Cooking Adventures

[evaelisabeth]

Last Friday I got 4 litres of raw unpasteurised milk, having heroically stopped myself from just drinking the stuff straight (if you have never tried raw milk I recommend it, the store bought stuff tastes like water afterwards though) we made 1ltr of yoghurt and used 2 more litres to make paneer which is an Indian soft cheese used in the cooking from that region. I was reminded on Sunday how little cheese you get out of a lot of milk, financially making your own cheese is really only feasible if you have your own cow or goat or if you are living next to/related to a dairy farmer. It was however enough for the Sag Paneer I made and tasted amazing especially since we have some absolutely gorgeous spinach in the garden right now. I also made some Aloo Gobi as well as fresh Naan bread and we had a lovely diner. The Naan turned out quite well except that next time I will give it less time in the oven as it was a little crisper than I like it. Naan is generally made with Nigella Seeds also known as Black Onion Seeds which gives it a lovely savoury flavour perfect for dipping into the rich veggie dishes I was serving. The next thing on the Indian food list I'm going to try is a spicy Eggplant dish that can be served cold.

The yoghurt by the way turned out very well, I would consider buying the expensive raw milk and hauling it home from Dublin every week just for our yoghurt production, we can go through 1-2 ltrs of the stuff each week. It was incredibly smooth, creamy, rich and tangy without being sharply sour. I wouldn't generally eat our unflavoured home made yoghurt but this one I could definitely go for.

Brian has been making various different country wines and though they are not ready for drinking yet and won't be for a while the colour of the beetroot/parsnip is a rich ruby red, quite attractive just to look at. I wish we had the wherewithal to distil our own hard liquor because I love making fruit liquors, currently I have a jar of rhubarb brandy on the go, inspired by krkhst. I think I'll give it another month and see how it is then.