Lake Ontario Winery: Mozzarella Making Class

I saw a local coupon on Amazon for a mozzarella making class at a local winery.  I told my husband about it and said this would make a great date. He agreed.  Though he is not necessarily a foodie, he sure enjoys his mozzarella.

This was one of the best ways to spend an afternoon with a friend or your spouse.  We started off the afternoon with a little wine tasting.  We picked our bottle of wine.  We chose the Pirates Red. 

Jacks Red- Lake Ontario Winery

They brought us a wonderful cheese tray.  It was beautiful.  I wish the mozzarella and prosciutto pinwheels were in the picture- totally a melt in your mouth affair.  As we chugged sipped our wine and ate (or rather, my husband ate) our delicious cheese trays, we watched our fearless leader, Lorraine, make some amazing mozzarella.  After all was said and done, they made some pizza for us all with our recently made mozzarella.



The milk is heated to about 90 to 100F.
 
It quickly separates into curds.
 
What is left behind is whey. By the way, never discard it.  It has protein.  You can add it to your smoothies or soup.
 
Here she is pulling out the curds.
 
After adding in whatever you would like you can begin to knead.  Sandy and I kept talking about adding garlic and herbs to ours. Our neighbor Ben was talking about adding raisins.  At first we balked, then we thought of what raisins were and thought maybe it would be worth a try.  We knew he had too much wine when he suggested Skittles as an addition to the mozzarella.

We had wonderful company at our table, three other couples.  The woman next to me, Sandy, was a hoot.  I think we might have drove everyone crazy at our table.  We laughed nearly the entire time, making jokes.  She was Miss Curd, I was Miss Whey.  The corny jokes about whey flew around our table (every which whey, really).  Such silliness when you are chugging sipping some wine.

We were given a kit to make our own mozzarella.  I bought a little extra rennet to make more because I knew I would be making it.  More on that later.

Just in case you were wondering, some time before we left I cut myself off from the bottle and started sipping chugging water...

Zuppa Tuscana and Kickin' Kale

You probably have seen it a million times or maybe even eaten it a million times.  It's Zuppa Tuscana.  Many moons ago, when we ate at chain restaurants I use to really like this soup.  I have missed it.  I wanted to make it and finally did so.  This is the second time I made it.  Yes, its quite good.  This time I used some chicken sausage that is made here locally.  I buy it at Palmer's if you are local.   I used kale from my garden, kicked off the snow and picked me some.  You should have seen the smile on my face.  This is why I grew kale- just so I could do what my Mom used to do with her kale.  She never picked it before a frost, claiming it is much sweeter after.  And you know what.  It was so sweet.  I had boiled it seperately just in case it was bitter.  It wasnt so I added the broth of the kale to the soup.

I also used some Hunter's Bacon that I found at Polska Chatta.  I finally found this small Polish deli and cafe.  I am not disappointed.  Hunter's Bacon is a smoked bacon.  It is ready to eat, no frying needed but you certainly can fry it as well.

Zuppa Tuscana


1½ lbs ground Italian sausage
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
¼ cup bacon, crumbled
2 cloves garlic minced
10 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb diced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
4 cup kale, chopped

Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, set aside.
In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft. Add chicken broth to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.  Add the diced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated. Do not bring to a boil after you add the cream. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!