Pecan Brie: Dumb Easy Appetizer

Appetizer, party contribution, whatever--this brie is dumb easy, looks like angels made it, and can be eaten with crackers or fruit. It's also delicious, creamy, oozy, etc. It takes only minutes to throw together and then about 20 minutes to cook.

As for cost, you can often find brie for cheaper at this time of year or in discount grocery stores (like Aldi) where it's not sold all year. Additionally, it's super filling and packs a nice caloric punch, so you're getting plenty of caloric bang for your buck. Which is totally what everyone is going for at this time of year, right? (um, right?)

Pecan Brie
adapted from Hobo Kitchen
prep time: 3 minutes
cook time: 20-25 minutes
Cost: $3.00
brie: 2.00 (Aldi price), pecans:  .70, other stuff: .30

1 round (or wedge) Brie cheese, rind removed from top (or whole thing if you want) (I believe it was 14 oz.)
1 tsp butter, soft (and optional; I think this would still rock without it)
1 Tbsp honey (alternately, I think some raspberry jam would rock this)
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 C chopped pecans

First of all, remove the upper rind from your Brie (you just cut it off with a knife). You can remove it from all sides (not just the top) if you like. It's edible, but not something everyone loves.

Secondly, pack that Brie into an oven-safe dish that holds it snugly. It's going to melt and get gooey and if you put it in a big old casserole dish, it will just ooze and bleb all over the place. Not the end of the world because we're talking about cheese here, but your presentation will bleb right along with it. So find a snuggly dish if you can.

Put the Brie in, top with with the butter, add pecans, then drizzle with honey and balsamic vinegar.

Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until it's hot and gooey.

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Dumb Easy Homemade Ricotta

The last few months I've been thinking about my blog and wondering if, perhaps, it has departed a bit too far from its original platform--cheap, delicious food that isn't too hard or too fake. I'm not opposed to the occasional pricier recipe, though lately I do feel that I've justified it a little too much. I'm inclined to think, "Well, it's cheaper than eating out; it's cheaper than buying boxed food." Which it absolutely is. But home cooking is always that, so any old recipe I give to you is likely to be cheaper than its restaurant equivalent. Point being that I hope to pull the old blog back more to what it originally was meant to be--a resource for those looking to eat super cheap, but super well.

Today's recipe kind of nails it. It's so cheap. And so so easy. It's the perfect solution for milk that is nearing its expiration date (but not sour) when you know you just won't be able to drink it all before it sours. This, I believe, is one of the principles of cheapskatery--finding ways to save/eat the foods you've bought.

Here, perhaps I should note, that it's kind of a cheater ricotta. Real ricotta is made after you've made some other cheese. You then take that whey, curdle it, and strain out the last little bits of cheesiness--and that is your ricotta. It is cheapskatery at its finest. However, making a real cheese with rennet and/or bacterial cultures, and love and time is not what this post is about today. It's more about making an inexpensive, wicked good spreadable cheese when you've got milk that needs using.

And it is the most delicious ricotta I've ever eaten. It is creamy (almost as creamy as cream cheese) with sweet-ish overtones (as opposed to plain yogurt with its tanginess). It's satisfying and perfect. In fact, I find that I want to go get myself a scoop as I write this. In short, it's the kind of ricotta that you could put on lasagna, but you might not want to because why would you waste it by hiding it among all that pasta and sauce when you could just eat it straight up out of a bowl. It'd also be lovely on bagels or crepes, or served in a bowl with fruit or honey or on the side of some sauteed vegetables.

It takes only 3 cups of milk (that's about $.30 if we're talking about our cheap Aldi milk), another $1.00 for the cream, and $.25 for the lemon. For this $1.55 you get about 1 1/2 C of ricotta. That's not a bad price for the best ricotta you've ever eaten. And--again--this is a very good way to use up milk that needs to be used.

Also it's about as easy as you can get when we're talking about making your own cheese (which we are). You will need a thermometer and a tea towel for straining, but otherwise it's crazy easy--heat the dairy products, add lemon juice, let sit, strain. I made it this morning while I cleaned my kitchen.

As an added bonus, the rich, creamy protein-filled food is a nice foil for the candied weekend that was Easter for us. Today at lunch I wanted something simple and not sweet.

If you'd like to use the whey, you can use it in most baked goods the way you'd use milk or buttermilk (muffins are my go to for whey). Or you can try this lovely.

Dumb Easy Homemade Ricotta
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
makes about 1 1/2 C
Prep/cook time: 15-20 minutes
Strain time: 1-2 hours
Cost: $1.55
milk: .30, cream: 1.00, lemon .25

3 C milk
1 C cream
3 Tbsp lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed)

In a saucepan, heat milk and cream to 190 degrees (Fahrenheit), stirring occasionally so it doesn't scald on the bottom of the pot (I heated mine on medium--you can heat it faster on high or slower on low, depending on how much attention you want to give it--you just can't let the bottom burn onto the pan).

When it hits 190, take it off the heat, and stir in lemon juice.

Let it sit for 5 minutes. It's going to curdle; it's supposed to curdle; that's part of making cheese.

Now line a strainer with a tea towel (or several layers of cheese cloth) and set that strainer over a bowl of some sort (so the whey can drip into that bowl instead of all over your counter). Pour the contents of your pot into the tea towel and let sit for 1-2 hours. At an hour, it will be runnier, but still definitely ricotta (also, it will firm up somewhat as it cools completely--at an hour, it will still be slightly warm). I let mine go for two hours because I wanted a firmer spreadable sort of ricotta. It was fabulous.

Eat it. I ate mine with a few blueberries and guys--you'd be surprised how wonderful and satisfying it was. Better than anything I've ever had from the store.

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Bacon Jalapeno Cheesy Bread

This isn't the type of bread that usually flies in my house. It is not smooth. It contains a real-life vegetable. And it is not "normal," by which I mean that you cannot put jam and peanut butter on it (well, I guess you could...).

But my sister raved about this recipe, repressing any doubts about the fact that I might get stuck eating a loaf of cheesy bread all by myself. And then I found myself with a bag of jalapenos from a friend. And a pot of potato soup for dinner. That potato soup called to this bread.

And so I made it. And, yes, it is completely awesome. For purposes of full disclosure, I should tell you that Kip picked his jalapeno bits out. But otherwise, he really loved this bread. I count that as a win in the house of pickiest people on earth.

It's almost biscuit-like, but without the bad qualities of biscuits (namely their dryness, flavorlessness, or sometimes-too-salty-ness). This bread is seriously the perfect savory bread. And if you hate jalapenos, leave them out. If you're vegetarian, skip the bacon. You can't skip the cheese though. Sorry vegans.

Bacon Jalapeno Cheesy Bread
adapted from Call Me PMC
Makes: one 9x5 inch loaf
Prep time: 10 minutes to cook bacon, 10-15 minutes to mix up the bread
Cook time: 50-70 minutes
Cost: $4.60
bacon: 1.00, flour: .30, cream cheese: 1.00, jalapeno: .30, cheddar: 1.50, buttermilk: .35, other stuff: .15

6-8 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped into little bits (the original recipe called for 2 cups of chopped bacon; I used significantly less than that)
3 C all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 C diced jalapeno--2 medium (I left out the seeds, but you could chop and use if you like heat)
2 C cheddar cheese (I used sharp, but milder will work)
1 1/2 C buttermilk (or scant 1 1/2 C milk with 1 1/2 Tbsp vinegar)
1 Tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x5 inch loaf pan

In large bowl, combine cream cheese, jalapenos, bacon, and cheddar cheese. Stir to combine.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Whisk.

To the flour mixture, add cream cheese mixture, the oil, and the buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Don't overmix.

Pour into greased pan. Bake 50-70 minutes (original recipe said 45-50, but mine took much longer, so check it early, but don't be surprised if it takes longer. The top should start to brown and when you stick a knife in it, it should come out clean.

Let cool for a few minutes. Then turn out and cut. It's delicious warm or cool. And it rocks a bowl of potato soup.

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