The Lee Bros. Simple Fresh Southern_ Knockout Dishes With Down-Home Flavor - Matt Lee [25]
VARIATIONS
black pepper fresh cheese To create a cheese with a prickle of heat and an alluring speckled appearance, add 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to the milk-buttermilk mixture as it heats.
lemon zest fresh cheese Add 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest to the milk-buttermilk mixture as it heats to create a cheese with an aromatic lemony flavor. Serve the cheese, still warm, on thinly sliced French bread, with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt.
herbed fresh cheese Add 1 teaspoon of your favorite dried herb—tarragon, oregano, and basil all work wonderfully—to the milk-buttermilk mixture as it heats, to create a cheese with a savory perfume.
vanilla fresh cheese Omit the salt and add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the milk-buttermilk mixture as it heats to make a cheese for crumbling over Fruit Salad. The whey from this cheese makes a superb, beguiling Whey Sorbet.
buttermilk fresh cheese snack ideas
SIMPLEST
“smoked” fresh cheese Place the round of cheese on a plate and dust it with ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika, pinches of Maldon or kosher salt, and a grind of fresh black pepper. Surround it with crackers and watch it disappear.
pecan-crusted fresh cheese Toast ¼ cup pecan halves in a skillet until fragrant. Let them cool on a plate. Then “crust” the cheese by processing the pecans to fine crumbs and dredging the cheese in them. Alternatively, you can chop the nuts coarsely with a chef’s knife, scatter them over and around the cheese, and drizzle honey over the plate—which makes a fantastic cheese- or dessert-course presentation, too.
fresh cheese garlanded with roasted red peppers, olive oil, and lemon Slice a few store-bought roasted red peppers or pimentos into thin slivers, and mound them over the top of the cheese. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, squeeze half a lemon over it, and sprinkle with pinches of Maldon salt or kosher salt and a grind of black pepper. Serve with toasted slices of French bread or white toast points.
SIMPLE
basil fresh cheese wrapped in roasted red pepper strips Make a round of Herbed Fresh Cheese with dried basil. Cut high-quality store-bought roasted red peppers or Spanish piquillo peppers into strips about ½ inch wide. Lay each pepper strip flat, place a rounded teaspoon of cheese at one end, roll it up, and seal with a toothpick. Place on a platter so they’re easy to pick up.
tarragon fresh cheese and broiled grapes on french bread toasts Make a round of Herbed Fresh Cheese with dried tarragon. Toss 1½ cups seedless grapes with a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of your favorite vinegar, and some fresh herbs. Broil until the grapes are blackened and collapsing, about 10 minutes. Spread French bread toasts with some of the fresh cheese, and spoon the grapes and their juices over them.
country ham and fresh cheese rolled up in blanched collards Blanch 8 to 10 collard green leaves in 2 quarts boiling salty water (1 tablespoon kosher salt per quart) until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Cut the rib out of each collard leaf so you’re left with 2 halves. In each half leaf, roll up a sliver of country ham and a rounded teaspoon of the fresh cheese. You should end up with about 12 to 14 parcels per round of fresh cheese.
whey sorbet The whey produced from making Vanilla Fresh Cheese makes a palate-cleansing dessert sorbet. Simply preserve the whey by straining the curds over a baking dish—you should have about a quart of whey. You can make whey sorbet from Buttermilk Fresh Cheese, but you’ll need to reduce the salt in the original recipe to 1 teaspoon, and season the whey to taste with honey and lemon juice while it is still warm. Let the whey cool to room temperature, and transfer to the refrigerator. (Whey will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 days.) Pour