Me with the lovely Imen McDonnell, Fare Plate/ Refinery Rooftop

On March 12, 2016, I traveled to New York City to attend Fare Plate, an Irish food tasting event held at the lovely Refinery Rooftop. Featured at the event was the food of Imen McDonnell, an American woman living on an Irish farm and a brand-new cookbook author (The Farmette Cookbook). She is living my dream! And is the nicest woman. I encountered her on twitter (@modernfarmette) and it was an honor to meet her in person. She has a great blog too: www.farmette.ie

I travelled home eagerly the five hours from New York with my new signed cookbook; so far I have made her brown bread (amazing!), and I continue to drool over the pictures as well as be enthralled with her storytelling; she has led such an interesting life. But the most exciting thing for me was making my own cheese! I thank her for the inspiration! After making the cheese, I even developed a new recipe to feature my creation (see the crustless quiche below).

Best Brown Bread, The Farmette Cookbook, recipe on page 41 (all photos ©Irish Food Revolution unless otherwise noted)


Best Brown Bread with Kerrygold butter and drizzled honey (ate too much of this one!)


My First Cheese: Basic Farmer Cheese, page 12, The Farmette Cookbook (available on Amazon)


Getting ready (purchased cheese cloth from Bed, Bath, and Beyond – worked great, hung with twine)

The only challenge I had with the cheese was ensuring the milk did not scorch as it heated up. Be vigilant and make sure you stir often, including the bottom of the pan. I used a 5 quart dutch oven, which worked very well. I also found locally made raw milk, which yielded a nice amount of cheese. You can also use organic milk.

Raw milk purchased from Brandmoore Farm, Rollinsford, NH. Thanks to @NHHomeGrownEats for telling me about the farm!



My obsessive stirring!


Beautiful!

Drained it, hung the cheese for a couple of hours, and then used it! Before I developed the quiche, I also spread some blackberry jam on the toasted brown bread, sprinkled with cheese and salt: divine! Tastes like rich, creamy butter! And I sprinkled some cheese over roasted vegetables, which was also very tasty. I plan on making some roasted tomatoes, which I will sprinkle with cheese and balsamic glaze.

Farmer Cheese, Potato, and Tarragon Crustless Quiche

Ingredients

• 1 Tbs of butter (Kerrygold salted is my favorite for this dish)
• 1 large leek, thinly sliced (white part only)
• 1 Tbs of fresh, finely chopped tarragon
• 2-3 cups of potato and asparagus, steamed
• 8 organic eggs
• 1 cup of organic milk
• 3/4 cup of crumbled farmers cheese (you can also try 1 cup of shredded cheddar if you have not made cheese)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of pepper

Preheat the oven to 400° Throughly butter a 9 inch glass pie plate

Heat up the tbs of butter in a frying pan. Sauté the leeks with a bit of salt and pepper until soft and barely golden brown- 5 minutes or so. Layer them on the bottom of the glass pie plate and sprinkle the fresh tarragon over it (the tarragon really brings this quiche to the next level). They will form a "crust" on the bottom of the dish. Put aside.

Tarragon and Leek "Crust"

While the leeks are cooking, peel and chop up the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Put about an inch of water in the bottom of a saucepan and place a steaming basket in. Put the potato pieces in the steamer. Then steam on medium high heat for about 15 minutes; as it steams, chop up the asparagus. After 15 minutes, add in chopped asparagus on top of the potatoes. Steam both for another 5 minutes or so.

As the potato and asparagus steam, mix together the eggs, milk, cheese, salt, pepper in a large bowl. Break up the yolks and stir gently for about a minute or two.

After the potato and asparagus are done steaming, remove them from the stovetop and cool for about 10 minutes. Then fill the pie plate about 3/4 of the way with the vegetables.

Next, pour in the egg mixture (be careful not to overfill). If you have mixture left over, use it for some scrambled eggs or an omelet! Depending on the density of the veggies and the amount in the pie plate, I do often have a bit left over.

Put it in the oven and cook for 45-50 minutes. Serve immediately, sprinkle with salt if desired. Also makes great leftovers!