Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Creamy Goodness

When I read Tami Parr's very creative comic book-style recipe for yogurt cheese, I knew I would be making it in the near future. So Sunday I cut up some cheesecloth that was sitting in a drawer, dumped in a pint of whole milk yogurt, tied it up and hung it over the sink to drain for three hours.

Her recipe says that after hanging for about an hour it'll have the consistency of a Greek-style thick yogurt, and after three hours it'll be about as thick as cream cheese. And since I needed a little spread to take to dinner that night but not a lot of time to spend making something, this was just the ticket.

Seriously, this took maybe fifteen minutes to do and I was able to get all my other chores done while it drained. Then, when the three hours was up, all I did was pulverize some herbs and salt in the mortar and pestle (the salt crystals help to grind the herbs, a technique I heard from John Gorham at Toro Bravo) and mix them into the cheese.

Depending on the tartness of the yogurt you use it may have a tang to it, but let it sit for an hour after you mix in the herbs and it'll be great spread on crackers. Plus it's cool to tell people you made the cheese!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I swear....the cheese bistro/pub under the trees this summer is going to be great ;-) "Glassylady"

Anonymous said...

Cool - I love your idea of mixing in various herbs, salts, spices, etc!!

Kathleen Bauer said...

I'm excited to try different yogurts and herb mixes. So much fun!

And the back yard bistro/pub is just waiting for those first truly warm days to open for business!

Loo said...

Goat yogurt, anyone? how good would that be!

Kathleen Bauer said...

I know...so many yogurts, so many possibilities!

Tommy said...

Okay, I guess I'm gonna have to give it a go this weekend. Any suggestions for a yogurt with minimal tang?

Kathleen Bauer said...

I'd go with one of the more mass-produced yogurts...they tend to be less tangy. I used Nancy's and it's one of the more tart yogurts I've had. Anyone else?

Tommy said...

Okay, I gave it a try with Nancy's and it was a success. Tangy, but not overwhelmingly so. I used thyme, chives and tarragon, and spread it on garlic rubbed grilled baguette slices and topped it all with caramelized shallots. Fantastic!

Kathleen Bauer said...

Whew! Glad I didn't lead you astray. And keep us posted on any further experiments, Tommy!

Kathleen Bauer said...

Whew! Glad I didn't lead you astray. And keep us posted on any further experiments, Tommy!