Tag: cheese

• 

  Montasio Cheese

  Montasio is an ancient firm Italian cheese. It instantly became one of my favourites. Here is why.

  

  

  Milk

  Cow

  Origin

  Italy

  Aged

  Yes, up to a year but often 3 months.

  Aroma

  Milky and grassy and nutty.

  Taste

  Fruity, nutty and grassy. Not particularly salty.

  Texture

  Young it is elastic and creamy. Aged to a year it is semi firm.

  Look

  Yellow interior with an edible white rind. Visible openness.

  Serving

  I love it as a table cheese but its high fat content makes it an excellent cooking cheese. Indeed, one of it’s historical recipes was fried by itself or combined with seasonal vegetables and potatoes.

  

  Manufacturing and Salting Method

  Handmade/traditional cheese making methods are used. The curds are pressed into molds and brine salted prior to a short aging process.

  Wine

  Your favourite red or white will go well. I like to pair it with a New Zealand or South Australian Sauvignon Blanc.

  Here are some more cheese posts. 

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  January 16, 2019

• 

  Tomato Passata Pasta: 15 Minute Meals

  This simple tomato passata pasta is a tasty example of 15 minute meal. 🙂

  The trick to making dinner in under 15 minutes is to minimise the so called “rules” you must follow for a dish and instead cook by feel.

  I simply brought a pot of water to the boil whilst I heated a slug of olive oil in a frypan and started cooking some garlic, onions and bacon in it.

  About 2 cups of home-made pasta went into the boiling water whilst I added a bottle of tomato passata to the frypan. When the sauce was hot I added some basil and sage.

  All I had to do then was drain the pasta, mix it into the sauce and grate some cheese (I used cheddar).

  

  

  

  Yum!

  

  Make this recipe your own by using adding your own ingredients. I am going to add some black olives next time for example.

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  15 MINUTE MEALS

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  November 8, 2018

• 

  Buffalo Mozzarella And Basil Antipasto

  How wonderful is buffalo di mozzarella? It needs nothing but olive oil and basil to excite the taste buds.

  Simply

  1. Flatten the mozzarella balls with a fork.
  2. Add some roughly torn fresh basil.
  3. Sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper.
  4. Drizzle with olive oil.

  

  

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  ANTIPASTO

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  July 16, 2018

• 

  PK’S Bruschetta With Tomato And Cheese Antipasto

  In Australia we tend to think of Bruschetta (an Italian antipasto) as being bread covered with tomatoes. Whilst tomatoes are often involved, Bruschetta is the garlic and olive oil rubbed grilled bread itself. You can then top it with a wide range of meats and vegetables.

  This is my NoRecipe lazy way of making Bruschetta topped with tomatoes, basil, parsley, flash pickled onion and cheese. I have used an amazing Italian washed-rind soft cheese called Taleggio (Mozzarella di Bufala would go a treat too) and red, yellow and purple cherry tomatoes.

  Simply

  1. Earlier in the day to give it time to work, dice the brown onion and put it in a bowl of vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar and the method is here).
  2. Rough chop the tomatoes, basil and parsley.
  3. Drain the onions and mix them into the chopped ingredients.
  4. Lightly grill the bread and smear with garlic infused olive oil.
  5. Cover the bread with the the chopped ingredients and slices of cheese.

  

  

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 29, 2018

• 

  PK’S Broccoli Filled Beef Meatloaf

  Meatloaf is a great way to make a little go a long way. I use minced beef, vegetables and cheese to hook my fussy little eaters (lamb, pork, chicken work a treat too). My wife loved it as well, mostly as it is a ‘one pan’ dish!

  The broccoli filling was supposed to stay hidden but they were too smart for me. It still worked though thanks to the grilled cheese. 🙂

  

  Steps

  1. Preparing everything
  2. Making the loaf
  3. Cooking and grilling the loaf
  4. Serving

  Ingredients

  • 500g beef mince
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 egg
  • 1 small broccoli head, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1/2 brown onion, diced
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
  • 1 handful of parsley, rough chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup breadcrumbs (panko would go a treat)
  • Cracked black peppercorns and salt to taste
  • Olive oil spray

  Equipment

  • 1 chef’s knife
  • 1 chopping board
  • 1 mixing bowl
  • 1 non stick baking tin

  Preparing everything

  1. Beat the egg and mix in the 1 Tsbp Worcestershire sauce.
  2. Chop the broccoli into small pieces and microwave for 1 minute.
  3. Dice half of a brown onion, store the rest for another day.
  4. Grate enough cheddar cheese to get 1 cup.
  5. Roughly chop a handful of parsley and finely dice the garlic clove.
  6. Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl, sprinkling with salt and pepper as you go.

  

  Making the loaf

  1. Preheat your fan-forced oven to 180C.
  2. Put half the mince mix into the bottom of baking tin that you have sprayed with olive oil.
  3. Tamp it
  4. Layer the broccoli over this, leaving a gap right around the edges.
  5. Add a similar layer using half of the grated cheese.
  6. Top this with the rest of the mince and press down around the edges to make a bit of a seal.

  

  

  

  Cooking and grilling the loaf

  1. Pop the tin into the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
  2. Cover the mince loaf rest of the grated cheese and grill it until golden brown.

  

  

  

  Serving

  You could just serve it as is thanks to the broccoli filling but we try and use fresh greens from the garden with every meal. 🙂

  It makes for the best leftovers and  frozen lunches by the way.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 27, 2018

• 

  PK’S Rapid Fire Cheesy Potatoes

  I am calling this a rapid fire dish because it normally takes about an hour of cooking and 15 minutes to prepare. When I come home from work I often don’t have this amount of time.

  So we are going to use a microwave and a hotter than normal oven to cut the cooking time to half an hour at the most. The traditional method also calls for layering the potatoes then pouring the sauce over them in batches. That takes too much time so we are dropping that too. 🙂

  

  Steps

  1. Cutting and cooking the potatoes
  2. Making the cheesy white sauce
  3. Baking the potatoes
  4. Serving

  Ingredients

  • 2 cups cheddar, grated
  • A handful of Parmigiano-Reggiano or parmesan
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup plain flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped
  • A dash of ground nutmeg

  Equipment

  • 1 chef’s knife
  • 1 chopping board
  • 1 bowl
  • 1 wooden spoon
  • 1 saucepan
  • 1 oven dish

  Cutting and cooking the potatoes

  1. Slice the potatoes into discs of about 3-5mm (too thin and the potato tends to fall apart whilst cooking).
  2. Microwave the potatoes for about 8 minutes on high.
  3. Test one, they should have just lost or about to lose that crunchy raw taste but not be fully cooked.
  4. Preheat your fan-forced oven to 200C.

  

  Making the cheesy white sauce

  1. On your hob slowly melt the 2 Tbsp butter in the saucepan.
  2. Stir in the 1/4 cup plain flour, a little bit at a time.
  3. Slowly stir in the 2 cups of milk.
  4. Mix in the 2 cups grated cheddar, the chives and the sprinkle of nutmeg.

  

  

  Baking the potatoes

  1. Spray the oven dish with a bit of spray olive oil.
  2. Bundle the potato slice in any old way.
  3. Pour the cheese sauce in and gently combine everything.
  4. Level the top with the wooden spoon and then cover with shaved parmigiano-reggiano.
  5. Cook for about 15 minutes, the potatoes should be soft and the cheese golden brown.
  6. You can pop it under the grill for a few minutes to crisp up the cheese.

  

  

  Serving

  This is the perfect side for roasts and steaks. It makes for the best leftovers. 🙂

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 27, 2018

• 

  Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese

  Once you try mozzarella di bufala you can’t go back. It is the most amazing example of stretched cheeses and the taste is sublime. The buffalo milk imparts a higher acidity to the cheese and gives it its signature tanginess.

  It is exceptionally versatile and you can use it raw in salads, melted on pizzas, cooked in lasagna, pasta and the list goes on and on.

  Milk

  Buffalo

  Origin

  Italy

  Aged

  No

  Aroma

  Milky and fresh.

  Taste

  Slightly tangy and a touch sour. It has an amazing texture caused by the curds being stretched and plaited.

  Texture

  Soft and elastic to a point then it tears easily. It melts extremely well and when cooked it can go creamy, releasing its moisture.

  

  Look

  Pure white with an edible almost imperceptible rind.

  Serving

  Here are a couple of serving suggestions that I like to make.

  Insalata Caprese

  

  Raw with a drizzle of olive oil, some cracked pepper and basil from the garden.

  

  The world’s tastiest toastie(mozzarella, tomato, chives and cracked pepper).

  

  Manufacturing and Salting Method

  The high acidity of the resulting curds allows it to be heated and pulled into long strands and plaited. It is then cooled and pickled in salty whey.

  Wine

  I am not a wine paring expert but the team at cheese.com say to try this with:

  • Beaujolais
  • Sauvignon Blanc

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 14, 2018

• 

  PK’s Beef Parmigiana

  This is simple home cooking at its best. The classic Beef Parmigiana (we Aussies call it a Parmi) is a great way to make a little go a long way. They are deceptively rich and filling!

  Plus you get to take out any of the day’s frustrations out on the cutlets when you give them a good hitting with the mallet. 🙂

  I am using beef cutlets, thin slices of either leg or rib meat, but you can adapt the recipe to use pork, chicken, lamb and even eggplant.

  Steps

  1. Bashing the beef
  2. Crumbing the beef
  3. Making the sauce
  4. Shallow frying the beef
  5. Melting the cheese
  6. Serving

  Ingredients

  • 6 to 8 beef or veal cutlets (you might see them called beef scaloppine)
  • 1/2 cup plain white flower
  • 1 chicken egg, whisked
  • Breadcrumbs, enough to cover the cutlets (panko works a treat)
  • Olive oil (enough to shallow fry the cutlets)
  • 1 small brown onion, finely diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
  • 700g tomato passata
  • A small handful of basil leaves
  • 2 spring onion tops (ie the green bits only), chopped
  • 1 cup grated cheese (I used a mild cheddar)
  • Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

  Equipment

  • 1 meat mallet
  • 3 sheets of baking paper
  • 2 chopping boards
  • 1 plate
  • 1 bowl
  • 1 fry pan
  • 1 oven dish
  • 1 heavy pan (suitable for shallow frying)

  Bashing the beef

  1. Place the cutlets between two sheets of baking paper (or dust your mallet in flour).
  2. I like to flatten them a lot but be careful, we don’t want to make them so thin they break apart.
  3. Give them as much salt and cracked black pepper as you like.

  

  

  Crumbing the beef

  1. Now for a little trick my dad showed me growing up. Pop the cutlets, the 1/2 cup plain white flour and some more salt and pepper into a dry plastic vegetable bag (I wash and reuse mine a few times).
  2. Close the top and gently massage and jiggle the flour mix into every nook and cranny of the cutlets.
  3. Throw the bag in the fridge if you are running ahead of time.
  4. Whisk the egg in a bowl.
  5. Lay out a bed of breadcrumbs on a dinner plate.
  6. Dip each cutlet into the egg mix, getting full coverage, then fully coat in breadcrumbs.
  7. Pop them onto a sheet of baking paper as you go (you can reuse a sheet from the tenderising step above).

  

  

  Making the sauce

  1. Add a splash of olive oil to your fry pan and start softening up the single sliced onion and the 2 finely diced garlic cloves.
  2. Add 700g of passata and a small handful of fresh basil leaves to the pan.
  3. The idea is that we will slowly thicken the tomato sauce while we are shallow frying the crumbed beef.
  4. It should be nice and gluggy by the time the beef is ready to go into the oven (see below), so adjust the heat accordingly.

  

  

  Shallow frying the beef

  1. Bring enough olive oil to shallow fry the cutlets (based on your choice of pan) to a gentle bubble.
  2. Brown each side, it won’t take long because the meat is so thin, and drain.
  3. Preheat your fan forced oven to 200C.
  4. Place them as a single layer in an oven dish.
  5. Again, we want to time this to be done as the tomato sauce is ready.

  

  

  Melting the cheese

  1. Top each cutlet with a layer of our tomato sauce.
  2. Sprinkle with grated cheese and chopped spring onion tops.
  3.  Pop the oven dish into your preheated oven (200C) and cook until the cheese has melted.

  

  Serving

  Serve with some green vegetables and a side of rice.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  May 30, 2018

• 

  PK’s Easy Mac And Cheese With Bacon

  This easy Macaroni and Cheese recipe tastes so much better than the store bought dried version. It is great comfort food and I love making it.

  I bet you have all the ingredients in your house already so let’s get started. 🙂

  Dietary notes: The bacon is totally optional and you can easily adapt the recipe to use gluten and dairy free ingredients. You can also throw in vegetables like corn and peas if you are trying to get them into your little fussy eaters.

  

  You will be:

  1. Cooking the bacon
  2. Boiling the pasta
  3. Making the white cheese sauce
  4. Mixing eveything
  5. Serving

  You will need:

  • Ingredients (feeds 2 adults and 2 kids):
    • 3 cups freshly made pasta (any type of short/elbow pasta)
    • 6 rashers bacon (I used short-cut bacon), cut into small squares
    • 80g cheese (I used a mild cheddar), grated
    • 2 cups milk
    • 1 Tbsp butter
    • 1 Tbsp plain white flour
    • A sprinkle of ground nutmeg
    • Ground black pepper to taste, optional
    • Chopped parsley and chives to taste, optional
  •  Equipment:
    • Long sharp knife
    • Chopping board
    • Frypan for the bacon
    • Saucepan for the pasta
    • Small saucepan for the white sauce
    • Colander to drain the pasta

  Cooking the bacon

  Start cooking the 6 rashers worth of bacon in a frypan. This part will take a while so we will be boiling the pasta and making the cheese sauce during it. Just remember to keep an  eye on it so you get evenly cooked bacon and not charcoal. 🙂

  

  Boiling the pasta

  1. Bring enough water to cook 3 cups of elbow pasta to the boil.
  2. Add a bit of salt and some olive oil.
  3. Cook the pasta al dente and then drain.

  Making the white cheese sauce

  1. On low heat, melt the 1 Tbsp of butter in a saucepan.
  2. Slowly stir in the 1 Tbsp plain white flour.
  3. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg (this is the dish’s secret weapon).
  4. Slowly stir in the 2 cups of milk.
  5. Add any herbs and vegetables at this stage.
  6. Stir in the 80g grated cheese and now cooked bacon.

  

  

  

  

  Mixing everything

  I bring the cheese sauce to the pasta rather than the other way round. I do this so I can control the amount of sauce in the final dish. I then gently fold the sauce through the pasta.

  Serving

  Serve hot with some freshly cracked black peppercorns. I also like a bit of fresh crusty bread smothered in butter. 🙂

  It makes for great leftovers the next day and also freezes well.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  May 28, 2018

• 

  PK’s Baked Cauliflower Slice

  This simple cauliflower and cheese dish is irresistible to children and adults alike. I am always looking for kid friendly meals that require little effort to make. 🙂

  Let’s face it, the gooey cheese (grilled to perfection on top) is the best bit, so if you are a vegetarian you could use dairy free cheese, omit the egg and chuck in some chia seeds. It will have a slightly different texture but will be oh so yummy.

  

  You will be:

  1. Precooking the cauliflower
  2. Mixing all the ingredients
  3. Baking for 10 minutes
  4. Serving

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1/2 a cauliflower, broken/cut into puffed corn sized pieces
    • 1 chicken egg
    • 6 sprigs of Mediterranean herbs (I used thyme and tarragon), roughly chopped
    • 1/2 cup panko crumbs (breadcrumbs will work too)
    • 1/4 cup aged Italian cheese (I used provolone but Parmigiano-Reggiano would rock too), finely grated
    • a very generous sprinkle (or two) of Garam Masala
    • spray oil
  •  Equipment:
    • a long sharp knife
    • a chopping board
    • a sauce pan or steamer
    • a fork or whisk
    • a mixing bowl
    • an oven tray
    • baking paper

  Precooking the cauliflower

  1. I used my hands to twist off the cauliflower florets (aiming for puffed wheat sized chunks) and the knife to chop up the heart.
  2. Lightly boil or steam the chunks (aiming for a bit of crunch).

  Mixing all the ingredients

  1. Preheat the fan forced oven to 200C.
  2. Whisk the egg in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Mix in the:
     • cauliflower
     • 6 sprigs of Mediterranean herbs
     • 1/2 cup panko crumbs
     • 1/4 cup aged Italian cheese
  4. Cover an oven tray with baking paper and spray it with a bit of olive oil.
  5. Spread the cauliflower mix over the tray.
  6. Sprinkle generously with garam masala.
  7. Spray again with the olive oil.

  Baking for 10 minutes

  1. Bake for 10 minutes and check the colour.
  2. The cheese should be melted and slightly golden.
  3. If you want, use the grill or a chef’s torch.

  Serving

  Goes great with a nice juicy steak. 🙂

  Enjoy,

  PK

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  April 16, 2018