Daniel Pfyl, hospitality management lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, shares some professional techniques to make your cooking easier. This month Chef Pfyl shows us how to make fromage blanc, rhubarb compote and granola, which can be used separately or made into a fresh, healthy dessert.
Fromage blanc is a soft, fresh cheese that can be served either as a dessert similar to yogurt, frequently with added fruit, or in savoury dishes.
Fromage blanc, rhubarb compote and granola
Ingredients
2L farmhouse (non-homogenized) milk, or 1.8L blue top milk and
200ml cream
2 Tbsp natural unsweetened yoghurt
5ml rennet
Rhubarb compote
750g rhubarb
100g raw sugar
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
1 cinnamon stick
Granola
300g rolled oats
100g sliced almonds, skin on
120g pumpkin seeds
120g sunflower seeds
40g sesame seeds
40g shredded coconut
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60ml (4 Tbsp) rice bran oil (or coconut fat)
125g almond or oat milk
Method
1) Put the milk in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water and heat to 34degC.
It's best to use a thermometer. When it reaches this temperature, remove from heat and whisk in the yoghurt. This gives a lovely cultured flavour to the finished product.
2) Add the rennet and stir for about 30 seconds. Cover with a clean cloth and leave to sit in a warm place (about room temperature, 18-25degC) for at least three hours.
3) Line a colander with clean muslin cheesecloth.
Rhubarb compote
1) Tip the now jelly-like milk into the cloth-lined colander set over a bowl and leave in the fridge to drain.
Slice the rhubarb into 0.5cm pieces and put in a pot with a dash of water, the sugar and cinnamon stick.
2) Grate the zest of the orange and the lemon over the rhubarb.
This is easiest using a microplane grater. Stir, bring to the boil then turn down the heat to a simmer. Allow to cook 4-5 minutes until the rhubarb is soft but still retains its shape. Set aside to cool.
You can cook other fruit in a similar way, adjusting the water and sugar as required.
Preheat oven to 180degC or 160degC fan.
Granola
1) Line a shallow roasting or baking tray with baking paper. Put the oats, nuts, seeds and coconut on the tray. Sprinkle over the cinnamon. Combine the oil and milk, pour over the seed mix.
2) Toss gently with your fingers to mix the ingredients well.
3) Spread the mix out on a tray, put in the oven and roast for 35-40 minutes.
4) Take the tray out and turn over the mix carefully two or three times during the cooking.
5) The granola should be golden brown and crisp. Allow to cool. You can turn the oven off and allow it to dry overnight.
6) To assemble the dessert, in a tall glass, layer rhubarb, granola, fromage blanc and repeat, sprinkling a little more granola on the top for decoration. Granola can also be used as a breakfast cereal with fruit and yoghurt or fromage blanc.
The rhubarb or other fruit compote can be served separately with or without the fromage blanc.
• If you would like to request a particular technique we haven't already shown, please let us know. Write to Cooking 101, Editorial Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin, or email odt.features@odt.co.nz with cooking 101 in the subject line. To check earlier Cooking 101 columns visit: www.odt.co.nz and search for ''cooking 101''.
More information on cooking from Otago Polytechnic can be found on www.otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com