Big roads, little roads

I am still seeing some things.

More mountains

Mountains all around

There are several other photos that go along with this. At one point we could see mountains for about 300 degrees - it was wonderous and I might have pulled a muscle in my neck admiring them all.

Sorry for bragging.

0% humidity.

Now excuse me while I go grab a sweatshirt so that I can continue to sit outside and watch the sunset.

Some views from today

Ohio Fire Expo 2011

I admit it. I think fire trucks are wonderful.

But it is the vintage trucks that are truly beautiful.

(this grill was captured by Paul, thank goodness)

And there were plenty of both to ogle last month at the Ohio Fire Expo.

***

A big congrats to all of Ohio, but especially the teachers, police, government employees, and of course, the firefighters, on the certification of signatures for the SB5 referendum. See you at the polls in November!

Mysost (a tangent-ful post about local foods and the dairy products of Sweden, Norway, Mexico, Italy, India, and America)

My husband is Swedish.

Well, Swedish-ish.

While he hasn't lived in Sweden (the U.P. is close though, right?), I am told on good authority that all of his ancestors are superior to Norwegians. (The same authorities tell me that joke will only resonate with Swedes. For the rest of you, it is sort of like Buckeyes v Wolverines but with more war and less burning dumpsters.)

And while he has a fondness for vikings and wooly sweaters, his Swedish roots really only show when it comes to comfort foods. He eats an entire loaf of cardamom bread before I can finish one slice. The smells of pepparkakor fill our house during the holidays. His taste in cheese is completely different than my own. For example, he can eat a log of bondost. I cannot. Bondost, you ask? A cheese that is curdled, heated, cut, salted, stirred, pressed into forms, and immersed into brine for a day or two before allowed to ripen for six to eight weeks.  Also, gjetost.

Have you tried gjetost?

The Swedish name is actually brunost. Gjetost is the name in North America and Norway (more commonly referred to as the Swedish national zoo). 

It is salty and sweet and grassy - it is salty caramel cheese. It is most similar in flavor and complexity to cajeta (Mexican goat's milk caramel which is similar to dulce de leche which is not at all like gjetost). And that makes sense because to make cajeta, you boil down some goat's milk; to make gjetost, you boil down some goat's milk whey. 

Both are an acquired taste for many. 

***

We all know that local ingredients are best. They are best for the local economy and our communities. When they are produced in a sustainable way, they are best for the environment and our health. When they are consumed seasonally, they are the best in nutrition and flavor. It is when we are talking about budgets, that local ingredients are not always the best. Triaging those locally spent dollars is important.

Milk is one of those things, like tomatoes, that just tastes better when it is local and very fresh. I am lucky because we have really good local cows' milk in these parts. While I love drinking it (it doesn't taste burnt), I love the way it cooks even better. I use the cream to make butter, buttermilk, whipped cream, iced cream and I use the whole milk to make alcoholic beverages and cheese. 

I have tried many recipes but tend to riff off of this recipe for ricotta cheese by David Lebovitz. (I do know that to make true Italian ricotta, you are supposed to only use whey. This is better for me.) When I want to make queso fresco, I do the same recipe but with apple cider vinegar and I put the curds under a weight for a few hours. When I want to make paneer, I use a mix of whole milk and heavy cream and this method by Barbara. Every single time I have made cheese over the last 5 or 6 years, I have wondered what I could do with the pot of white liquid that remains after straining out the cheese. I have seen suggestions to use it in pasta sauces but that seems wholly inadequate for my need to use everything to its fullest potential.

And then, one night, while searching for information on future cheesemaking experiments, I saw this recipe for gjetost. I can summarize this recipe quickly: after pulling the cheese curds out of your pot, leave the remaining whey on the heat for hours and hours and hours until it boils down into a caramel. Take it off of the heat, cool it quickly, smash it into a buttered container and call it mysost (unless you used goat's milk - then it is gjetost). Impress your friends and make your husband fall in love with you all over again.

My culinary true love: Blueberry curd

I made my first batch of blueberry curd last year. And then my second. My third, fourth, and fifth. 

And then I made blackberry curd. 

Since last year's curd making frenzy, we have given away jars and eaten the rest.

So when there was not another drop of curd left in our freezer, I tried to make more and realized that while making all of those batches last year, I didn't take a single note.

So, back to the drawing board. It took quite a few misses before I just let my body do what my brain couldn't remember. Success!

This time, I took notes.

Like most of what I share, this is not really a recipe. It is more of a technique and some suggested ingredients. So please, play.

Substitute blackberries for the blue and lime for the lemon. Or, my new favorite, substitute sweet cherries, blood oranges and bump up the vanilla. Or a future experiment: strawberry, lime and sea salt.

My other advice, beyond play, is to make really big batches and freeze it in sterilized jars. To do that, just multiply all of these ingredients by 6 or 10 or 20.

Every good curd starts with a fruit/citrus sauce:

• Blueberries (or any berries/cherries) (2 cups)
• Sugar  (.5-1 cup – start with ½ cup and add more if the berries are not sweet enough)
• Lemon juice and zest of half a lemon (when you double, quadruple, septuple - I use less lemon than the math would have you use)
• Salt (pinch)
•  I suppose you could even add a touch of vanilla if you had a thing for vanilla; poppy seeds if you want some texture; herbs, pepper, spices or balsamic reductions and so on and so on to fit your fancy. Taste it. Play.

1. In saucepan, bring blueberries, sugar, salt and lemon juice/zest to a boil while stirring often. You want the berries bursting - and that happens when the sauce holds a boil while you are stirring.
2. (optional) For cherries and other berries that have more flesh, I blend the sauce. 
3. Strain the mixture to get rid of all blueberry skins and the zest. I push hard to get every last blueberry juicy drop. (This is possibly the most time consuming step)

So - this blueberry sauce can be used as a starting point for so many things: jam, ice cream topping, soup (with mascarpone), as a syrup on pancakes or waffles or to soak into a cake, as an addition or substitute for liquid and sweetness in some baked goods, or you could add whole blueberries for a dessert topping, or for curd.

Curd, you say? Well, okay!

For every pint of sauce, you will need 2 eggs and ¼ cup (4 Tbsp) of unsalted butter (cubed).

1. Warm blueberry sauce in the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl resting over a saucepan of simmering water. (Do not start with blueberry curd that is over 150 degrees or your curd won't have time to thicken)
2. Add butter and stir with rubber spatula until butter is melted and completely incorporated.
3. Slowly pour eggs into the blueberry sauce and stir constantly until (1) your spatula/spoon leaves a clear trail (which disappears quickly) in the bottom but not so long that the curd becomes thick and the trail is wide and slow to spread, (2) coats a spoon or (3) an instant read thermometer registers 170 degrees.
   • Around 160 degrees, the texture will begin to thicken. Around 165, you will notice that scraping the bottom of the bowl matters. 
4. Remove bowl/pan from heat and strain curd with a fine mesh strainer.
5. Cool your curd by stirring until it no longer gives off any steam - you can set it over a bowl of ice to quicken this step. 
6. Pour into sterilized jars or cover the surface of the curd (no longer steamy hot) directly with plastic wrap and set the whole thing in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to go.

The curd will hold in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, the freezer for at least 6 months, and the deep freezer for longer than that (just defrost in the refrigerator to use – not the microwave). Regardless of what anyone tells you, the jars should not be sealed in hot water bath or pressure canner. The eggs and butter make this a not so friendly for shelf-stable storage.

• My favorite way to eat curd is spread on bisquits with a little lightly sweetened whipped cream.
• My oldest kiddo's favorite way to eat curd is mixed into yogurt.
• The youngest prefers it straight up on a spoon.
• My husband's favorite way to eat curd is on ice cream. 
• We also use curd in layer cakes (remember to refrigerate the cake; it is no longer safe to store at room temperature) and in tarts.

UPDATE: King Arthur shows us a new way to make curd: in the microwave. I'll have to give this a try the next time I want to make a more reasonable amount of curd than my typical batch.

How do you eat curd?