friday favourite – my new cheese board

I love cheese. Love locally produced cheese is even better. Some of my new favourites are Five Brothers from Gunns Hill, Baby Swiss from Stonetown Cheese and I will always cross the street for manchego.

The Dairy Farmers of Canada had a cool promo on before the holidays – giving away a maple wood cheese board in the shape of Canada if you sent in a photo showing five cheeses bought with the Canadian milk symbol. That was easy.

And this week – my new #CanadianCheese board arrived. I’ll be testing it out this weekend. It’s going to look even better when there is a slab of two-year-old Thornloe cheddar sitting on Saskatchewan, Woolwich goat cheese taking over Quebec and some olives all over the country.

Thank you dairy cows for making delicious milk!

CJR

homemade mac and cheese

The holidays are an interesting time. Throw in the extreme, extended cold, a few extra pets in the house … and we were building up a recipe for madness. I was avoiding the grocery store for as long as possible…and after eating a LOT of vegetables and salad at a restaurant lunch, I settled in for homemade mac and cheese.

I’ve been using a recipe of Anne Lindsay’s for the cheese sauce – there is no butter in the roux – but don’t worry, I add it into the topping! I had old cheddar and swiss cheese in the frig for the sauce. And made a topping from homemade breadcrumbs, soaked in melted butter and some shredded mozzarella.

Here’s the result.

 Here’s the recipe.

• 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
• 1.5 cups milk
• 2 T flour
• 1 cup shredded old cheddar (or other mix)
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 chopped green onion
• Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Cook macaroni until tender.

In a saucepan, whisk together milk and flour. Cook over medium heat, whisking for about 5 minutes or until boiling and thickened. Whisk in cheese, salt, Dijon, cayenne and green onion.

Mix sauce and pasta, and place in baking dish. Top with butter breadcrumbs plus a little parmesan or other shredded cheese. Bake at 350 F for about 20-25 minutes until bubbling.

I can admit here that mac and cheese, even the tasty homemade variety, always gets topped with ketchup…

CJR

yet another zucchini recipe

I don’t grow my own zucchini. If I did, I might not be interested in trying yet another way to use it up. But I have made this recipe three times. It is delicious. I really need to invest in a better, wider vegetable peeler that can handle the ups and downs of slicing zucchini.

zucchini ravioli

4 medium zucchini, 2 cups ricotta, 1/2 cup grated parmesan, 1 egg (lightly beaten), 1/4 cup sliced basil (or dried), salt and pepper, 1 1/2 cups pasta sauce, 1/2 cup grated mozzarella

Preheat over to 375 F, and grease a large baking dish (9 x 12).

Made the noodles: slice two sides of each zucchini lengthwise to create two flat sides. Use a vegetable peeler to slice each zucchini into thin flat strips (bring your patience!). These are the noodles.

Make the filling: combine ricotta, parmesan, egg, basil, salt and pepper in bowl.

Assemble the ravioli: lay two strips of zucchini side by side so they are slightly overlapping. Lay two more noodles on top, perpendicular to the first noodles. This creates a T shape. Spoon about 1 T of filling in the centre of the T. Fold the ends of the strips into the centre – working one side at a time. Turn the ravioli over and place the seam side down in the baking dish. Pour tomato sauce over and around the ravioli. Top with mozzarella. Bake 20-30 minutes until cheese is melting and starting to brown on top.

This is so tasty. Little bit of al dente crunch to the zucchini noodles. Lots of gooey cheesy taste. It helps to have a big countertop to make this one – if you like the assembly line look of the little pillows of ricotta all set out in a row.

CJR