julias (& mine...) french apple tart

this open faced start is just wonderful. and the taste is very similar to those amazing, jummy applecakes you get in amsterdam. so this one is not just delish for dessert but also wonderful if you are feeling homesick after amsterdam (like me... always!). dont make this tart on a busy day. the process of making it involves several steps. pick a foggy sunday (like i did - where is the sun?) to make this. i worked on julia childs recipe from her book "baking with julia" a bit - just made it my way and skipped or changed some parts that seemed to complicated. the tart is still warm, sitting on my stove - cant wait to tuck in! this also explains why i took the picture from julia childs book. but i promise: mine (and yours will too!) looks as good as the one on the picture. and smells just wonderful!

RECIPE

flaky pie dough
175g flour
1 teaspoon salt
120g butter, cut in small pieces
about 60 ml ice water

mix flour and salt and put in a mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. add the butter - piece after piece - and mix until mixture looks coarse. carefully add the water (you might not need all of it - careful!) and mix only until it is incorporated. turn out on a working surface and fold it over on itself 2-3 times and gather it together. form a disk and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

filling
1kg sour apples (braeburn - really any cooking apple or granny smith)
150g sugar
1 tablespoon flour
a generous pinch of cinnamon
40g fresh breadcrumbs
juice of one lemon

peel and core the apples. quarter, then finely slice the quarters. put in a large saucepan and drizzle with half of the lemon juice. add sugar, flour, cinnamon and breadcrumbs. add a tablespoon of water and put on high heat. bring to the boil, then lower the heat and cook apples until soft and ready to be mashed (with a wooden spoon - potato masher - heavy spoon). dont overdo it - a few small lumps and bumps will make the filling interesting. let cool.

heat the oven to 200 c° and put a rack in the middle of the oven.
roll the chilled dough on a slightly floured surface into a circle so it fits a 25cm fluted pan tart with a removable bottom. cut off the excess dough at the rim with a sharp knife and line the tart with parchment paper and fill with baking beans. chill for about half an hour.
then put in the oven and bake until golden brown for about 30 minutes (how fiery is your oven? - keep an eye on it, it might be ready after 20 minutes). when baked, let cool (with beans and parchment paper still in tin). leave oven on but reduce to 190c°.

when the shell is cool, spoon the apple purée into the tart shell and smooth evenly with a spatula or the back of a spoon. the filling should come to just below the rim of the tart.

topping
3-4 apples (such as granny smith or any cooking apple)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 tablespoon of sugar
confectioner's sugar for dusting

peel and core the apples and finely slice them, drizzle lemon juice over them to prevent them from browning. arrange the apples in a circle over the purée. the slices should overlap each other, but dont worry if it doesnt look as good as on the picture. save your nerves for the crime story on tv tonight. arrange as many slices as needed, brush them carefully with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar.

bake the tart in the middle of the oven for about 35-40 minutes (again: how fiery is your oven - make sure you keep an eye on it from time to time). when the edges of the apples have started to brown, take out of the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. before serving dust the tart (or just its edges as julia did it) with confectioner's sugar. or do it like me and serve a generous dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream with it.

oh this is heaven on a plate!

my julia

i remember the first time i saw julia child on tv. i was sitting in bed, in a wonderful hotel in the soho-neighbourhood in new york city, eating some delicious rugelachs i bought from DEAN AND DELUCA (i sometimes eat that stuff for breakfast - isnt it just too good to wait until dessert?) and i had my usual early-morning food-network tv-session. i didnt like her at first. as a radiojournalist you focus on voices. and i didnt like hers. but the way she presented the recipe, her adorable kitchen and her witty and fun remarks simply glued me to the telly. i couldnt stop. and even cancelled a brunch-date the next day so i could watch her again.
last summer i discovered a beautifully designed bookcover. covers count everything to me. the book doesnt necessarily have to be good - as long as the cover looks good: i am in (but of course also like to read really good books, even when the cover looks horrible.). it was julie powells book "julie and julia, 365 days 1 tiny apartment kitchen". the story of a young woman trying to save her soul and cook her way through julia childs "mastering the art of french cooking I". oh - a beautfiul book, a fun and witty story where you feel with her about gone-wrong mayonnaise and butter drenched meals. with that book, i rediscovered julia child! (i was a bit mad about martha stewart in the meantime because she wrote this amazing baking book i had to work my way through...). after i finished the book, i spent hours on the webpage from the smithsonian museum in washington DC, where her wonderful kitchen is displayed. ( http://americanhistory.si.edu/juliachild/"). check it out - its full of joy - just like julia!
i just bought myself another julia-book: baking with julia written by the talented writer dorie greenspan. a book filled with an extraordinary variety of breads, beautiful pastries and an apple cake i think i would die for. i am baking it tomorrow and will tell you all about it. why dont you hurry and get yourself a copy of these books, too? - i promise. the world of julia child is all about having a wonderful time in the kitchen.

BAKING WITH JULIA - sift, knead, flute, flour, and savor..., by dorie greenspan, published by morrow cookbooks
JULIE AND JULIA - 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen, julie powell, published by little, brown and company

oh-so-delicious cordons bleus

ralph (as seen in a self portrait above) is a good eater. i remember the times we worked together we always ate. most of the time we had a box full of those "celebration" chocolates with us. and it only took us about an hour to empty it. so whenever he and michael are over for dinner, i know i can dish up something quite nourishing. something like a cordon bleu. i love this recipe, because -again- its so easy to make and perfect to prepare before your guests arrive. i never serve potatoes or fries with it, like everybody else does. i think a cucumber salad with loads of dill or just any green salad make a perfect match with this oh-so-delicious piece of meat!
PS: excuse the small piece of meat on the picture. we were so hungry, it took us seconds to eat it all up!

RECIPE
CORDON BLEU

4 steaks (veal or beef, about 160g - tell the butcher to prepare them for cordon bleu!)
8 slices of ham
4 slices of gruyere
salt & freshly ground pepper
flour
2 eggs, whisked
loads of fine breadcrumbs (put your stale bread in a mixer!)
butter and olive oil, to fry

wrap the cheese in the ham - make a neat little parcel. put into prepared steaks and press the edges well, so the meat sticks together (i also use wooden sticks to make sure it closes well). season generously with salt and pepper.
coat steaks with the flour, then the whisked eggs and cover very well with the breadcrumbs.

heat oil and a piece of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. fry cordons bleus on each side for about 5-6 minutes until golden and the cheese has melted inside.
serve immediately on a warm plate.

lemon curd tart

last night we celebrated my friend ralphs birthday. poodle turned 28, no 25 - euch... 32... no! well, just kinda "30ish". so i just had to bake a cake. i was tired of all the chocolate cakes that i usually bake for birthdays, so i went with a fresh and juicy lemon curd tart. really easy to make and wonderful to assemble in the last minute. i went perfectly with the -rather heavy- main dish that we had: cordon bleus with loads of fresh cucmber salad with dill.
by the way: michael on the picture is cute as pie, but we only ate the tart...;-)

RECIPE
LEMON CURD TART

ready baked pastry shell*
115ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
160g sugar
a pinch of salt
125g butter
fresh blueberries

pour water into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. combine lemon juice, whole eggs and egg yolk, sugar and salt in a bowl (no stainless steel - adds a yucky taste to anything with lemon!), that sits securely in the rim of the saucepan over the simmering water. whisk ingredients until the mixutre becomes very thick. this will take about 15-20minutes, so maybe have a copy of hello or people magazine near. when cream is thick, remove from heat and let cool, stirring from time to time, to release heat.

cut butter in small pieces and add butter - one at the time - until incorporated, before adding the next piece. cream will be pale yellow and wonderfully thick but soft.

let rest until cold, then its ready to use. will keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

to assemble, place ready baked pastry shell on a cakestand, fill lemoncurd into shell and top with blueberries.

*mix 125g soft butter with 90g sugar until pale. add one large egg , when incorporated, add 250g flour. mix until dough just comes together. roll into ball, flatten, wrap in clingfilm and let rest in the fridge for an hour or so.
then roll out between two sheets of baking paper and fit into a 20cm round pastry tin. fill with baking beans (i usally take some uncooked chick-peas) and bake at 180c° for about 15 minutes. remove baking beans and bake for another 15-20 minutes until golden. let cool.

kronenhalle galore

i promise, i am not posting this to make you jealous. but just to
prove, that the schnitzel actually is as big as the plate at "kronenhalle" in zürich. the girl with the rösti is my friend ivonne who was so lovely to invite me to this fabulous dinner! thanks i - you are the best!
if you ever make it to zürich - promise to come to kronenhalle with me. this place is just amazing. full of art (we had cocktails underneath an original picasso, no joke!), they have the kindest staff ("of course! we do serve tomato sauce with the schnitzel! - here is a bottle!") and very often there is either a duke, a rockstar, a designer (people say yves saint laurent sometimes has dinner at kronenhalle. all alone. but then, he must be just a little happy: having a rösti on his plate) or someone else you love to watch while having a glass of champagne. i usually go for a schnitzel, thats served with a cucumber salad with loads of dill. but whenever my friend christoph (the talented baker from berlin) is in town, we make sure we have lunch together and order a "mistkratzerli", which is a signature dish at the kronenhalle. it really is just a small chicken roasted with loads of garlic. we eat it all up and - oh bummer! - there is no space for the worldfamous-kronenhalle-mousse au chocolat. but then: thats just another reason to visit this wonderful, wonderful restaurant once again...

RECIPE

MISTKRATZERLI A LA KRONENHALLE
serves one hungry person
1 mistkratzerli / poussin (or just take the smallest chicken you can get)
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, finelly sliced
seasoning: salt, paprika, oregano, pepper, 1 tablespoon butter
peanut-oil to fry
heat oven to 200 C°
mix all the ingredients for the seasoning and rub well into the birds skin. heat oil in an ovenproof skillet and brown the mistkratzlerli well on all sides.put into the oven and roast for about 40 minutes. douse mistkratzerli with oil from time to time, that keeps it moist and the skin crisp. take out of oven and let rest.
melt butter in a small saucepan, brown sliced garlic, add rosemary. serve mistkratzerli on a warm plate and drizzle with the garlic-butter.

recipe taken from the book "kronenhalle zürich" published by orell füssli, zürich
www.kronenhalle.com

applestrudel tart

in switzerland we are verly lucky to get all kinds of ready-made pastry in a very high quality. from puff to filo pastry - its just wonderful. i like them all but am a bit obsessed with filo pastry. i remember when i was at high-school (where we had the subject "cooking" - no joke!) i was the only girl that was able to roll out a filo pastry without making any holes. as soon as it was thin enough to read a newspaper through it - it was ready to work with it. if i was austrian, that would make me a woman worth to marry. at least this is was my teacher told me back then...
i had this ready made filo pastry in my fridge and for a few days i was wondering what to do with it. and then i came up with a recipe for an applestrudel tart. its pretty much the same as an applestrudel, but so much easier to assemble. and i just love it, when i can put a tart on a cakestand.

RECIPE

1 packet of ready made filo pastry (about 120g - 4-5 large sheets)
2 tablespoons of butter, plus more for greasing the tin

400g quark (try to get the full fat one)
180g creme fraiche
3 eggyolks
2 heaped tablespoons "vanilla-pudding powder" (the one you use for COOKING vanillacream)
140g vanillasugar*
75g raisins
a pinch of salt
4 sour apples (about 400g)
3 eggwhites
some icing sugar, to dust

generously butter a round cake tin (26cm), line bottom with parchment paper & heat oven to 170C°.
melt the butter in a small saucepan. place one square of filo pastry into tin and make sure ends are overlapping the tin-rim. brush with melted butter. continue to line tin until all the filo dough is used up (make sure you brush each square of filo with the butter!).
mix quark, creme fraiche, eggyolks, vanillapudding-powder, vanillasugar, raisins and salt in a large bowl until smooth. peel apples, core and grate directly into mixture so the apples wont turn brown. whip egg whites until stiff and carefully fold into the mixture. fill into the prepared tin. now fold the overlapping filo pastry over the mixture. brush with some melted butter and bake in the bottom of the oven for about 50 minutes until golden and mixture has set.
remove carefully from the tin and let cool on a cooling rack.

serve on a beautiful cakestand (and tie a ribbon around it, if you are as obsessed with them as me...), dust with icing sugar before serving.
eat as soon as possible. it only tastes this good fresh out of the oven!

*vanillasugar is very easy to make. mix about 500g of sugar with scraped out seeds of 2 vanilla pods. put in a blender and mix. stick vanillapods into sugar - put in jar, close and leave it for a few days. you will end up with the most delicious vanilla sugar you can use in cakes, coffee,...

mcdreamysteamy madness

when i got up this morning, i REALLY wanted to start with the (much needed...) cleaning of my apartment. and i decided to finally put up the new lamps i got from ikea. all went well... and i was already praising myself what a good girl i was.until i wanted to switch the light on. - one blown fuse later there was no light at all. an no electricity either. well done - good job.
hours later i replaced my fuse and with my new found electricity i dont even think about hoovering. nah - i am in front of the telly. with the latest episode of mcdreamysteamy and a drowning meredith on greys anatomy. if you watch this: make sure there is a pack of hankies and a big piece of chocolatecake near.

PS: http://tvrls.blogspot.com - it does take some time to download. but you always get the latest episodes of greys and all the other wonderful US-series as soon as they aired in the states.

sugarfree muesli

since the ladies at the radio went nuts about the granola, i decided to work on more granola recipes (hooray, enough recipes that will make a radioshow!). our adorable secretary sonja asked for a sugarfree granola that still tastes good. so i came up with this one. its quick and easy to make and keeps in an airtight container for at least 2-3 weeks.

SUGARFREE MUESLI WITH CINNAMON AND APPLE

200g rolled oats
100g soy oats (get it at migros or any wholefood store)
60g puffed wheat
80g almonds, roughly chopped
50g pumpkin seeds
40g sesame seeds
10g linseeds
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
125ml organic applejuice
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
50g dried apple (or pear, whatever you like better), cut in small cubes

heat oven to 160C° and line a bakingsheet.
mix everything from oats to cinnamon powder in a big bowl. mix applejuice with oil and mix well into dry ingredients until wet. spread evenly on baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. if you are not in a hurry and get a chance to mix and shake it, while its in the oven - do so. it helps to bake it evenly. if not, dont worry.
when mixture is goldenbrown and dry, let cool (its best to leave it to cool in the oven overnight) and mix with dried apple cubes.
serve with yoghurt, fresh fruit or milk.

***

for everyone out there who is simply too busy to bake a granola - here is a mix thats done in a dash! of course you could substitute the mango with dried apple or figs or pears or whatever you desire. add some dried coconut flakes or a dash of cinnamon or vanilla sugar and ready is your bespoke muesli mix.

QUICK AND EASY MUESLI MIX

400g rolled oats
50g puffed wheat
150g soy oats
100g almonds, roughly chopped
100g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
100g dried mango, cut in small cubes

in a big bowl mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container up to a month.
serve with yoghurt, fresh fruit or milk.

lazy gardener

usually, winters in zürich are just miserable. we are covered in fog from september to march and its raining cats and dogs. ok sometimes - like today... - the sun is out and the sky is the most beautiful light-blue. well - really just like heaven.
i tend to overload my apartment with some cheerful plants that keep me in a shiny-happy-mood during winter. apart from the roses that i always keep in my living room (must admit, the vase cost so much more than roses ever could - but i couldnt resist...), i started my little bright winter garden on my balcony. its something for the lazy gardener. just a few pots with these colourful cylamen (which means violets of the alps - i think its just lovely). they are amazing. its something below C° and they are still going strong - no signs of weakness or death of exposure!
really just fabulous to look at when you hang on the sofa, trying to beat the winter-zürich-blues with a piece of cake on a plate and ANOTHER episode of greys anatomy.

crunchy granola

well... there is two reasons why i seem do to everything myself lately. reson one: i need to save money. or: i only have ideas that cost money. like a new computer. like a trip to new york. like a new kitchen. the list goes on and on. reason two: i like to know whats in my food. its as simple as that. and since i have been eating loads of food that i do not only have no idea whats in it but also tastes like nothing (good morning everyone at the radio cafeteria...) i like to make things myself. like granola. i am not a big breakfast eater. a diet coke in the morning (everyone has a tic, right?) and i am ready to go. but i like a bowl of fruit with some youghurt thats topped with a handfull of crunchy granola.
the best thing about homemade granola is, that you can assemble it just the way you like it. add some dried apples, more pumpin seeds if you like - add a dash of vanilla or cinnamon. and then: all you need is a big bowl and and an oven. and here we go!

RECIPE

GRANOLA WITH HONEY (and a dash of vanilla)

makes about 1,2kg granola

400g rolled oats
50g wheat puffs
125g almonds, roughly chopped
100g sunflower seeds
100g pumpkin seeds
50g golden sesame seeds
1-2 tablespoons wheatgerm
125ml sunflower oil
325g honey (or about 250ml, whatever is easier to measure)
3 heaped tablespoons of sugar (brown sugar if you like, makes a richer taste)
scraped out seeds of 1 vanilla pod
60g dried apple, cut in very small cubes

preheat the oven to 150C°
in a big bowl mix the oats, puffs, almonds, all seeds and the wheatgerm.
put oil, honey, sugar, vanilla seeds and 125ml water in a small saucepan and - stiring constantly - bring just to the boil. pour over the mixture and mix very well.
if the mixture is too wet, add more oats - there should be no excess liquid at the bottom of the pan. when mixture is sticky, spread out on 2 lined baking sheets. reduce oven to 150C° and and bake for about 1.5 hours. its important to turn the granola frequently when in the oven as it can easily burn. when the granola is golden and crisp (make sure there are no wet bits!), turn the oven off and let dry overnight. this makes a wonderful crisp and dry cereal.

when cool and ready to eat, add the chopped dried apple and serve with milk or yoghurt and fruit.

pain de mie - or the best homemade toast bread ever!

so... its been chilly and windy and cold over the weekend. so i went to ikea (bad idea!) and i baked (good idea!). my friend christoph from berlin e-mailed me the other day about homemade toast-bread he baked and that he ate it all up in one go. christoph is a talented baker, has a sparkling personality, is a fun actor and sometimes wears a wig and sings and dances as the wonderful "ursula west - a legend in time" (oh dolly parton, kiss my ass! - www.ursula-west.de).
toast is something i could live on. toast and butter and i am in heaven. so it was tempting to try it myself. it took me some time to find out that the american pullman bread is what we call toast-bread in switzerland. which is pain de mie in france and an everyday loaf in england. at least this is what richard bertinet taught me in his amazing book "dough - simple contemporary bread". since i didnt have a tin that closes on all sides, i simply used 2 loaf tins (about 25 cm) and covered them with a baking sheet and put my le creuset pan on top, so the breads would stay in shape. its a wonderful recipe on a day with cloudy skies or - in my case - a dirty apartment that needs to be cleaned... my dry tumbler blowing out heat helped the dought to rise and i had enough time to hoover while the breads where in the oven.

makes 2 loaves
RECIPE

10g butter
20g fresh yeast
500g white flour
50g (or 50ml) milk
300g (or 300ml) lukewarm water
a little butter for greasing

grease 25cm loaf tins with a little butter.

put flour in a big bowl and rub fresh yeast and butter into flour. use your fingertips to do so until it disappears (or looks like very fine breadcrumbs). add the water & milk and mix until the dough starts to form. the dough will feel quite moist and probably stick to your fingers (or the hook of the kitchen aid machine) - but keep on kneading until you have a smooth, elastic but slightly sticky ball of dough. grease the mixing-bowl with some butter, put dough in and cover with clingfilm. let rest in a draught free place until it has doubled in size (about 1 hour).

turn the dough onto a floured surface and divide into two equal pieces. mould each piece tightly into a loaf shape. once in their tins, leave to prove in a warm place for another hour. cover the tins with a clean baking sheet (and put something heavy on top), so they wont rise too much.

preheat the oven to 250 C°, reduce to 220 C°, put tins (covered with baking sheet and something heavy like a le creuset pot on top) into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. remove baking sheet and bake for another 5 minutes until loaves are golden brown. remove from tins and let cool on a cooling rack.

this bread tastes wonderful with some fresh butter. a drop of honey or - i know i am terrible - a guacamole with loads of lime juice and some finely chopped red onion.

no recipes today. its a busy da at the radio. but at least i got to wear gorgeous shoes!

mascarpone heaven

HORRAY - it worked! i got a bowl full of super-creamy mascarpone. the secret was to use fresh full fat cream, since the ultra-pasteurized one gives the mascarpone a terrible off-taste. my friend simone (www.herbarella.ch) is the lucky one. she will come over for dinner tomorrow and i will make sure i will put loads and loads of creamy mascarpone on top of the pizza (together with parma ham and ruccola - YUM!).

RECIPE
700ml full fat cream
6 tablespoons buttermilk

place cream in a saucepan and heat to lukewarm (about 35 C for those of you who have a thermometer in the kitchen). pour into a clean bowl and stir in the buttermilk. cover with a plate and set aside for 24 hours (or until a thick curd forms - happens quicker the warmer it is).
line a colander with a damp muslin and place over a bowl. pour curd into colander and let drain for 15 minutes. fold muslin over curd and wrap colander & bowl with clingfilm. put in the fridge for about 2 days. - ready!
mascarpone keeps in an airtight container or glass for about 4-5 days.

***

HOMEMADE CRèME FRAICHE

here is another one (the last one that has anything to do with fresh cheese, promise!) its a dead-easy recipe for homemade crème fraiche from susan spungens book "recipes for the modern cook". the homemade stuff has so much more flavour than the one you get at the supermarket. its creamy and nutty and buttery. just the way i love it!

500ml full fat cream
2 tablespoons buttermilk

combine cream and buttermilk and put into a clean glass jar. put a saucepan with barely simmering water on stove. place glass in saucepan and when the cream is just warm, remove it and cover with plastic wrap. you might want to use a rubber band to secure the wrap tightly. put jar in a warm spot (tumbler, spot with floor-heating etc) for about 12-24 hours (depending how warm it is). once thickened, stir once, re-cover and place in the fridge where it will thicken even further. keeps for about 2 weeks!!

making fresh cheese II

i try not to bore you with my freshly-homemade cheeses but i am currently working on a radioshow thats all about homemade cheeses. we had the ricotta, here comes a simple, fresh cheese made of yoghurt. it's really easy as pie to make, you can add fresh herbs, fennel or cumin seeds and it tastes just so nice and fresh and lovely.

i am using & adapting a recipe from my friend silvana franco from london, she put it in her book "natural born fillers" (silvana, remember: this is the book we worked on when we had some quiet time. for like 2 seconds... still makes me laugh!). this is a "cheats version of the lebanese labneh cheese", she says. i just find it gorgeous!

RECIPE
500g greek yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
fresh thyme or coriander seeds or fennel seeds
olive oil

add salt to the yoghurt and stir together. place a square of muslin or cheesecloth in a bowl and spoon in the yoghurt. gather ends together and tie firmly with string. suspend the yoghurt above a sink or deep bowl and leave overnight in a cool room. next morning you will be left with a soft cheese in the cloth. transfer to a bowl and stir in the fresh tyme and drizzle with olive oil. serve with pitta or any other delicious bread.

HOME-MADE RICOTTA

ok, ok, there is no reason why someone would want to make his or her own ricotta. its cheap and easy to buy. well... but its fun to make (really a miracle when milk turns into cheese, isnt it?) and the fresh one just puts the rubbery mass you find at the supermarket to shame. its delicious! it actually smells like the milk its made from (so make sure you get the best, freshest milk you can get!). i know i am going a bit too far, making my own ricotta / croissants / mascarpone / eclaires /... but isnt it a wonderful feeling when you know: no matter what - at the end of the day i could always make my own ricotta! if the world would stop tomorrow - bet your buttocks i would stand in my kitchen working on a batch of delicious eclaires.

ricotta is make from the whey thats left over from cheesemaking. we use full-fat milk to make our own.dont worry you wont spend hours in the kitchen to do this. say 20 minutes? - but the milk needs your attention while its on the stoove.

RECIPE
1 liter full fat milk
0.25 liter buttermilk (no sour buttermilk!!!)

line a colader with a wide surface with a large piece of cheesecloth or muslin (you might want to rinse it with cold water first). put lined colander over a big bowl or pot.
pour milk and buttermilk in a large saucepan (if you have a le creseut pot, use that one, you want to avoid anyting thats reactive as this might spoil the taste!). heat, stirring the mixture frequently with a spatula and make sure you scrape the whole pan bottom to prevent scorching. take pan off heat as soon as curds float on top (at about 80 C, in case you have a thermometer handy..). transfer the curds to the colander, using a slotted spoon. be careful, you dont want to break up the curds. let drain for about 15 minutes, tie up and hang over the sink or a big bowl to drain for another 20 minutes until the dripping stops. transfer to an airtight container. keeps in the fridge for up to 4-5 days.

use it as a ravioli-filling, pizza topping (or really do whatever you ususally do with ricotta), drizzle with honey and serve with fresh fruit.

sweet tooth

i know, i know i have been raving about this book way too much. but it is just fabulous. i end up reading it every single night and - whoops... its one o clock in the morning again.
i love their attention to detail. nowadays - where most breads and croissants are pre-baked - this book is so refreshing and encouraging to bake your own bread and pastries. i even decided to give a hand at self made croissants. i know i must be mad but the thought of working with this buttery, wonderful dough is just too tempting.
so this book is a must for every home-baker out there. you will love their soft and buttery brioches, fresh fruit tart, lemon meringue cake not to mention their banana cream pie. wonderful photographs whisk you into their san francisco based bakery. oh - this is just fabulous!
i am making their gougères tonight and promise to post this wonderful recipe, soon.

***

TARTINE, by Elisabeth M Preuitt and Chad Robertson, published by Chronicle Books
TARTINE bakery at 600 guerrero street @ 18th, San Francisco
www.tartinebakery.com

ricotta cheesecake

i have been trying to make my own ricotta and mascarpone for the last few days. more about that later (ricotta = success, mascarpone = one big disaster). but since the ricotta turned out very smooth and nice i decided to make a ricotta cheesecake. it is not as heavy as the one thats made with cream cheese only. but easy-peasy to make and oh so yummy with some berries or any other fruit on top. enjoy!

RECIPE
grease and line a round cake pan with 23 cm diameter & heat oven to 150 degrees.
melt 60g butter in a small saucepan. mix 120g petit beurres (or any butter cookies) in the food processor until you have the texture of fine "bread-crumbs". mix it with 60g finely ground almonds and the butter, until it holds together. transfer to round cake pan and pat out evenly to make the crust. place in fridge while proceeding.

mix 1,5 tablespoons corn starch with 1,5 tablespoons water until smooth. Add 300g soft cream cheese, 500g ricotta, 300g sugar and zest and juice of one lemon. Mix until smooth. Add 4 eggs (dont beat them too much or your cheesecake will puff up like a souffle). Put mixture into the cooled cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 60-90 minutes (or until mixture has gone firm but is still a bit wobbly. turn out the oven and let your cheesecake stand in the oven until totally cool.

serve with loads of fresh fruit (whatever is in season) and a generous dollop of mascarpone. if - unlike me - have some in the fridge... - but more about that some other time.

enjoy! m