Incompatible (cheese with jam). Sauce for a cheese plate What jams go with cheeses

Making homemade cheese is very quick and easy, the main thing is that the starting products are natural. This delicious cheese will differ from store-bought cheese not only in that it will be without preservatives, dyes and melting agents, but also in its low salt content. That is, its salinity will depend only on you.
Why am I focusing on this? It is generally accepted that the benefits of hard cheese are its high calcium content, which is necessary for the growth of children's bones and teeth. In adults, calcium is necessary to prevent osteoporosis (brittle bones). But excess salt content is not so beneficial for the body due to the fact that it will retain water and cause swelling.
Another reason to make cheese yourself at home is its fat content, which you can adjust based on your preferences.

Homemade cheese

The recipe for homemade cheese can be constantly improved by adding various additives to it: fresh or dried herbs, oregano, Provençal herbs, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, pieces of ham or raw smoked sausage, or even make a sweet cheese by adding sugar and cocoa during cooking.

This issue featured a recipe for making cheese from our reader.
There were several comments and feedback that it was not possible to make cheese at home.
So I decided to try this recipe myself and I assure you that there is nothing easier than making cheese at home. My step-by-step photos in the recipe itself are an example for you.

for a recipe for homemade cheese from cottage cheese and milk we will need

Ingredients:

• Cottage cheese – 2 kg
• Cow's milk (you can make homemade cheese from goat's milk) – 2 liters
• Butter – 200 g
• Eggs – 2 pcs.
• Tea soda – 1 tablespoon
• Salt - to taste

(it’s better to buy homemade cottage cheese from a familiar milkman at the market)

Cooking process:

A very interesting recipe for making cheese at home from Valentina Gorbacheva, light, quick and easy to prepare:

When I had a household, I often made delicious homemade cheese from milk and cottage cheese for myself. Making cheese at home is very simple, the main thing is that the products are of high quality. The recipe for making homemade cheese can be changed; when cooking cheese, add cumin seeds, dried aromatic herbs (for example, Provencal or Italian), sun-dried tomatoes, dried bell peppers (paprika) or simply chopped dill, parsley and cilantro.

To get a harder cheese with a low fat content, you can reduce the amount of butter, add 100 -150 g of it. But you can’t spoil the porridge with butter, so my homemade cheese also turned out delicious, here it is in the photo.

Of course, it may not be the same as the store-bought one, but it is environmentally friendly and you know that everything in your homemade cheese is natural, from cows, fresh and there is no palm oil, no dyes or preservatives. Initially, in preparing my homemade cheese, I used 3 liters of milk per 1 kg of cottage cheese, then I tried to reduce the amount of milk. I didn’t notice any difference in the quality of homemade cheese, so I started adding enough milk so that it just covered the cottage cheese.

PREPARING HOMEMADE CHEESE FROM MILK AND Cottage Cheese

I put 2 kg of cottage cheese in a saucepan and poured in 2 liters of milk. I put it on fire. Stirring lightly (mostly only along the bottom, the cottage cheese may stick) so that the mass is evenly heated, bring the milk and cottage cheese to a hot state. Once you see whey forming, it's all done. The cottage cheese becomes like soft plasticine. There is no need to break this curd ball too much. In time it takes 7-10 minutes, no more.

Then you need to separate the whey from the resulting cheese mass, I usually put it on cheesecloth, you need to try so that, if possible, all the liquid runs away and the curd mass is almost dry, without whey. Then put the resulting mass into the casserole where you will cook homemade cheese, 200 g of softened butter, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp. l. soda and salt. Salt, of course, is to your taste; some people like salty cheese, others lightly salted.

Mix all the ingredients for homemade cheese in a casserole or other dish with a thick bottom (not enameled) and put on fire.

Making cheese at home requires constant monitoring, so you cannot leave it, as the cheese may burn during cooking. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat, the curd mass will begin to melt and stretch, you need to boil the homemade cheese for about 5-7 minutes. I have a wooden spoon with which I constantly stir the cheese mass. You will be able to tell when the cheese is ready. It will be sticky and viscous. You can determine the readiness of the cheese by testing it: try it, if it sticks to your teeth, then that’s it, it’s ready! Another sign that the cheese is ready is that it begins to pull away from the walls of the container in which it is cooked.

Then pour the hot homemade cheese into any container (cup or container) to give it its shape. The cauldron must be handled with care, as the cheese mass is very capricious. Cover the top of the warm homemade cheese with cling film so that the crust does not dry out.

I made homemade cream cheese, it’s not entirely hard because it’s high in fat, but it holds its shape and can be cut with a knife.

Tips from the Notebook:

• The remaining whey from making homemade cheese from milk and cottage cheese can be used for baking or used to make yeast dough for bread, or in the summer to prepare okroshka using whey.
• I would like to highlight separately: the store often sells not cottage cheese, but a COOK PRODUCT, which in its composition is not cottage cheese at all, such fake cottage cheese will not make cheese, it is better to buy real farm cottage cheese with milk and get a good result and the taste of homemade cheese! It is better not to use ultra-pasteurized and sterilized milk from boxes.

We also have a recipe on our website for a more dietary cheese made with kefir, try that too:

The Recipe Notebook wishes you bon appetit and delicious cheese!

Ricotta is an Italian specialty, a traditional Italian cream cheese. Without it, it is impossible to imagine almost any Italian dish - ravioli, lasagna, vegetables and desserts. There are several types of ricotta: Ricotta fresca - fresh soft white cheese, used for fillings, salads, desserts, pizza, pasta dishes; Ricotta salata - mature, salty cheese, used grated instead of Parmesan; Ricotta affumicata is a smoked mature cheese, used alone or in grated form. In the assortment of cheeses offered by stores in our city, I only find fresh ricotta (fresca). This is what I suggest preparing at home. No lemon juice!!! (as in only two recipes offered on the site), with the addition of cream, through natural ripening, I got, I’m not afraid of this word, GREAT, natural, tasty, delicate creamy ricotta, a hundred times tastier than store-bought (even Italian, which costs a lot of money) ! Besides the obvious savings, my ricotta has a much creamier texture and mild flavor! I invite you, dear cooks, to enjoy it!!!

I don’t know about anyone, but I haven’t loaded the New Year’s table with serious hot dishes for a very long time. For example, baked duck, which in my childhood was an integral attribute of the family holiday program. Now the nightly menu in my house consists mainly of light cold snacks. Including cheeses. This time I decided to spice up the holiday cheese plate with fig jam and Madeira. Of course, I conducted a preliminary tasting.

In fact, true gourmets recommend combining this jam with hard cheeses, for example, with English Cheddar and Lancashire. But in my refrigerator there was only solid " Dutch master", onto a thin piece of which I spread a jelly-like substance. Like fresh figs, the jam turned out to be quite sweet, with a slightly noticeable spicy-resinous taste of Madeira. Small seeds crunched merrily on my teeth. Indeed, the experts are right: a slightly sour shade of piquant “ Dutch master"perfectly complemented the bright flavor bouquet of the jam.

I hid the jar in the farthest corner of the kitchen cabinet - so that my family would not accidentally eat the jam ahead of time, and not with cheese, but with tea. As happened to me many years ago when I tried cheese jam for the first time.

It was in the early 90s, at a reception at the British Embassy. We, a group of young journalists from various Moscow publications, were invited to a festive charity event. The cultural program was rich, and the luxurious buffet amazed our imagination, which was still quite inexperienced in those years. Waiters moved silently around the hall with exquisite miniature snacks on trays. But for cheese, located on a separate table, you had to go on your own. My eyes widened - there were a lot of cheeses, and very different ones, which I had never seen before. In addition to the cheeses, there were tiny vases and jars of jam on the snow-white tablecloth. “Strange guys,” I thought. “The tea hasn’t been served yet, but the sweets have already been put out.”

At that moment, a colleague from a friendly publication, the famous funny man Pasha, approached me.
“Damn, there’s not even anything to profit from,” he said with a smile. - Well, if I don’t drag a piece of cheese home in my bag, the whole thing will fall apart! Come on, Marinka, let’s at least drink some jam?
- What are you, what are you! - I got worried. - What if they catch you on the way out? There could be an international conflict! Well, in general, it’s somehow unattractive...
“Come on,” and, winking at me, Pasha, with a deft movement of his hand, threw a jar of jam into our bags.
My heart sank into my heels - I no longer wanted tea, coffee, or dessert... Just to get out safely. Fortunately, nothing terrible happened.

For several days I savored delicious fruit jam with tea at home. And when I was about to wash the empty jar, I found an inscription on the label that said that the jam was intended for cheese. It’s a small thing, of course, but the residue remains.

Fig jam with Madeira, UK, 120 g, 420 rub.

Marina Pankova:
“My parents really wanted them to have a boy - Anton. Anton Pavlovich. But I turned out, that is, a girl. There was no name prepared for me. Therefore, they named me at random - Marina, which, as it turned out later, means “sea”. Maybe that's why I love swimming so much. Just not in the sea, but on the blue path, in the pool. Definitely open. If I don’t swim a couple of kilometers a day, I dry out like an old closet. One day in late autumn, in the “Walruses of the USSR” team, I even swam across Lake Issyk-Kul, 42 km long. The “walruses” themselves floundered in water at a temperature of 7 degrees, and I swam after them on a steamboat, where I wrote a report about hardening lovers for Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

In general, I always liked watching how people are able to create a beautiful world around themselves. For a long time I talked about this in my author’s columns in a magazine about design and interiors with the funny name “Stool”. I also really love to eat delicious food, especially food that someone else has prepared, not me. But my favorite dish doesn’t need to be cooked. Oysters are good on their own. I could easily eat a couple dozen.

But I still had a connection with the “world of Anton Pavlovich.” Friends often call me MaPa. This is how Chekhov addressed his beloved younger sister Maria Pavlovna.”

First try:

Amaretti cookies

For readers who take care of their figures, Marina Pankova found a special dessert - small airy Amaretti cookies, light and elegant.

Pasta with spinach, tomatoes, beets, carrots, turmeric

Marina Pankova went shopping and found a product reminiscent of the outgoing season - “Autumn Leaves” paste...

A cheese plate is an integral part of the holiday table.

The most popular sauce for a cheese plate is cranberry.

Recipes for cranberry sauce for cheese

Classic sauce:

• 350 g (12 oz) cranberries
• 1 cup* sugar
• 1 cup water

* 1 cup = 240 ml

Cranberry sauce with orange juice:

• 350 g (12 oz) cranberries
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp grated ginger (optional)

Additionally add:

• ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp hot pepper flakes
• pinch of allspice

Cranberry sauce with orange zest:

• 350 g (12 oz) cranberries (lingonberries)
• ½ cup sugar
• juice and zest of one orange
• 1-2 tbsp. cognac, brandy or vodka (optional)
• pinch of cayenne pepper

Cranberry sauce with apple:

• 350 g (12 oz) cranberries
• 1 apple, cut into cubes
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup orange juice

Preparing cranberry sauce for cheese:

1. Mix cranberries, sugar and water in a saucepan.

2. Cook over medium heat, stirring slightly, for about 10-15 minutes, until the cranberries burst.

As the sauce cools, it will thicken.

To obtain a smooth consistency sauce, you can use a blender (stand or immersion) or food processor.

For a “silky” homogeneous consistency, after grinding the sauce in a blender, you can rub it through a sieve.

Onion marmalade for cheese

Onion marmalade, or caramelized onions, is a wonderful addition to pate, cheese plate, or steak.

Red onion marmalade:

Cut 2 kg of red onion not very finely, fry in heated olive oil (about 100 ml) for 5 minutes over medium heat, then simmer for 15 minutes under the lid over low heat.

If you like, first add a sprig of thyme and a teaspoon of coriander seeds into hot oil.

When the onion becomes transparent and soft, pour 1 glass of dry red wine, 100 g of liquid honey, 120 ml of wine vinegar into the frying pan, add 150 g of sugar.

White onion marmalade recipe:

• 0.5 kg sweet juicy white onions
• 0.5 cups sugar (125 g)
• 1 glass of white Muscat wine (250 ml)
• bouquet garni (rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, leek)
• 1.5 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• ground black pepper - to taste

Bouquet garni (bouquet garni) is very common in the south of France and is a bouquet of fragrant herbs tied with a thread.

Cooking method:

1. Cut the onion lengthwise into half rings.

2. Prepare a bouquet garni. The basic ingredients are thyme and bay leaf, the rest are added according to taste and desire, it can be parsley, celery, rosemary, chervil, etc. Place a sprig of thyme, rosemary, bay leaf in a leek strip, wrap it and tie it with a thread.

3. Pour olive oil into a container, heat it, add chopped onion and simmer until soft and transparent, never frying or allowing it to burn.

4. Add salt, sugar, pepper, pour in nutmeg, add bouquet garni and simmer for 2-3 hours over low heat with the lid open until the onion is “marmalade”.

It will become so transparent and a beautiful honey color, the wine should evaporate. Do not allow it to burn under any circumstances during the cooking process.

Onion marmalade can be stored in glass jars with tight lids in the refrigerator.

How to eat cheese platter with sauce

It is important to arrange the varieties in order of increasing intensity of their taste - soft and brine cheeses come first, and at the end the most mature, hard or aromatic ones.

The most suitable varieties include:

• spreadable goat or cow cheeses
• blue cheeses
• soft cheeses with white rind
• smoked and aged varieties
• hard cheeses
• varieties of semi-soft cow cheese

They should be laid clockwise so that the lightest and brightest varieties meet.

Alternatively, the cheeses can be arranged in ascending order of taste from the center to the edges of the round plateau, and on a narrow long board - from left to right in the form of a wave or zigzag.

This assortment is eaten like this: they start with the lightest cheese, and the first small piece is eaten solo, then a fragment of the same type is dipped in the sauce.

This manipulation makes it possible to understand how it is more pleasant for your receptors to consume this cheese, on its own or with accompaniment.

Serving jam with cheese is possible in several ways.

The easiest solution is to have small portions of jam next to diced or sliced ​​cheese, so your guests can create new delicious combinations on their own.

If you are ready to surprise with the new formula you have found, create your own signature snack: place a small amount of jam next to a portion of the chosen cheese, decorate the plate with herbs and a slice of country bread.

Your truly exquisite gastronomic masterpiece will definitely not go unnoticed. Bon appetit!