FOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!

[stone_monkey]

Wild Garlic Goats Cheese - for Baty

ingredients
1 pint of raw goats milk
1/2 lemon juiced or two caps of cider vinegar
25g ramsons/wild garlic (finely chopped)
sea salt

pour goats milk into a pan and slowly bring to the boil. Remove from heat immediately.

now add lemon juice a little at a time until curds seperate from whey. The lemon juice curdles the milk. You'll know you have it right when it looks like you have left a pint of milk out of the fridge for too many weeks.

Pour pan of curds and whey through a fine muslin cloth, making sure that you collect the whey. leave to drip for a few hours. You can refridgerate the whey for a couple of weeks, and use it in sauarkraut recipes, soups, stocks or a refreshing drink. whey is full of super minerals and is an excellent digestive.

Next tip cheese into a bowl and add the finely chopped ramsons and a few pinches of sea salt, then stir until the ramsons and salt are thoroughly stirred into the cheese. use fingers to taste saltiness and adjust to personal taste. Now put the cheese back into the muslin and twist into a ball. Put on a slanted board and put a big weight on top (always a bit of a balancing act), and leave for a couple of hours. the salt draws more moisture out of the cheese making it firmer.

This cheese can be eaten right away, I have yet to try an ageing one as it gets eaten to soon.

[baty]

Thanks Stone_monkey for the recipe. Will be on the hunt for goats in the area next. I know my friend kept pigs...she may know someone who keeps goats.

Slow roasted lamb is wonderful, I left mine on over night and just kept an eye on it. I had a deep roasting pan with a trivet to hold the garlic and rosemary studded lamb and put some water in the bottom. Covered the lot with foil and left it on low. You could cut it with a spoon. Timing??? after 8 hrs just look and see how it is. Sometimes it can be left longer with no harm done.

You could go down the spice route, with a rub of paprika, thyme, cumin, garlic pushed into little slits. massage the lamb with a little oil with salt an pepper into it. Really just add the spices that you like.

xBaty

[stone_monkey]

Cheers for the tips baty I'll try it that way next time The leg I just cooked was lovely. Unfortunately I demolished it in two days by myself. I couldn't help myself - I just kept going back and cutting slices from it. It's all I really ate since cooking it - yummy.....

I hope you get some goats milk and try the recipe. I don't know where to get it up here in Edinburgh I shall have to investigate the situation

I see your from South Wales - I try to get to St David's once a year for a camping trip at White Sands Bay. Love it down there. Your photo reminds me of Newgale before the recent storms

[Beate]

Dammit! I run out of tagliatelle and have only now noticed as I have started my pork stir fry with mushrooms! ASDA is shut and the local corner shop doesn't have it. Do I use spaghetti instead or fussili? I have both but not sure which would go better? Spaghetti is long and strandy as well but not really thick enough. Fussili are thick but not long. AAAAAAAHHHHHH. Advice please!

[ejwrank]

Dammit! I run out of tagliatelle and have only now noticed as I have started my pork stir fry with mushrooms! ASDA is shut and the local corner shop doesn't have it. Do I use spaghetti instead or fussili? I have both but not sure which would go better? Spaghetti is long and strandy as well but not really thick enough. Fussili are thick but not long. AAAAAAAHHHHHH. Advice please!

Sorry I only just saw this and expect you have already sorted out something, Beate. Personally I would have served rice (and basmati is the best, I think) with a stir-fry. But I find that pasta types are quite easily substituted -- makes it a slightly different dish but that makes no big difference. Hope you enjoyed it whatever pasta you served it with.

[Beate]

I am not a rice fanatic. Pasta in a nice sauce is soooo good with it. In the end I did a mixture of both with more fussili than spaghetti but wished I'd done it the other way round. Never mind - next time tagliatelle again!

[Diane65]

Has anyone used a herb chopper? if so which do you recommend? I want the knife type not a plastic whizz it around type. Plus pestle and mortar is stone, granite or marble the best to use? I am getting back into my cooking and hopefully will have my own fresh herbs very soon. Also any new recipes that anyone has tried it would be lovely if you were to share them. Thanks for any tips

[newdot]

I have always understood that for best results, herbs should be torn by hand....jagged edges, longer "coastline" ...more flavour.

May very well be old wives tale, but worth a mention.

[Diane65]

I have always understood that for best results, herbs should be torn by hand....jagged edges, longer "coastline" ...more flavour.

May very well be old wives tale, but worth a mention.

Thanks Newdot but I want it for herbs that you don't normally tear like rosemary etc ie the ones without the larger leaves plus using up herbs past their best.

[newdot]

For crushing I always use a stone pestle and mortar.

Not that i know this is the best, just the one I have always owned....a tenner from habitat, 20 years ago.

ps herbs past their best...bin them. they are cheapish to b*y & an off herb can easily spoil the whole dish.

On a tangent, I love cooking curries & would recommend the p*rchase of an electric coffee grinder for grinding the whole spices....but do not try to grind coffee with it too.

In fact, I have 2 coffee grinders, 1 for spices & 1 for coffee