Goat Milk

 

 

 

 

 

This on-a-budget recipe is the perfect dish to make when you’re looking to feed the family without breaking the bank.

With vibrant pumpkin and sweet apple, this simple, seasonal soup is pretty hands off – you just chuck it all together, roast, then blitz until you have a creamy, velvety soup. My cheesy sage croutons are a game-changer and take this humble autumnal dish to the next level.

The recipe requires 10 mins Preparation time, 40 mins Cooking time, Serves 6.

241 calories per serving.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 pumpkin or butternut squash (about 1.2kg)
• 2 onions
• olive oil
• 2 eating apples
• 2 garlic cloves
• 10g fresh sage
• 200g stale bread
• 50g Cheddar
• 1 vegetable stock cube

 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. Scrub the pumpkin or squash, slice in half and scoop out the seeds, then roughly chop the flesh. Peel and slice the onions into wedges. Chuck it all into a large roasting tin, drizzle over 2 tbsp olive oil, then roast for 30 mins or until soft and gnarly.
• Meanwhile, core the apples and slice into wedges, and bash and peel the garlic cloves. When the time’s up, chuck them all into the tin with a few sage leaves and roast for a further 10 mins.
• Slice the bread into 2cm chunks and put on a baking tray, then pick over the remaining sage leaves. Drizzle with 1 tbsp oil, toss to coat and spread out into a single layer. Finely grate over 20g of the Cheddar and bake for 5 mins or until golden and crisp.
• Remove the pumpkin tin from the oven and tip everything into a large pan over a medium heat. Crumble in the stock cube, pour over 1ltr of boiling water and grate in the remaining Cheddar. Bring to the boil and cook for a couple of mins, then remove from the heat and blitz until smooth.
• Season to perfection, then divide between bowls and top with the croutons and crispy sage. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, if you like.

 

 

While there are many regional iterations, the Khachapuri is probably the most familiar to Americans. Cheese blend and egg bake in the center, it is thought to evoke a boat, the ocean, and the sun, testament to the Ajarki region on the Black Sea.

Ajarski Khachapuri is a boat-shaped Georgian bread with a cheese-stuffed crust and an egg baked into the center. It’s only a matter of time before this fun bread is delivered to every home for pizza night and ordered from every brunch menu the morning after. This versatile bread takes a little finesse, but the payoff is well worth it; after all, what more could you want other than cheesy, soft, chewy bread dipped in runny yolk and molten cheese?

The recipe requires 30 mins Preparation time, 1hr 25 mins Cooking time, Serves 4

Ingredients:

Dough:

• ½ cup warm milk
• ? cup warm water
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons white sugar
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, or more as needed, for dusting
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

Cheese Blend:

• 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 4 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded

Filling:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon butter, cut into 4 pats
• sea salt to taste
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste (Optional)

Directions:

• Make dough: Combine milk, water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl. Let stand until yeast forms a creamy foam, about 5 minutes. Add 2 cups flour, olive oil, and salt; mix until a sticky dough forms.
• Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for about 3 minutes, adding in remaining 1/4 cup flour as needed, until dough is very soft but still workable. Form into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
• While dough rises, prepare cheese blend: Toss together feta, Monterey Jack, and mozzarella cheese in a medium bowl. Refrigerate cheese mixture until needed.
• Punch down dough and turn out onto a floured surface. Flatten slightly and cut in half. Place 1 dough half on a sheet of parchment paper dusted with flour. Roll out into a rectangle about 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick.
• Arrange 1/4 of the cheese mixture in 2 rows, 1 to 2 inches from the longest sides. Roll sides up tightly over cheese, forming a canoe shape. Pinch and twist ends to seal. Trim excess parchment and lift dough onto a baking sheet. Shape and stuff remaining dough half. Fill canoes with remaining cheese mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Form a well in the center of each khachapuri using a spoon; crack an egg inside each well.
• Return to the oven and bake until eggs are mostly set, 3 to 4 minutes. Place 2 pats butter over each egg, then sprinkle with salt and cayenne. Plate khachapuri; tear off one end and use it to stir butter into egg.

 

*Notes:

You can use 1 pound of any cheese blend, but feta adds a welcome tangy flavor.

You can substitute 1 1/8 teaspoons fine salt for the kosher salt.

 

 

Treat yourself to a Persian feast with this chorizo and goats’ cheese filo pie.

This wonderful combination of smoky, spiced chorizo and cumin-spiked, creamy goat’s cheese is a winner. Nigella seeds are used all around the world but are originally from Southern Asia. Widely used in Indian and Middle Eastern cookery, they have a bitter and peppery taste and are often used in savoury breads.

Chorizo really is such a fantastic ingredient and its capability to deliver bags of flavour to anything it comes into contact with always makes it a crowd-pleaser.

The recipe requires less than 30 mins Preparation time, 1 to 2 hours Cooking time, Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp cumin seeds (toasted)
• 2 x 200g/7oz cured chorizo sausages (not cooking chorizo), skinned and cut into chunks
• 350g/12fl oz rindless soft goats’ cheese, broken into pieces
• vegetable oil, for oiling
• 6 sheets filo pastry (each about 48 x 25cm/19 x10in)
• 1 tbsp full-fat milk or water
• 1 free-range egg, beaten, to glaze
• 1 tsp nigella seeds

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
• Dry fry the cumin seeds in a frying pan until aromatic. Remove from the heat.
• Put the chunks of chorizo into a food processor and process until they are minced as finely as possible. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add the cooled cumin seeds and goats’ cheese and mix together until evenly combined.
• Brush the base of a 24cm/9½in round ovenproof dish or cake tin with a little vegetable oil. Lay a pastry sheet lengthways in the dish or tin with the ends overhanging the sides, then lay another pastry sheet widthways in the same way.
• Divide the chorizo filling in half. Add one half to the filo base and smooth it right to the edges to cover the base evenly.
• Fold another pastry sheet in half to create a double thickness and lay it over the filling, then repeat with a second pastry sheet to form a thick pastry layer.
• Brush the pastry with the milk or water, then top with the remaining filling, pushing and patting it into place to evenly coat the pastry layer. Fold the overhanging pastry into the centre, then gently crumple up the remaining 2 pastry sheets and arrange them on top.
• Brush all the exposed pastry and edges with beaten egg and sprinkle over the nigella seeds. Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until deep golden-brown. Serve the borek immediately.