Sasha's Kitchen: Ad Hoc's Mushroom Soup

I haven't made a recipe from Ad Hoc at Home in awhile, but it is a great Keller cookbook, so I decided to give another one of his soups a try. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about mushroom stoup, but this soup, made with a homemade mushroom stock, was an absolutely wonderful vegetarian soup, and a nice, healthy soup. Surprisingly, making mushroom stock is actually quite easy and far less time-intensive than making a homemade chicken stock. The soup itself calls for Hen of the Woods mushrooms. There are no other mushrooms quite like these - they are extremely flavorful, funny looking and fantastic. I've cooked with them before when I got them at Wegmans, but this time I couldn't get my hands on them in time. It's Ok though, because just as Keller suggests in the book, oyster mushrooms are a perfectly reasonable substitute.

Thomas's Keller's Mushroom stock from Ad Hoc at Home (this is 1/2 of the original recipe)
2 lbs button mushrooms
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
greens from one leek, chopped
3 quarts of cold water
1/4 head of garlic, crushed, skin left on
1/4 bunch flat parsley
1/4 bunch thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 T black peppercorns

Keller suggests pureeing some of the vegetables  (specifically the mushrooms), but I decided not to do that, and just left them as is in the soup. It worked out fine and the broth had a fantastic mushroom flavor that soaked it up from the mushrooms. Put all of the vegetables in a stockpot and add the water, then bringing to a boil. Add the garlic, herbs, bay leaves and peppercorns and put the pot on simmer. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Then, strain the soup, keeping only the stock. Keller suggests doing this using an ice bath, but you don't really need that either. Measure the stock. If you have more than two quarts, reduce it in a saucepan, simmering. The mushroom soup recipe on page 119 of Ad Hoc at home (see below) requires eight cups (two quarts) of the mushrooms stock, which is why I cut the recipe in half.


Thomas Keller's Mushroom Soup from Ad Hoc at Home
Canola oil
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced leeks
1 cup diced onion
kosher salt
1 1.2 tsp minced garlic
1 small bunch of tuscan kale (cavolo nero)
1 1/4 pounds (2 or 3 large) yukon gold potatoes
1 sachet (1 bay leaf, three sprigs of thyme, 10 black peppercorns and 1 clove garlic)
2/3 lb hen of the woods or oyster mushrooms
1 1/2 T butter
1/4 cups minced shallots
1 T fresh thyme
8 cups homemade mushroom stock
freshly ground black pepper
5 to 6 T garlic puree (I used five)
1 to 2 T red wine vinegar (I used one)
extra virgin olive oil

Heat three T of the canola oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrots, leeks, onions and a pinch of salt. Cover with parchment paper and cook slowly for about 25 minutes. The vegetables will have released their liquid, Keller says, but will not yet be tender.  Take off the parchment lid and add the garlic. Cook for another ten minutes until the carrots are tender. Remove the ribs from the kale and set aside for later.

Peel the potatoes and slice crosswise into large pieces, then quarter. Put the potatoes, herb sachet (which you can make using cheesecloth) and 2 tsp of salt in a saucepan. Simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, which took me about 15 minutes. Drain and allow to cool.

If using hen of the woods mushrooms, break them apart. If you are using oyster mushrooms, you will not need to do this. Heat some canola oil and add half of the mushrooms, seasoning with salt and cooking for about a minute to let the mushrooms absorb the oil. Add half of the butter, shallots and thyme and saute until mushrooms are browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Then repeat with the other half of the mushrooms.

Add the mushroom stock to the stockpot with the carrots and other vegetables and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Blanch the kale in a large pot of salted water until just wilted and tender. Add the mushrooms, kale and potatoes to the pot, and add the vinegar at the end. Serve hot.

Sasha's Kitchen: Ad Hoc's Mushroom Soup

Sasha's Kitchen: Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

I've been on a bit of a kick recently making pies (with the start of pie season), which had led me to try and create some pie themed cupcakes. Recently, I baked an apple pie and a strawberry rhubarb pie, followed by some fabulous key lime pie cupcakes, complete with a graham cracker crust. The key lime pie cupcakes were just like a bite of the real thing, packed into a cute cupcake. So I decided that I could also recreate a Boston Cream Pie in cupcake form. These were just as good too! There are four components - a shortbread crust, a vanilla cupcake, a basic pastry cream filling and a fabulous light whipped chocolate frosting. Its really hard to say, but these are pretty high up there on my list of cupcakes I've made in terms of taste. Another trick - when most people fill cupcakes, they cut off the top, add the filling and reattach the top. Yet, this often makes the cupcake a bit messier to eat. Instead, I used a fairly thin fitted pastry tip and poked it into the top of the cupcake and "injected" the pastry cream into the cupcake. This works just fun and as you can see from the cross section photo, distributed the filling well inside the cupcake.

Sasha's Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Crust:

3/4 cup pulverized shortbread cookies

2 T sugar

3 T melted butter

Vanilla Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 stick of butter

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup of  milk

Pastry Cream Filling:

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

4 egg yolks

1/3 cups sugar

pinch salt

4 tsp cornstarch

Chocolate Fudge Frosting: (adopted from this recipe as inspiration only to do it with melted chocolate rather than cocoa powder)

6 T butter

4 cups confectioner's sugar

1/3 cup to 1/2 cup milk

3 oz melted semisweet chocolate

First make the crusts. Melt the butter and combine with the sugar and pulverized shortbread cookies. Line paper liners for cupcakes with about a teaspoon and press to form a crust. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until it sets only.

To make the cupcake batter, combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer until fairly smooth, for about two minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Then alternate beating in the milk and the dry ingredients until smooth and well combined. Fill the cupcakes 3/4 of the way to the top, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (the time depends on your oven) until a toothpick comes out clean, but take out before you see any browning action on the cupcake tops, as you don't want to burn them.

Allow the cupcakes to cool while preparing the pastry cream filling. Warm the heavy cream in a sauce pan. Combine the sugar, egg yolks, salt and cornstarch in a separate bowl. Combine over heat until it thickens into a custard, and stir in the vanilla towards the end. Chill for about 30 minutes before using.

Using a fairly thin tip (but not a micro thin tip) pastry tip attached to a pastry bag, pierce the top of each cupcake and squeeze the filling into the center of the cupcakes, using my "injection" technique. Don't worry if some oozes out the top as you will be covering that with frosting.

Now, the best part of these cupcakes is the frosting. I have made rich chocolate frostings with cocoa powder in the past, which are great, but a bit too intense for my taste. This is just the perfect, light chocolate whipped frosting! Beat the butter with the confectioner's sugar for several minutes on high speed in your mixer. Add 3 oz of the melted chocolate and the milk and beat until a nice frosting forms. Add the milk 1/4 cup at a time until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. I added between 1/3 and 1/2 of a cup of skim milk. Frost the cupcakes using a frosting bag with a fluted tip and devour immediately!

Sasha's Kitchen: Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Sasha's Kitchen: Hawaiian Style Ahi Poke

Ahi Poke was one of my favorite dishes from the time I spend in Hawaii several years ago on our honeymoon. I've occasionally gotten it outside of Hawaii since but it's never really the same as it was in Maui but if the ahi tuna quality is good, it can still be delicious. This is my husband's favorite Hawaiian dish, and although I have made plenty of sushi, I've never given Ahi Poke a try. But, I came across this recipe in one of my favorite Jamie Oliver books. The result was fresh and delicious since I used high quality sushi grade bluefin tuna. Not quite the same as locally caught Hawaiian ahi during my honeymoon, but still healthy and delicious. The tuna for this recipe is basically raw, but it does cook slightly (or at least change chemically) due to the lime juice in the recipe. Now that I know how delicious this recipe was, I plan to try some Hawaiian poke recipes in the future until I can get back to the lovely 51st state.

Jamie Oliver's Asian Infused Tuna (Ahi Poke) (adapted from the original recipe in The Naked Chef Takes Off)
1 lb tuna (bluefin if possible) - sushi grade
1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
juice of 4 limes, to taste
1/2 diced jalapeno (Jamie uses a bit more)
3 T sesame oil
4 T coconut milk
handfull of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
2 T sesame seeds
pinch of freshly chopped ginger
soy sauce to taste (I added about 1/2 tsp)

Finely dice the tuna and mix with the res of the ingredients. You should serve immediately, on either toasted french bread (like Jamie suggests) or on crackers, which is how I served it.

Sasha's Kitchen: Hawaiian Style Ahi Poke

Sasha's Kitchen: Rib Eye Cheesesteaks

I know I have written about cheesesteak before, but I could not help myself. I made this a couple of weeks ago and it was just too good not to share on A Kitchen In Brooklyn. Sure, I love the Philly style cheesesteak with thinly slice steak, onions and liquid cheese, but this at home "dressed up" style cheese steak made with rib eye is pretty good as well. There's plenty of ways to make a great cheesesteak or steak sandwich, but this one incorporates my preferences - grass fed rib eye, caramelized onions, provolone cheese and roasted red pepper, on a delicious long sandwich roll. My love for this sandwich comes from my college days at Haverford College and some great steaks at Genos and Pats.


Sasha's Rib Eye Cheesesteak

3/4 lb rib eye, thinly sliced

two onions, sliced

2 T of sugar

canola oil  or olive oil

2 long Italian rolls or hoagie rolls

1 roasted red pepper, sliced

provolone cheese (1/4 lb)

To prepare the meat, we chose to season and cook the steak on a grill pan, about medium. A the end of the grilling process, my husband sliced the rib eye thinly using an electric meat knife. It is worth noting that I used grass fed rib eye for this recipe, which is the healthiest type of red meat to be eating if, like me, you care about your body and your planet. You could also slice the meat before cooking if you prefer and it might cook much faster. But I found my method to work just fine.

Then I prepared the onions by sautéing them with the sugar and canola oil to caramelize the onions. I prepared the sandwiches with the hoagie rolls, onions, roasted red pepper slices and cheese and put both sandwiches in the oven to toast until the cheese was fully melted.  The result was mouthwateringly good! I like mine plain, but feel free to douse with hot sauce or steak sauce if you prefer.

Sasha's Kitchen: Rib Eye Cheesesteaks

Sasha's Kitchen: Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberries

Ah strawberries - my absolute favorite thing about spring. As a kid, there was nothing I loved more about spring than strawberry picking with my mom.  Right now, I have plans for two types of strawberry souffles (frozen and regular), and plenty of other uses for these fabulous sweet spring berries. This time of year, just about everything goes better with strawberries. Click here for my strawberry rhubarb pie. Panna cotta is an easy dessert that is wonderful with a multitude of berries. I decided to make some plain vanilla panna cottas and serve them with local fresh strawberries, and the dessert was perfect. Some might prefer to soak the strawberries, say in sugar or amaretto, but I prefer to just use the natural essence of the berries and keep the sugar down a bit, thus I simply sliced them up and served them with the panna cotta.

Sasha's Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberries (makes 4)
1 pint of fresh, local strawberries
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 small packets of instant gelatin
2 cups of organic heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of kosher salt
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup cold water

Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan. Simmer ver low heat for about five minutes to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. In a separate bowl, mix the gelatin and the cold water. Then add the hot water until all of the granules of gelatin are dissolved. Mix the gelatin-water mixture into the cream, and divide among four ramekins. Refrigerate for about eight hours.

To serve, cut around the edge of the ramekin with a knife and carefully remove from a ramekin. This takes a bit of extra work to get it out without destroying it in the process. Serve with fresh, local strawberries.

Sasha's Kitchen: Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberries

From Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: An early experiment with a deep fryer

So last week we bought a deep fryer.

I'd been wanting one for quite a while -- it was even on our wedding registry, but we didn't receive one -- and so I decided to use a gift certificate to buy (it helped that it was on sale). I felt very modern looking up its Amazon reviews on my iPhone right there in the store (don't judge me, I've only had the smartphone since March, and am only just starting to appreciate its useful functions aside from tracking me at all times, which I've actually found to be quite useful in monitoring my new workout regimen).

So we bought a 1.1 liter Cuisinart deep fryer, which seemed like a good size for two of us. Last Saturday night I deep fried everything in the house that seemed appropriate, and a few things that didn't (Triscuits = NOT good deep fried). It's hard to stop once you start.

Some things turned out excellent, including the spicy pickles I canned last year that I am seriously looking forward to tempura battering and cooking in the awesomeness that is hot oil. I might even get some of those delicious refrigerated grocery dills, just so I can eat them deep fried. With whole-grain mustard. I would be tempted to say OMG if it weren't so teenage girl.

But tonight, I used Nasoya wonton and spring roll wrappers I bought this week with great aspirations. Tonight, I got pineapple, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots, ginger and bean sprouts, and added some ground pork, garlic and about half a dozen different underused Asian sauces, in various combinations. The pork, mushrooms, ginger and garlic (with soy sauce and Mongolian Fire oil) I sauteed in one pan, and the julienned carrots and cabbage with sesame seeds and sesame oil in another, so I could play with proportions.
I tried both wontons and spring rolls and only after about two batches realized I hadn't turned up the deep fryer to the right temperature. *sigh*
But the ones at the right temperature turned out AWESOME. Seriously, they were equally as good as anything I've had at a restaurant, and I'm not one to equal my skills to any professional chef's. Y'all need to try this.
Oh, I nearly forgot to mention -- the wrappers hold up best if you very lightly moisten them before adding filling; just a finger dipped in water and rubbed across the interior surface of the wrapper significantly increases their ability to hold up during wrapping and frying. And if you don't end up with holes in the wrapper, a lot less oil gets into your filling, which makes them easier to drain and not taste "oily."

The various fried bits, dipped in Thai Kitchen Sweet Red Chili Sauce (thank you, Costco!), totally filled us up, but I wasn't quite done yet. So I julienned a fresh strawberry and added a little bit of goat cheese and balsamic reduction, wrapped all that up in a wonton and did one final fry. I think it would have been significantly better with cream cheese, as the goat cheese was too grainy, but still, a perfect end to my first truly successful deep frying experience.

Anyone have any excellent deep frying experiences/recipes they want to share? I'm eager to do some fish & chips, panko-breaded stuff, etc!

From Amasea's Kitchen in Sun Valley: An early experiment with a deep fryer

Sasha's Kitchen: Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Mango Chutney

Kebabs - perfect for the start of summer grilling season. I made these indoors on a grilling pan rather than on a regular grill, but it still worked out beautifully. I decided to make lamb kebabs this time, though of course there's a million and one ways to make kebabs. This time I decided to do pretty traditional kebabs, and used good quality lamb from Fresh Direct, which I prepared using a somewhat Indian styled yogurt based marinade. I served the kebabs with two kinds of chuntey - cilantro mint chutney and my favorite mango chutney recipe that I have been making since I was a kid. The mango chutney was fabulous with this dish, and hence I decided to share that recipe. Happy Grilling!


Sasha's Lamb Kebabs
2 cups of lowfat Greek yogurt
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin
1/4  tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 to 1/2 lbs of lamb, cut up into chunks for kebabs

Mango Chutney (recipe loosely derived from this cookbook)
4 francine mangos (you can use 2 regular mangos if you prefer), skinned and cut into small pieces
2 gala apples, peeled and diced
3/4 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (you can use a whole pepper if you prefer to add more heat)
1 T minced fresh ginger
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cloves
pinch of Kosher salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Mix the ingredients for the marinade with the yogurt.  Mix with the lamb and allow to chill for about an hour.

To make the chutney, combine all of the ingredients in a large saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer for about 25 minutes until the mixture has a jam-like quality. Allow the chutney to cool before serving.

All ready for the grill!

Using kebab skewers (I used wooden ones, but you could also use metal), prepare the kebabs by alternating the meat with onions and cherry tomatoes and grill away, rotating as you grill so everything cooks evenly.

Sasha's Kitchen: Grilled Lamb Kebabs with Mango Chutney

Sasha's Kitchen: Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Lupa is one of my favorite restaurants in New York. Babbo's twin sister, it has a more relaxed atmosphere and more reasonable prices, but its still classic Mario Batali.  My favorite thing to get when I go to Lupa (though they have the same dish at Babbo) is Mario's classic pasta dish bucatini all'amatriciana. I was able to score some bucatini, or hollow tubular pasta at Eataly a couple weeks ago, in preparation to make this dish using Mario's original recipe.  You really do need to use actual bucatini pasta to make this dish properly. Yes, you can use spaghetti, but it really takes away from the dish having the proper texture and feel, and maybe even taste. This time I did everything to the letter and I was thrilled with the results of this textbook bucatini all'amatriciana. Yes, I usually do not eat pig-derived products as a rule, but this is the one dish I make an exception for!

Mario Batali's Bucatini All'Amatriciana (adapted from this recipe)
3/4 pound guanciale
3 garlic cloves
1 red onion, halved and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 1/2 tsp hot red pepper flakes (I used closer to only 1 tsp)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 cups basic tomato sauce (see below; note I used more than Mario because I like a saucy pasta)
1 lb bucatini
1 bunch fresh leaf parsley
pecorino romano or parmesan for grating

Mario's basic tomato sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 spanish onion, chopped in a quarter inch dice
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
3 T chopped fresh thyme
1/2 medium carrot, finely shredded
2 cans peeled whole tomatoes, crushed by hand, juices reserved
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and onion and cook until golden brown. Add the thyme and carrot and cook five minutes more until the carrot has softened, before adding the tomato and juices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes. Season with salt and serve. This makes 4 cups and technically you are only supposed to use two cups, but I used all of it and the dish was saucy and amazing.

Next, bring a large pot of about six quarts of water to boil with two teaspoons salt.  In a saute pan, cook the guanciale slices over medium heat until most of the fat has been rendered from the meat, rotating occasionally.  Remove the meat, and use the remaining fat to cook the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. According to Mario you are supposed to discard some of the fat if you have too much but I didn't so I kept it all. Return the guanciale to the pan and cook for another five minutes until the onions look golden brown in color. Season with salt and pepper and add in the tomato sauce.

Cook the bucatini in the boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta and add to the simmering sauce, while adding the parsley at the end. Then, turn to high heat, and toss to coat. Serve immediately with grated cheese.

Sasha's Kitchen: Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Sasha's Kitchen: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Strawberries and rhubarb mark the beginning of fruit-pie making season. They are the first fruits that come to season into the spring, an absolutely my favorite type of pie to prepare. The sweetness of fresh spring strawberries is just so perfect with the tangy, tart rhubarb. Rhubarb is a strange fruit, which kind of looks like pink celery. If you have never worked with it before, you might wonder, wait, do I really want to put this in my pie? But when it cooks in the oven with the strawberries, it assumes a lovely tart flavor that pairs perfectly. I do not recommend making an all strawberry pie - too sweet. But the strawberry-rhubarb combo is my favorite, and for my kitchen, it makes the beginning of the spring fruit season.

To make this pie, I used the exact same crust for apple pie, with my own strawberry-rhubarb filling.

Sasha's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
2 1/4 cups flour
big pinch of Kosher salt (not, this is the grainy salt; never bake with iodized salt!)
pinch of sugar
2 sticks of cold butter
1/4 cup of ice water, plus a but more if needed (this time I used about 2 T additional ice water)

21/2 cups of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 1/2 cups of rhubarb, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cups of sugar (you could probably even get away with 1/2 a cup if you are concerned about sugar intake)
1 T lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 T cornstarch
2 egg yolks

To make the pie crust, follow the detailed instructions that I gave in writing about apple pie.  Basically, combine the salt, sugar and flour in a bowl. Cut up the butter into small chunks and gently incorporate with your hands into the flour. Splash the ice water into the mixture, and mold until it *just* forms  a ball of dough, adding more water as needed so it just sticks together (be sure to add the water slowly so not to overdo it). The key to a good pie crust is not to overwork the dough, so it is best to do this by hand. There will still be clumps of butter in the dough - don't worry about that, as it will make the crust more rustic and also crisper. Divide the dough and bring into tow balls. Plastic wrap and refrigerate for exactly twenty minutes to allow the dough to firm a bit.

Roll out one of the balls on a well floured surface, rotating after each roll or two so it does not stick to your surface. Roll to 1/4 of an inch thick and place in the pie dish, before trimming the edges with a pastry scissor. Using a pyrex pie dish is best.

Combine the ingredients for the strawberry rhubarb mixture. Add most of this to the pie - about four and a half cups total. Be sure not to heap the fruit, as tempting as it may be to use every last drop of the fruit mixture. I recommend using the freshest, local organic/farmer's market strawberries and rhubarb you can get your hands on as it will make your pie that much better. I also use organic butter in the crust.

Roll out the second ball of dough the same way and cut to form a lattice. I glazed the top of the pie using two egg yolks and sprinkled some granulated sugar on top. Bake the pie at 425 covered with foil for 30 minutes. Then, reduce the heat to 350 and remove the foil baking for another 30-45 minutes (my oven required about 35). The pie is done when it is tender when poked with a knife.

This pie was a winner! Maybe even better than the last apple pie I made. I have heard that the strawberry rhubarb pie at Four and Twenty Blackbirds is the best in the city. I love their pies so I will have to try it and compare. I've recently come across some of their recipes online, which I hope to try out and blog on in the future.

Sasha's Kitchen: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Sasha's Kitchen: Truffle Deviled Eggs

You know, I never really appreciated deviled eggs until recently. I have always discarded the yolk potion before eating a hard boiled egg, which I generally only did during Passover seders. But my husband is a big fan of deviled eggs, so I decided to make some from the hard boiled eggs at our Passover seder, and turn them into some somewhat spicy, truffle infused deviled eggs. Boy was a surprised - they were delicious!

This is a very simple recipe and one I will certainly  make again.  For my first shot at deviled eggs, this was a winner!


Sasha's Spicy Truffle Deviled Eggs
5 eggs
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp truffle oil
2 T dijon mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 T diced onion
salt and pepper to taste

First, add the eggs to a large pot willed with water and 1 tsp of Kosher salt (do not ever use iodized salt in any recipe). Bring to a boil. When it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and let the pot sit for 15 minutes. Refrigerate to cool the eggs, and peel them (always the hardest part for me).

Cut the eggs in halves and remove the yolk. Mix the egg yolks with the mayo, truffle oil, salt, pepper and dijon mustard and whip until light and fluffy. Put into the indent on each egg to make a deviled egg. If you want, you can do this with a pastry bag and tip like for cupcakes and I think I will try it that way next time for prettier presentation. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper on top for some heat!

Sasha's Kitchen: Truffle Deviled Eggs

Sasha's Kitchen: Mozzarella Making at the Brooklyn Kitchen

Forming a mozzarella ball

Last month I took a mozzarella cheese making class at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg. The class was taught byRoberto Caporuscio, owner of New York's famed pizzeria Keste, as well as cheese specialist Tia Keenan.  The classes at the Brooklyn Kitchen are a fabulous opportunity to sharpen your cooking skills, pick up some new skills, learn a new areas of cuisine or just plain relax and have some fun cooking.  So far I have taken a fabulous apple pie tutorial and a New Orleans brunch class, and I am signed up to take a fresh pasta making class in the end of May. I am really tempted to take a mediterranean cooking class there next week as well. 

This is the raw cheese curds that Roberto started with in the class

At any rate, on to the art of mozzarella. I learned from Roberto a bit of the skill of making mozzarella from cheese curds. We started with the curds rather than using renin to make the curs from scratch because it is near impossible to buy un-pasterized fresh milk in New York (since we don't raise cows here, ya know?) Also, it takes a tremendous amount of milk to make milk solids, which makes that process unrealistic. So what are curds? They are milk solids made from fresh cow's milk, separated from the whey. Most professional cheesemakers in the United States (particularly in more urban locations) start with  fresh curds rather than renin and fresh milk to make mozzarella. 

Preparing the melted curds with hot water/cream mixture

working with the curds

Roberto taught us in the class the process that he uses to make his fresh mozzarella at Keste, which basically involves salting, submerging and heating the curds, stretching and manipulating them in the proper way, and forming proper balls of mozzarella. It is way harder than it sounds. I was able to replicate the process at home, but my mozzarella was still far inferior to the product Roberto taught us in the class because cheesemaking is an art, and clearly I am not yet a master of that art. But it was sure fun!

This is the mozzarella roll - yum!

Roberto's secret to making a fabulous mozzarella cheese (which you will be aware of if you have ever had his delicious pizza at Keste) is to add cream to the water that he uses to submerge the cheese curds in. The basic process involves cutting the curds to have a large amount of surface area, salting them, melting them in hot water and cream, and then stretching and working with the cheese to form mozzarella. In the class, we made both mozzarella balls and rolled out mozzarella that you can add other delicious ingredients to. This was some of the best mozz I've tasted to date. In the class, Roberto helped us form mozzarella balls so that you do not get air or water inside the mozzarella, which is harder than it sounds. You can buy all the supplies at the Brooklyn Kitchen and I plan on making another batch at home sometime this summer!


I have included some pictures from the class in this post.

Sasha's Kitchen: Mozzarella Making at the Brooklyn Kitchen