Homemade Marinara Sauce

Marinara sauce is italian sauce that usually consists of tomatoes, onions, garlic and herbs. I like to add a hint of rosemary in my marinara sauce (which I put in at the beginning of cooking and discard at the end of cooking) and basil which of course is a natural match for tomatoes.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 large ripe beef tomatoes

1 can (100 gr) tomato paste

1 large onion, chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 stalk of rosemary

1 small bunch of basil
21/2 cups water

Salt and pepper

How to:

Prepare some ice water in a bowl (an "ice water bath" - this will be used later). Boil some water in a medium sized pot. Wash the tomatoes and cut an "X" on the bottom of the tomatoes (not the stem side), add them to the pot while taking care not to crowd the pot (you can do it in batches, if necessary). Let the water boil for 30-35 seconds until the skin splits, then plunge the tomatoes straight into the ice water bath. The skin can then be easily removed. Remove the seeds and chop the tomatoes.

Saute onions, garlic and rosemary with the olive oil until translucent, season with salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and water, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the tomatoes become soft and the sauce thickens (usually takes about an hour). Remove and discard the rosemary. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste. At the end, add the basil.  If you like the sauce to be chunky then your sauce is ready to use now. If you like it smoother, blitz it with your hand held blender until you achieve the consistency you like.

Homemade Yogurt

Making yogurt is quite easy, we made this in our house all the time. It only needs two ingredients: milk and yogurt. This can be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Ingredients:

1 litre of milk
100ml of yogurt

How to:

First you turn your oven on until it is hot for at least 20 minutes, then turn it off.

Heat the milk until it almost comes to a boil, until there are bubbles on the edges of the pot. Then turn off the heat and let it cool until it is luke warm.
When it is lukewarm, thin out the yogurt with a little milk then add to the rest of the milk. Cover with a lid then put it in the turned off oven for 4 to 8 hours (you can leave it until 12 hours).
Transfer to the fridge in an airtight jar.

Whey Pancakes

If you have left over whey from making ricotta cheese (see earlier blog), or any other cheese making, don't throw the whey away (hey hey). It is highly nutritious and can be used for cakes, soups or anything else that requires liquid. Whey can be stored up to 3 months in the freezer.

Here is one of many ideas on what to do with the left over whey.

Whey Pancakes

1 cup flour

1 cup whey

1 egg

2 tablespoons sugar (I used my vanilla sugar - see earlier blog)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon oil or melted butter

How to:

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set a side.

Mix whey, egg and oil until well incorporated, whisk in the flour mixture just until they combine. Do not over mix.  

Cook in a pan or skillet until golden brown.

Green Apple Salad

You can use green mangoes or pineapple instead of apple.

2 Granny Smith apples

1 small red chili, chopped

1 lime or 1/2 lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon palm sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

How to:

Mix together lime juice, chili, palm sugar and salt.

Slice the apples thinly. Mix with the dressing. 

Taste better if you leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes before eating.

#apple #salad

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

This is the easiest cheese to make, almost foolproof. I mean if I can make it, anyone can. Fresh ricotta is delicious for lasagna, pasta filling, desserts or even baby food!

It only needs 2 ingredients, milk and vinegar. Make sure you don't use UHT milk because the process makes the milk change and it cannot separate from the whey.

Ingredients:

2 litres milk (non UHT)

1/4 cup Apple cider vinegar

How to:

Heat the milk until it comes to a gentle boil, turn off the heat. Stir in the vinegar until the milk starts to separate from the whey. Cover for at least 30 minutes, I left it longer at times so I was left with firmer curds. 

Ladle the curds into a muslin lined colander (or you can even use a handkerchief), let it drain until you achieve the consistency you like.

Vanilla Sugar

Recently we went for holiday to Bali, Indonesia taking 3 children this time. We have been to Bali several times with our 2 girls but this time we had our new baby boy with us. I was preparing myself for the most hectic and tiring time ever, considering the baby was just 10 days away from being 9 months old. And what a nice surprise, it turned out to be quite a good holiday for all of us.

Of all the times we have been to Bali, we never knew that you can get good and cheap vanilla beans there! I had to find out from, wait for it....the internet!

Anyway, of course as an occasional baker I had the need and urge to buy it, and lots of it. So we ended up with close to 1 kg of vanilla beans.

The first thing I made was vanilla sugar, it was easy to make but has versatile use.

Vanilla Sugar

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

3 Vanilla beans

How to:

Halve the vanilla beans lengthwise, scrape the seeds out and put them with the sugar in a bowl. Mix it thoroughly then strain. Put the vanilla pods in an airtight jar, pour the vanilla sugar in. Can be kept up to 3 months.

#vanillasugar

The importance of pie