Yesterday, I was visiting a friend on her recently acquired farm. She and her husband are working the land just outside of Martinsville. They have a few acres and rather than just plant one vegetable they are planting what seems like hundreds of varieties. All kinds of lettuce, strawberries, leeks, onions, three different varieties of garlic, peppers, cucumbers, sunflowers, potatoes. Oh there is a lot of goodness coming out of the ground. I made a soft commitment to weed in exchange for some fruits and veggies. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.
While I was out there my friend explained how easy it is to make paneer, Indian cottage cheese. I love cooking with paneer, but I don't enjoy driving to the north east side of town in order to gather up what appears to be the only fresh-ish paneer available for sale. She assured me it was a snap and that all I needed was milk and lemon juice. She wasn't kidding. I googled some recipes today and picked up the requisite whole milk and lemon juice with my regular groceries. All it takes is boiling a half gallon of milk on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice, and allow it to curdle. After you think you have a good amount of solid curds throw the mess into a colander lined with a cheese cloth and let all the whey out. Squeeze out some extra moisture from the cheese cloth and then put it in between two plates with weight on top. Let it sit like that for an hour et voila! Paneer. I happened to have some cheese cloth left over from some past science experiment, and I woke up this morning thinking it was a great day to make cheese.
It turned out great, but next time I'm going to wait for the milk to come to a full flowing-over-the-edge-of-the-saucepan boil before I add the lemon juice. I ended up adding the lemon juice too early so I had to add more and turn up the heat a bit to get my curdle on. I now have some lemony paneer that tastes lovely. My new co-workers and I have entered a pact to bring out lunches on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can't wait to bring in my palak paneer with homemade cheese this week.
In other news I received a wonderful gift from Persephone in the mail congratulating me on my new job. Gifts are great, and unexpected packages in the mail are fabulous. Underneath the brown paper was a bodum tea press. It's a fusion infuser blending the mechanism of a coffee press with a tea infusing cage. It works great in the office. I've been chugging pots of sencha and loving it. I was so tickled to get it I sat down and hand wrote her a letter, however, I still haven't sent it. I am without stamps and apparently without any gumption to change that. So Persephone, the tea pot is excellent. Thanks so much. You'll be receiving a proper thank you note by post... eventually.
