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Spices - Saffron fans?
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 399870" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>No, I haven't tried it. Knowing the difference between a good sheep's/goat's milk feta and the pallid imitation of the cow's milk variety, I can imagine the added dimension of smen over ghee (cows milk based).</p><p></p><p>husband mentioned on another thread, that he loves feta. But it has to be a good sheep's milk or goat's milk feta, not always easy for us to find because Aussie tastes tend to the more commercially acceptable cow's milk stuff. The cow's milk feta can be sliced into neat little cubes which look better in a cafe's serving tray, and therefore look more appealing to customers who don't know any better. People then get used to the taste. But we have managed to find our favourite feta and go through about a kilo of it a month.</p><p></p><p>I had some people visit me for lunch one day, I made Greek salad for them, with our good feta. These people were a bit snobbish, I knew they looked down on me a bit because we did not live in the socially upwardly mobile parts of Sydney (where they think anyone who doesn't live where they do, is socially beneath them). One of the women commented that she loves Greek salad; I told her that this was my own recipe, developed from my own experience of some of the best salads in Greece. She took one bite of the salad with the good feta, and spat it out! And glared at me, as if I had tried to poison her! She complained tat the feta was too strongly flavoured; I said, "It's the authentic stuff." Of course, this showed her up as not being as cosmopolitan in her culinary experiences as me; she barely ever spoke to me after that. It was a very unpleasant lunch. I left my salad for a few minutes to throw together a French green salad for her, but she had lost face and was very angry with me.</p><p></p><p>Some people really are silly over such little things.</p><p></p><p>As for using the smen - not sure I would go to those lengths. I grew up with goats and drinking goats' milk, I'm not sure I would be bothered with ageing a batch of boiled milk.</p><p></p><p>Moroccan preserved lemons - first I get a large jar with no metal in the lid. Sterilise the jar - I usually find if it's been through the dishwasher, all I need to do is then scald it with boiling water, then let it drain upside down. After that, never touch the inside with your bare fingers.</p><p>Next - get some lemons, preferably cheap ones off your own tree (or from a generous neighbour). Cut through the lemons almost all the way, then cut again at 90 degrees, so you get a lemon with two vertical cuts almost right through, so it opens up a little like a four-petalled flower. Open it a little and pack generously inside the cuts with spiced salt. Cram the salty spicy lemons into the jar. Pack them in as tightly as you can, squeezing them as much as you need to get them in tightly. Of course some juice will come out - that is good. </p><p>Keep salting and packing until the jar is full. As the jar fills, pour in more seasoned salt over every layer too. Squeeze a few more lemons and top up the jar with lemon juice. The lemons should be covered with liquid. Put it in a dark cupboard for about 6 weeks before you use it. You can use it sooner, but the flavours won't have had time to develop. You have to use a lot of salt, because if you don't then bugs and mould will grow and ruin the lot. A good batch - the lemon skins go clear-ish and a little darker, but otherwise it all looks OK.</p><p></p><p>Some recipes say to top up with water, but I find juice seems to help preserve the lemons better.</p><p></p><p>Seasoned salt mix - I use cheap bulk cooking salt, and add my own spices. Whole peppercorns (I use pink ones as well as black ones); a crumbled cinnamon stick; whole star anise; any other spices. You can use slices of ginger if you want. </p><p></p><p>To use the lemons, I've found I do have to remove the fruit pulp. If I don't, it upsets husband's stomach. I use them fairly sparingly, about quarter to half a lemon in a casserole that uses about a kilo of meat. I carefully remove it from the jar (trying to keep it uncontaminated by my hands) and seal the jar up again. Carefully cut out the flesh of the lemon and discard it. Slice the peel thinly, chop it up in tiny bits and stir it into the casserole. The flavours from the spiced salt will spread through the dish. Don't add any salt to the recipe until you've tasted it after adding the lemon.</p><p></p><p>I have used this in crock-pot recipes too, including Italian cooking. I like to mix traditions sometimes, you can discover some wonderful tastes that way.</p><p></p><p>3S, what do you put in with your lemons?</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 399870, member: 1991"] No, I haven't tried it. Knowing the difference between a good sheep's/goat's milk feta and the pallid imitation of the cow's milk variety, I can imagine the added dimension of smen over ghee (cows milk based). husband mentioned on another thread, that he loves feta. But it has to be a good sheep's milk or goat's milk feta, not always easy for us to find because Aussie tastes tend to the more commercially acceptable cow's milk stuff. The cow's milk feta can be sliced into neat little cubes which look better in a cafe's serving tray, and therefore look more appealing to customers who don't know any better. People then get used to the taste. But we have managed to find our favourite feta and go through about a kilo of it a month. I had some people visit me for lunch one day, I made Greek salad for them, with our good feta. These people were a bit snobbish, I knew they looked down on me a bit because we did not live in the socially upwardly mobile parts of Sydney (where they think anyone who doesn't live where they do, is socially beneath them). One of the women commented that she loves Greek salad; I told her that this was my own recipe, developed from my own experience of some of the best salads in Greece. She took one bite of the salad with the good feta, and spat it out! And glared at me, as if I had tried to poison her! She complained tat the feta was too strongly flavoured; I said, "It's the authentic stuff." Of course, this showed her up as not being as cosmopolitan in her culinary experiences as me; she barely ever spoke to me after that. It was a very unpleasant lunch. I left my salad for a few minutes to throw together a French green salad for her, but she had lost face and was very angry with me. Some people really are silly over such little things. As for using the smen - not sure I would go to those lengths. I grew up with goats and drinking goats' milk, I'm not sure I would be bothered with ageing a batch of boiled milk. Moroccan preserved lemons - first I get a large jar with no metal in the lid. Sterilise the jar - I usually find if it's been through the dishwasher, all I need to do is then scald it with boiling water, then let it drain upside down. After that, never touch the inside with your bare fingers. Next - get some lemons, preferably cheap ones off your own tree (or from a generous neighbour). Cut through the lemons almost all the way, then cut again at 90 degrees, so you get a lemon with two vertical cuts almost right through, so it opens up a little like a four-petalled flower. Open it a little and pack generously inside the cuts with spiced salt. Cram the salty spicy lemons into the jar. Pack them in as tightly as you can, squeezing them as much as you need to get them in tightly. Of course some juice will come out - that is good. Keep salting and packing until the jar is full. As the jar fills, pour in more seasoned salt over every layer too. Squeeze a few more lemons and top up the jar with lemon juice. The lemons should be covered with liquid. Put it in a dark cupboard for about 6 weeks before you use it. You can use it sooner, but the flavours won't have had time to develop. You have to use a lot of salt, because if you don't then bugs and mould will grow and ruin the lot. A good batch - the lemon skins go clear-ish and a little darker, but otherwise it all looks OK. Some recipes say to top up with water, but I find juice seems to help preserve the lemons better. Seasoned salt mix - I use cheap bulk cooking salt, and add my own spices. Whole peppercorns (I use pink ones as well as black ones); a crumbled cinnamon stick; whole star anise; any other spices. You can use slices of ginger if you want. To use the lemons, I've found I do have to remove the fruit pulp. If I don't, it upsets husband's stomach. I use them fairly sparingly, about quarter to half a lemon in a casserole that uses about a kilo of meat. I carefully remove it from the jar (trying to keep it uncontaminated by my hands) and seal the jar up again. Carefully cut out the flesh of the lemon and discard it. Slice the peel thinly, chop it up in tiny bits and stir it into the casserole. The flavours from the spiced salt will spread through the dish. Don't add any salt to the recipe until you've tasted it after adding the lemon. I have used this in crock-pot recipes too, including Italian cooking. I like to mix traditions sometimes, you can discover some wonderful tastes that way. 3S, what do you put in with your lemons? Marg [/QUOTE]
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