By Request....Chevre

The soft goat cheese you see in the market is called Chevre.  It is quite easy to make, but takes a little time.  Here is the recipe that i use. 

We like our cherve very firm, so shorten drain time and reduce rennet mix (original recipe dilution will be in blue, mine in black) if you like more of a "dip" style chevre.  Once again, we always use fresh raw goat milk for this, but am betting that you could use any time of milk for a "Gringo Chevre" rather than a "French Chevre."

CHEVRE

5 qts whole milk
1/2 c cultured buttermilk
2T water + 2 drops rennet (2T diluted rennet, DILUTION= 3 drops rennet in 1/3 c water)

• Bring milk to 80 degrees.
• Stir in buttermilk, mix well.
• Stir in rennet dilution, mix well.
• Let stand 12 hours (i have let it stand up to 18 and it was fine.)
• Line a colander with cheese cloth and pour in curds. 
• Feed whey to animals.
• Tie up ends of cheese cloth to form a "bag" and then hang cheese over a pot to drain (i use a coat hanger on a kitchen cabinet knob.)
• Hang to drain 8 hours (depending on how you like your chevre...many times i let ours drain twice that long.)  (also, during draining whey tends to get trapped in the center, so i "disturb" the curds several times by lifting the bag at the very bottom <while it is still hanging> and kind of squishing the curds around a bit.  Remember, we like ours firm, if you want it creamy just leave it alone.)
• Season with whatever ya got...if ya want.  Ideas below.
• Keeps in fridge 2 weeks or more.

Season it:

• All the recipes i have ever seen call for 1t kosher salt, but, since i am special, i don't do that here.  However, you may want to.
• Garlic or onion or both with any herb, favored around here are dill and chive
• Everyone also likes the one with onion, garlic, smoked paprika, couple of T of Worcestershire, and then roll it in sesame seeds.  If you have never used smoked paprika, well, you just don't fully appreciate paprika.  Whole new take on deviled eggs, too! 
• Also favored, chopped up apples or pears and walnuts or pecans...whatever ya got.
• This one has a limited audience, mostly me, but came up with it when cooking Chinese one night, and just kept adding stuff.  I make it once or twice a year, just coz i love it.  Ready?  Pineapple, garlic, fresh grated ginger (i like a lot,) a couple teaspoons soy sauce, a Tablespoon of peanut butter (stay with me now,) some chopped up peanuts, a T or two of dark brown sugar, and coconut.  Know it sounds kinda weird, but if you like Thai or the more traditional Chinese, you'll love it. 
• I have a friend who makes medallions of unseasoned chevre, rolls them in seasoned bread crumbs, then fries them and tosses the medallions on a spinach salad.  Is out of this world (Thank you Chef Cathy!!)
• Be BOLD!!  Experiment!!  It is still cheese...how bad can it be???

Hey--did y'all notice i found the Bullet Button?  Expanding my Horizons every day!!!