Cow blood tests - DONE

I mentioned a little while ago we needed blood tests from the cows (and also a TB test this year).
It is now all done and we are just waiting for the paperwork.
The vet said they were very calm and well behaved - which they were. Although we find the highlands difficult if we don't work with them enough, in the grand scheme of cow behaviour I think they are pretty good.
It is a relief to have it done as we are a bit late with it. We only discovered last minute that it was meant to be done by the end of April. Fortunately they gave us an extension. It makes it hard to sell or abattoir animals if you don't have the tests in place.

Sushi!

A new kind of restaurant has opened in Bagneres. It does take away sushi that you pick up from a wine bar called 'La Cave', so you can have a nice drink while you wait to collect it.
Yummy!
If you are in the area we recommend a visit. Wednesdays and Thursdays only.

Lights at La Cava

The sushi

We had a set menu. This is the desert, surprisingly tasty! The jelly is agar-agar apparently.

Scones Recipe

I had to make some to go with the clotted cream!

350g self raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
80g butter
35g sugar
175ml buttermilk or slightly acidic milk (add squeeze lemon if needed)
Egg to glaze

Heat oven to 220C.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Rub the butter in to the flour.
Stir in the sugar.
Warm the milk a little
Make a dough by gently mixing the milk in to the dry ingredients. Don't over work and don’t add all of it at first, keep adding till you have a stiff dough.
Turn out on to floured surface
Roll out to around 2.5cm thick and use a 6cm cutter to cut out the scones - or just cut in to squares or smaller or bigger, whatever you fancy... Press down quickly and cleanly so none of the sides are squished so the scone rise neatly.
Reroll the dough/pastry as needed.
Careful not to work the pastry too much as the scones will be hard if you do.
Glaze the tops with egg

Put on to a baking tray and cook for about 10 mins.

St.Sebastian, Basque Cheesecake Recipe

We LOVE San Sebastian. It is a lovely town with a beach and chock full of the best food in the world.

It is in the Basque region and they have their own style of Tapas called Pinxos. Most of the food is savory but there is the occasional desert. The best of these being the cheese cake at La Vina (there other Pinxos are all v good too)

There are various attempts to work out what the recipe is. This is my attempt at something similar using home made cheese. The origional uses philadelphia, according to this blog http://www.thisnewview.com/basque-burnt-cheesecake/

18cm spring form cake tin

600g of cream cheese (I used kefir cheese)
235g sugar
4 eggs
280ml cream
20g flour

Mix everything thoroughly - ideally with a stand mixer. Probably cream the cheese and sugar first then add eggs and other items.
Line the tin with grease proof paper. It should go beyond the top of the tin by a few inches because the cake rises quite a bit during baking then sinks back down.
Put the mixture in to the tin and bake at 200°C for about 50 mins until brown and it only wobbles gently in the center. ie you want it cooked and set right through, but not overcooked as you want the center to be very soft and creamy. The outside should be browned and almost crusty.
Allow to cook before serving.
I guess it would be delicious with some kind of fruit ot jam, but that is not traditional!

Lancashire Cheese (again - finally)

It is nearly 4 years since I last made this. We didn’t even have the Jersey cows then! I got disappointed making hard cheeses, some of the soft ones I made came our REALLY well, but the hard ones were never great - the thing I wanted (and still want!) most was one that would melt like cheddar for toasted cheese. As a result I stopped making them (it is a lot of effort so hard to continue for disappointing results) and so this is the first time making with our own Jersey milk.

We are getting 7 or 8 liters a day at the moment, so I have to find something to do with it all which makes trying again a good idea, it may waste my time if it doesn’t work out, but we had the milk anyway.

I have read many things about cheese making recently, so I have made a few adjustments.
1st is making sure things are really really sterile. I took a tip from somewhere and have two bowls of water, one for rincing and one with a suitable steriliser for dipping spoons etc in before they go in the cheese. Unfortunately dog hairs have magic powers and can gt ANYWHERE. But trying to minimise this.
2nd I have adjusted the rennet for using fresh home made milk. I have dropped 30% off the amount used.
3rd I have added calcium cloride which is meant to make the calcium more accessible again after pasurisation (or something like that).I did this because I had it in a kit I was given and I pasturised the milk first.
Finally I was more gentle with stiring and handling the curds than previously as I have read they are very fragile and you lose good things like fat if you are not gentle.

I am also going to press at a slightly lower weight - which is frustration with the cheese press rather than because I thnk it will be better. I have a new one on order as the one I have is USELESS (no calibration and it tips over unless clamped down - which is tricky to do somewhere the whey can safely run off). It is ‘artisanal’ apparently, maybe it is just meant for decoration!
http://laviealapetiteferme.blogspot.fr/2014/06/lancashire-cheese.html

I can’t remember how I managed the temperature befor. This time I had the water in the bottom pan at about 35°C and look the top one in and out to keep it at 31°C. Ove the time the temperature in the bottom pan dropped and I just let it so it was cooler for the draining of the whey off the curds.

4l pasturised fresh Jersey milk - very creamy - perhaps 1/3rd cream (I heated to 70°C then cooled in a sink or cold water)
1/8tsp (0.625ml) animal rennet (possibly should be even less according to the recipe I am copying, but went for somewhere between that and the instructions on the rennet as rennet can be different strengths)
1/8th tsp calcium cloride (added with the rennet - maybe should have been with the culture)
Mesophilic culture for 4l of milk (according to the culture instructions)
14g salt (not iodised) 3/4 tblsp

I followed the same process as before (which is described best in the original recipe that I link to).

The curds didn't quite fit in to the mould! But one they have drained overnight they hopefully will... (unfortunate brown colour of the cheese cloth is because it has also been used brewing beer which has stained it - it is clean, honest!)

Mozzarella Cheese

Made using ingredients from kit I was recently given.

This Mozzarella was made using citric acid then adding rennet. The recipe is here.

The curds

Curds after heating a bit and stirring

After draining the whey

After heating stretching and forming in to balls - they are soaking in salt water (which is the reason for the water looking greyish as the salt was like that)

Ricotta Cheese

Someone kindly gave us an Italian Cheese Kit. It has ingredients (not the milk obviously) and recipes for Ricotta, Mascapone and Mozzarella. I made the Ricotta and have then gone on and made a Ricotta Salata which is Ricotta that has been pressed and aged a little bit.

I will make the mascarpone and mozzarella soon. Exciting!

I used the ricotta in a very nice cannelloni made with our ham and ricotta mixed with some chopped up tomatoes and fried onions and water cress. Topped with white sauce and a little cheddar.

We had some of it that had been further salted and left out overnight with some ham and home made bread for lunch (also homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream - on a different piece of bread clearly).

Ricotta is simple to make and doesn't take any special equipment. The recipe is here.
You can mix in salt and eat straight away or let it drain a bit more for a more solid cheese.
You can then salt some more, press and age a bit also (Ricotta salata).