below)
  • 1 cup / 8 tbsp butter

I use an immersion blender in two places in this recipe. It makes things very easy, and it also enables you to liquidise and refine in your cooking bowls, rather than have to transfer from a blender or food processor. It simplifies things, but if you dont have one, use a blender or processor and adjust accordingly.

In a bowl, using an immersion blender, liquidise the raspberries. They should be pretty much a thick bright pinky red puree – no berry or flesh left whole.

Over the top of another bowl, place a sieve. I use a nylon sieve that sits on top of the bowl – this is very useful for jobs like this because it will take a lot of liquid all at once. Pour out the raspberries into the sieve, and using a spatula or wooden spoon, coax the juice and flesh through the sieve into the second bowl. This can take a while, and I usually like to do it slowly and thoughtfully. Its part of the process 😉

Once the sieve holds nothing more than tons of raspberry seeds, lift it off the bowl, and using your spatula, scrape the thick juices that cling to the bottom of the sieve. Measure off your pureed fruit and you should get about 1 1/2 – 2 cups. Set aside.

Whisk your eggs, egg yolks and sugar together.  I use light brown organic sugar in this recipe, but I was concerned about its fineness. I used the immersion blender to pulverise the sugar so that it was super-fine (not quite powder, but no large granules either). If you have super-fine sugar, skip this bit but its quite fun! If you do grind it fine, then just add the sugar to the eggs and whisk well. You want a light yellow thick ribbony mixture.

Prepare a bain marie (water bath) on your stove top. I have already written about how I dont use double boilers. A medium sized saucepan, filled about 1/3rd with boiling water, and a large metal bowl set atop, do it for me. If you have a double boiler, go for it! Basically, you never want the mixture to boil. You want to keep it at a very low heat for at least 15 – 20 minutes.

In your metal bowl, set over the saucepan, melt the butter. Once the butter is completely melted, whisk in the egg mixture and the raspberry puree. And now, just keep whisking. It may take you 10 minutes or longer (it usually takes me about 20 minutes of constant whisking) but eventually, this very syrupy thin concoction of butter, eggs, sugar and fruit will start to thicken. For me, this process is all about faith! And bravery to be honest. First time I made it, I was scared I was going to scramble the eggs, but if you keep the temperature very low (the water does not have to be at a boil – a simmer will do), and keep whisking whisking whisking, it will turn out beautifully.

You are looking for a soft whipped cream consistency, so that as you whisk, you see the tracks of your whisk in the curd. When it gets to this point, and it may take a while, your curd is done. Take it off the heat, pour and scrape it into a clean, cool bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let it sit and cool, and solidify, for at least an hour or more and then refrigerate. It will deepen in colour and become thicker, so that it stands up on a spoon.

Bottle, or use in desserts, spread on toast or scones, and delight in the taste of summer.

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