Time to say cheese

Fresh cream cheese boules are quite the talking point in the kitchen now. Here’s how you can get them right

Time to say cheese

Black pepper and garlic cream cheese

Shilpa Gupta of Tttapas, clears the airs for us: Philadelphia Cheese is like Xerox. The product is synonymous with cream cheese. Gupta’s is concentrated yogurt, sans any trace of liquid whey, or the cream.

Shilpa Gupta

With house gatherings being the flavour of the season, fresh cheese platters along with crackers, dips and fruits are making their presence felt at dinner tables. Last week, Gupta sent us a too-pretty-to-dismantle offering of a truffle oil cream cheese coated with mushroom dust and a cranberry and jalapeño flavour dusted with pistachio nibs. Half a boule, she explains, is equal to your daily requirement of yogurt or milk.

“Follow the process of making hung curd, and attempt a first round of draining the whey in a muslin cloth or a cheese cloth. Then, you add salt and hang it for another round. Add flavour and set it in the boule mould. “In the lockdown, I made a dill cream cheese for friends and they egged me on to do more. Fresh cheeses are fun, innovative and a great party starter,” says Gupta.

Call: 7208151262 for Casa Del Cheese and 9321995616 for Ttapas
Log on to: @casadelcheese and @tttapas on Instagram

Tips to work with cream cheese

Founder of Casa Del Cheese Dhvani Desai, whose bestseller cheeses include Greek-style feta, gooey buttery farmers cheese and even Gruyere, shares tips on working with cream cheese: >> Cream cheese is great for stuffing as well as for spreads. Avoid using butter as it can get too rich.
>> Cream cheese is a milder, creamier hung curd, which is on the tangier side and requires more salt. Never pair it with a tart ingredient. Balance the creaminess with grapes and watermelon or crispy and crunchy textures.
>> Store it in an airtight container in a refrigerator set between 0 to 4 degrees C in the chiller. It’s shelf life depends on this temperature.

Cooking with cream cheese
Zucchini roll-ups: Cut zucchini in long strips. Oil it on both sides with extra virgin olive oil. Grill it on a non-stick pan on a high heat. Once grilled, sprinkle salt, pepper and oregano. After it has cooled down, add a dollop of cream cheese, roll it up and stick a tooth pick in.
Recipe by Dhvani Desai

Honey pistachio cheese boule
Ingredients
>> 1 litre of 3% milk
>> 3/4 tsp honey
>> 50 gm unsalted pistachios
>> 1/4 tsp salt

Method
Repeat steps till refrigeration as mentioned in the recipe below. Grind the pistachios by hand into a grainy coarse mince. Untie and encase the boule in the pistachios. Serve with salted crackers or warm buttered bread.
Recipes by Shilpa Gupta

Black pepper and garlic cream cheese
Ingredients
>> 1 litre 3% fat milk
>> 1 clove garlic, crushed >> 1/4 tsp salt >> 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method
Set as curd the same way we make our everyday dahi. Refrigerate for at least six hours. Tie in a muslin cloth tightly and let the liquid drain out for one and a half hours. Refrigerate over a strainer for eight to 10 hours. Untie and mix the salt, half the pepper and the garlic into the curd. Place the mix back in the muslin and roll up into a small ball. Re-tie and refrigerate again for six hours. Untie and encase the boule in the leftover ground pepper.

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