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«Kaseri» cheese with lemon
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«Kaseri» cheese with lemon
Ingredients:
· 5 litres of milk
· 3 lemons
· Coarse salt
· Olive oil for preservation
Cooking Utensils:
· Cheese cloth for straining
· Strainer
· Empty container of 1kg yoghurt, pierced in the bottom several times with a nail
· Another empty container of 1 kg yoghurt, not pierced
After straining the milk bring it to boil, mixing occasionally so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice out of the lemons. When the milk starts rising add the lemon juice while stirring. Turn the fire off and keep on stirring for a while. The milk will immediately form big chunks. Place the strainer inside the kitchen sink. Soak the cheese cloth so that the cheese doesn’t stick to it and place it inside the strainer. Carefully empty the mixture onto the cheese cloth, inside the strainer. Hold the cloth ends and gently move your hands up and down for 2-3 minutes until the excess of the whey (the watery part of the cheese) is removed. Then place the cheese cloth and cheese inside the pierced yoghurt container and press gently with your hand. Arrange the cheese cloth in a way that it is not too crinkled and then place on top of it the second yoghurt container. Place inside the top container a heavy object like a rock or a full jar and leave for 10-12 hours until it is completely strained. Then remove the weight and top container, pull the cheese cloth and free the cheese. Put a handful of coarse salt in a deep dish and place the cheese on top of it. Put another handful of coarse salt on top of the cheese. Cover with a second dish and again place a heavy object on top. Leave for another 10-12 hours. Then clean without washing it. The cheese is ready for either consumption or storage. We preserve it for about 4-5 weeks in olive oil. In order not to waste too much olive oil we use another 1 kg yoghurt container, where it fits exactly and needs only a small quantity of olive oil to cover entirely. Store in a cool place.
P.S. 1. I am sure it can be stored for longer than 5 weeks. We didn’t have to store it for longer than that so I have no such experience.
P.S. 2. Five (5) litres of milk produce approximately 650gr of cheese.
P.S. 3. Coarse salt should preferably only be used once.
Recipe by Sofia Gida from Greece