faisselle

Fontainebleau: Faisselle Mousse With Fresh Berries

03.06.2011 33 Comments

My parents flew back to France yesterday and everyone in the house woke up a little different. Even the pups who kept going up and down the stairs looking for them. We made coffee, went on the back deck and sat in silence. Heard the clap of the oysters around us. Something my mom would have inquired about. Something my father would have turned into a story.

We had a wonderful time together. It always takes a few days for everyone to find their marks and settle into a groove. That’s a given. Each of us has a different schedules, different responsibilities and timing. We all have one thing in common though: we like food. More importantly, we like everything about it.

We like to head out early to the farmers market and get our groceries for the week. We like to prepare it, chop it, cook it, grill it, all the while catching up about the rest of the family news. We like to sit down and share a meal together where we have put forth the textures, scents and flavors of the foods we made.

By doing do, we pay homage to the people who cared to grow it and the people who taught us how to love it and share it with friends and family. So even if my parents and I need a little adjusting at first, we know we always have meals to come together around something we all understand and appreciate.

I was happy to make some time to truly enjoy my parents' visit, after the last few months of a frantic schedule. It’s sometimes difficult to explain that time spent on the computer writing proposals and looking over shooting schedules is not time spent noodling around. That’s a generation thing. That’s part of sharing space and time for a few weeks. It requires patience and understanding from everyone.

Cooking and baking also requires patience and understanding, reinforcing this idea of a common ground for everyone to share.

Nothing is truer in my opinion than when making fresh cheese, yogurt or fromage blanc. Anything with live cultures (bread too) has a wonderful way to show us how to slow down a bit and enjoy the process, the evolution and transformation of what we make.

Everytime my parents are here, I make faisselle for my dad. I often try to describe it properly but it is truly one of those dairy products that is unique. Not yogurt, not fromage blanc, not cottage cheese. Faisselle refers to both the fresh cheese made as well as the container used to make it. The molds have lots of tiny holes in which the milk mixture is placed to drain as much whey as desired. Some people like their faisselle drier than others so the container allows you to control how much moisture to keep.

The making process of faisselle is really darn easy and can be made with either cow or goat milk, a few drops of rennet, and a bit of fromage blanc or Greek yogurt for more live cultures. That’s it! Once mixed, I let it do its thing overnight and we wake up to wonderful big curds of faisselle. So far I have not tried with non-dairy milk but if you do let me know how it turned out.

Some people like it at the end of the meal with some salt, pepper and freshly chopped chives, some appreciate it with some brown sugar or a touch of honey. With us, it all depends on our mood. Sometimes we drain the heck out of it and end up with something very close to fresh crumbly cheese. Sometimes we’ll just grab a bigger spoon and eat as moist as possible.

Sometimes, I sneak around and put some faisselle aside to make something special like these little jars of Fontainebleau, a mousse made with faisselle, whipped cream and fresh berries. It is really the kind of dessert we enjoy all year long by letting the seasons guide our choice of fruit. Caramelized pear or bananas easily replace fresh berries during the winter months and fresh figs with a touch of honey make a perfect topping in the deep of summer.

We went strawberry picking one day with my parents and even after jamming 16 pounds worth of berries, we still had extras that we used in the Fontainebleau along with some freshly picked raspberries from a friend’s garden. Feel free to use any fruit, berries or addition that strike your fancy. Crumbled shortbread on top is darn good too…!

By the way, these are also fantastic frozen, poured in shot glasses or lollipop molds. Trust me…

Fontainebleau:

Makes 6 to 8

Notes: when our farmers market is open (April through December) I will use raw goat’s or cow’s milk. The rest of the time, I use whole, non homogenized, organic milk. I use liquid vegetarian rennet by habit but tablets work just as well.

Ingredients:

For the (fresh cheese) faisselle:
8 drops liquid rennet
1 quart whole milk ( 4 cups – 946ml)(I like to use raw when I can but that is up to your own preference) (goat or cow)
100 gr Greek yogurt or fromage blanc (a little over 3 oz)

Remaining ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream, whipped to medium stiff peaks
1 to 2 cups fresh berries

Directions:
Place the rennet in a clean glass or ceramic large bowl. In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk and Greek yogurt and bring the mixture to 85F. Remove from the heat and slowly pour over the rennet. Do not stir. Let cool, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let sit undisturbed for 4 hours. Place in the refrigerator and let sit overnight to develop more taste.

The next day, take out about 2 cups of the faisselle and drain in a cheesecloth over a pan or the sink (attached to the faucet works great) until most of the liquid is gone (takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours). When ready to use, slowly fold in the whipped cream and divide in jars by layering the mousse and the berries. You can also, mix the berries as you mix the faisselle and whipped cream. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Fiadone, A Corsican Dessert & A Giveaway

02.11.2010 308 Comments

I realize that I never posted a recap of my BlogHer Food experience and although work being the primary reason, well…I really don’t have another reason. Many bloggers were doing such a good job at putting into words all the feelings experienced during that weekend that I commented on theirs instead of writing mine. I did go to BlogHer Food with some goals such as deliberately meeting some folks to see if my first online impressions matched my second in real life ones but also to let the unexpected guide me to meet new faces or take part in amazing conversations.

That’s how I met Michael (deliciously devilish), and Stephen (super talented photog), told Aida Mollenkamp I digged her shoes of all things, had an Oprah moment in the conference hotel bathroom with Tami and Jeanne and finally crushed hard on this little firecracker of a woman, Georgia Pelligrini. And I also digged her boots. No I don’t have a foot fetish, I just have major crushes on strong women, marrying beauty and fearlessness.

Georgia could be a model. Instead she roams the world to discover "culinary artisans across the world, who are fighting to preserve their food traditions." She compiled 16 of them into a book "Food Heroes" that came out this past September. Listening to Georgia’s enthusiasm about the people in each story was like drinking moonshine. It’s sweet, powerful and it burns your eyes it’s so good. I promised myself to order a copy as soon as I got home. Georgia beat me to it and sent me one with a little note telling me to check the chapters on the two artisans in France.

For the next 30 minutes I was in another world. It’s one thing to tell the story of someone. It’s another thing to tell someone’s story. Georgia knows how to do just that. In no time I was back on the hills of my childhood, running among the olive trees and picking fresh figs to eat on the way back from school. I wanted to read about all the other people in her book and without realizing it, night had fallen while I was deep into the story of Bill Best, the seed librarian in Berea, Kentucky.

There’s something comforting for an historian like me to know that some people make a life out of preserving food traditions. As Ruhlman said during the conference, "food is our humanity" and these people are our humanity keepers. Keeping traditions alive is a testament of our ability to understand passion for quality and care. I see that every Saturday morning when I go to the farmers market in downtown Charleston. We have genuine artisans among them, people with the skills of working their product in an ethical and organic fashion. To pass their passions and a bit of their story on to us everytime we go and take the time to chat for a couple of minutes.

It’s a special treat to see these farmers' eyes light up with every question I ask or when I tell them what I cooked or baked with the produce or meats I got the week before. There is an exchange far beyond that of goods and paper bills. There is humanity. I always feel a little closer to that when I can buy a product in its raw form and turn it into something else, simply by applying the teachings of other artisans I met when I worked in restaurant kitchens. Food artisans and food lovers would be miserable without one another.

I was really excited to get the first delivery of fresh goat’s milk of the morning the other day at the market. I bought more than two people would consume in one week and I know the people at Joseph Fields Farm thought I was a bit strange. I had a plan. I had been craving faisselle, a soft large curd cheese I grew up eating and wanted to make a few batches with goat’s milk for a change. I think if I were to become an artisan, I would raise goats and make cheese. I am serious.

I made so much faisselle that I quickly had to think about ways to use it. I love it barely drained from its whey with a bit of honey and a sprinkle of walnuts in the Winter. In the Summer, I like to mash up so raspberries and sugar along with it. In the Fall? Well…I had never thought about that one. Yet. Until one of our friend mentioned that his work stint was over with here and he was moving back to his native Corsica. I told him to come over for dinner and I would make Fiadone with the fresh faisselle I had just made.

I have spent very little time in Corsica but it was enough to fall in love with its people, its landscape, its energy and its food. One thing I loved almost as immediately as it hit my lips was the Corsican dessert Fiadone. It’s really a cross between a flan and a cheesecake and usually made with brocciu, or brousse, a slightly curdles soft cheese made from cows or goats. All I had to do was make the faisselle, drain it as I would fresh cheese and we were in business.

I know not everyone has access to fresh goats milk to make faisselle for this dessert and the good news is that you can substitute ricotta or well drained yogurt in the same proportion. It is light and refreshing and you can really boost up the flavors anyway you want. We like it with loads of lemon zest but orange or freshly cut pear slices on top would be perfect for the season. Hope you give it a try!

In the spirit of celebrating food crafters and food artisans all over, Georgia is graciously offering two copies of her book to two lucky readers. I dare say lucky because you will want to get on a road trip and visit them all after reading this book! All you have to do to win one of two copies of Food Heroes by Georgia Pellegrini is to leave a comment on this post between today Tuesday November 2nd and Sunday November 7th. One entry per person, no anonymous. That’s it…

I monitor comments manually and I am going out of town for the rest of the week so if you don’t see your comment right away, give me at least 48 hrs before emailing me about it.

Where am I going? I am heading to Indiana to photograph Caitlin’s, from Engineer Baker, wedding. It’s my wedding present to her and J and after our engagement session here this summer, I could not be more excited. I took the week to be with them and give her some bridal shots, document the making of the wedding cakes (yes….she’s doing her own wedding cakes), the rehearsal dinner and of course the ceremony. Those lovebirds are so adorable together…I will try my best to post snapshots!

Fiadone, adapted from "Fromages Frais Maison" by Cathy Ytak

Serves 6-9

1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 cup drained faisselle or ricotta cheese

Line an 8×8-inch sqaure pan with parchment paper, butter lightly and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 375F and position a rack in the middle.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and the eggs until pale. Add the lemon zest, cornstarch and salt and whisk until blended. Add the drained cheese and whisk well.
Pour into your prepared pan, place into the oven and lower the heat to 350F. Bake for 45 minutes. The cake does not rise, it gets dark around the edges and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. Let cool for a few minutes before sharing.

To make faisselle without the traditional molds (what I do at home):

Heat up 4 cups of raw milk or whole milk (cow or goat) and 1 cup of Greek yogurt (full fat) into a large saucepan until the mixture reaches 30C.
In the meantime, place 6 drops of rennet (found at healthfood stores) in the bottom of a large, super clean, bowl.
Once the milk mixture has reached proper temperature, slowly pour it into the bowl with the rennet. Give one turn with a wooden spoon and let sit.
Do not move your bowl or stir again. Leave it alone for a least 6 hours. Very carefully transfer to the fridge. Try not to shake and move the bowl too much to prevent the curds from breaking lose before they are ready.
After another 4-6 hours, the faisselle is ready to be broken into and to be drained to the consistency that you prefer.

Fresh Cheese & Raspberries Semifreddo Popsicles

01.06.2010 106 Comments

Every Monday I look forward to Saturday. The attraction of the weekend is a tad lost on us given our schedules, but from April through December, Saturday mornings are set aside for the farmers market. Rain or shine, we are making our rounds as soon as the market opens up. It gets pretty busy around 9.30am but by then we have already stopped by the patisserie and are on our way home.

I’ve got my market route down pat and beside spreading my budget to as many farmers as I can, after a while you can tell who specializes in what. I know where to get round zucchinis for my petits farcis, peas for my salads, deep purple Spring onions and potatoes, peaches, etc…Last stops are always the same, meat guy, pasta dude, milk and egg ladies. For half of what I would spend at the grocery store, I have everything we need for the week and sometimes more.

Yes, I am obviousy in love with our market but I also relish in that one hour of walking around with B. and just be. To get to know the people who are behind the food that gets on our plate, their passions beside food, their hopes, their families. I know my family’s health is in good hands with them.

One Saturday morning that we were operating on very little sleep, we went our separate ways for a minute and both got milk. I thought for a second about bringing some back but was actually quite happy to have the perfect excuse to make yogurt and fresh cheese. Specifically my dad’s favorite, faisselle.

For me, "faisselle" is synonymous with vacations, my father, and our chalet in the Alps. Best memories a child could have. Lots of cousins have taken their first steps there, got rid of their training wheels, had their first kiss, their first sleepover under the stars, built their first fort. Many rocks and stones thrown in the Durance river behind, many of us took our first gliders trip or learned how to ski there.

About twice a week, we would walk across the air field where the cows were enjoying their pasture at the end of the runway to get milk and faisselle. An epic scene for sure! Once back at the chalet, my dad would boil the milk and spread the resulting top cream on fresh bread. That was a ritual and a treat. The faisselle was neatly parked until dinner time and dessert.

As a kid I was not too fond of it unless there was enough honey mixed with it. As years went on and my palate evolved, I longed for it again and after a few attempts, I finally got successful results in making it at home. With the extra goat milk from the market, I made a big batch of faisselle and turned some into Fresh Cheese and Raspberries Semifreddo Popsicles.

A few raspberries mulled with honey dropped at the bottom of a shot glass and topped with faisselle ice cream and there you have the perfect mix of tangy, creamy and refreshing. They disappeared in no time with our friends this weekend. That little bit of work brought this dessert to another level of good. Trust me. If the task of making faisselle seems too great, replace with equal amount of Greek yogurt, the taste will be very close.

One more thing before I leave you with the recipe:

I am going to be holding a panel on food photography at Evo 10 in Utah June 24th-26th and I was given the opportunity to give away a 2 day pass* to the conference – Yes! TWO DAYS! . It’s pretty darn huge given all the great topics this conference will cover. I am honored to be among such amazing speakers. I can’t wait to be there!

So if you want to attend or know someone who needs, wants, would love to be there: leave a comment on this post between today and Thursday June 3rd at midnight (US eastern time) when a lucky winner will be drawn at random.

* Giveaway includes full access pass to all panels, workshops, activities as seen on the agenda page but does not include travel to and from, food or lodging.

Fresh Cheese and Raspberries Semifreddo Popsicles:

Makes enough for 8-10 small treats

Note: if you wish to venture (and I hope you do) into making your own fresh faisselle for this, you need to start the day before for the best taste. If you want to skip that part, you can use a good tangy Greek yogurt the day you prepare these.

For the (fresh cheese) faisselle:
1 quart whole milk ( 4 cups – 946ml)(I like to use raw when I can but that is up to your own preference) (goat or cow)
1/2 cup heavy cream (118ml)
1/4 cup dry milk powder (60 gr)
8 drops liquid rennet

In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk, heavy cream and milk powder and bring the mixture to 120F over medium heat. Let cool to room temperature and add the rennet. Stir once with a wooden spoon, transfer to a clean bowl (porcelain, glass or plastic), cover with a clean kitchen towel and let sit undisturbed for 2 to 4 hours. Place in the refrigerator and let sit overnight to develop more taste. Drain and used as desired the next day.

For the raspberries:
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons honey

Place the berries and the honey in a non reactive bowl, break slightly with the back of a spoon or a fork and let macerate 10-15 minutes. Divide the mixture in the bottom of your cups, ramekins or glasses. Set aside.

For the ice cream:
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
2 1/2 Tablespoons (50 gr water)
1/4 cup ) honey
200 gr faisselle (drained a bit)(or Greek tangy yogurt)

In the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the whisk attachment or hand held one with balloon whisks, beat the cream until it just holds soft peaks. Chill while you prepare the ice cream (parfait) base. Wash your bowl and whisk attachment.
In a heavy saucepan, stir together the water and honey. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Since you are not making caramel, it is ok to stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil and bring the mixture to 238°F on thermometer (soft-ball stage).
In the clean bowl of your mixer, still using the whisk attachment, beat the yolks slightly to break them up. Increase the speed to medium high and slowly pour the hot syrup over the yolks. Go fast enough to prevent the eggs from scrambling but not so fast that you end up with most of the syrup on the wall of the bowl or the whisk. Continue to whip until the mass is completely cold and airy.
By hand, whisk in the drained faisselle (or yogurt) and about 1/3 of the ice cream base into the chilled whipped cream to loosen it up and make it easier to incorporate homogeneously. Fold in the remaining base.

Assemble:
Divide the ice cream base on top of the raspberries and freeze at least 2-4 hours or until firm.

Redcurrant Sorbet And Faisselle Ice Cream With Fried Strawberries

28.08.2008 76 Comments

Sounds complicated right? Well, really it’s not…trust me. If I have so little time these days that I forget to take my apron off before heading out of the house, then you can trust me when I say that this is nothing short of delicious but not intricate. I like multi layered, multi component desserts because they allow my brain to relax and my stress level to go down since I know I can plan and assemble them over several days.

Did I just say that I went out with my apron on? Yep…I really laughed because I had mentioned to some of you that it might happen and it did. I did walk the dogs and went to the grocery store with my apron still tied around my waist. The funny part is that the neighbors did not act surprised nor did the personnel at the store! That grocery store around the corner from our house sees me just about everyday. The cashiers know my name, my habits, the produce guy even offered me a job on more than one occasion. I had to fess up and explain that no, one person did not eat that much food in a week and that I had a job at hand, but yes I would probably the one customer with the odd requests.

When I arrived at the store with my apron on, no one looked surprised at all, I think they were betting on how long it would take for me to forget something like that! What they really wanted to know is why I had not brought them some goods and samples instead!! I regretfully told them that I had been working on ice creams lately and that it was not an easy item to bring them to try. Nor is it to take pictures of in this darn heat! After 5 minutes I had to stop and admit defeat the day I shot this dessert and that’s why I only have a couple of pictures to show for it. I stood there looking at the plate with an ever growing pool of goodness with mixed feelings of anger and frustration!

I take pictures upstairs in the guest bedroom where the light is better throughout the day on a table set at the foot of the bed. After a minute of wondering if it was worth it to take another one of these ice creams out of the freezer, plate and shoot again, I figured I’d try one more shot of a spoon full of ice cream. I dug in, set in down, looked at it but never took the camera to shoot it. No….instead I took the spoon, the whole plate and sat on the bed and ate it. The whole thing, all by myself, something I rarely do. I instantly felt better! I felt bad for two seconds that I did not shoot more but the guilt melted away as fast as the ice cream in my mouth….

With summer reaching its end I have been loading up on fresh berries as much and as fast as I could lately and I had enough redcurrants to turn them into a refreshing sorbet. I still had a good amount of faisselle left so I turned it into ice cream and spooned both inside rings (I use cut pvc pipe). Feel free to use any other soft and smooth dairy like fromage blanc, petit suisse, goat cheese, cream cheese, etc…The main concern here is to drain it thoroughly before adding it to the ice cream base so I recommend draining it overnight until it becomes fresh cheese or yogurt cheese if you want. Feel free to use any other soft and smooth dairy like fromage blanc, petit suisse (both drained overnight), goat cheese, cream cheese, etc…

I like contrasting textures and flavors a lot in desserts and I also like to contrast temperatures, hence the fried strawberries. I was a little worried that they would lose a lot of their quality in the frying process but they held up nicely. While the outside was hot and crunchy the strawberries just barely got warm and retained their texture. I used rice flour for the batter in order to be light and smooth but all purpose flour works too, I just found it a little overwhelming to fry fresh fruits. You can make the ice creams and pipe them into molds one day and take care of the strawberries just before serving, even if that time comes days later….ice cream will wait…if you can! Don’t throw away your egg whites….you can always try your hand at macarons!
Redcurrant Sorbet and Faisselle Ice Cream with Fried Strawberries.

Redcurrant Sorbet:
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups redcurrants, picked over

Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Make sure the sugar is dissolved and remove from the heat. Let the sugar syrup cool to room temperature.
Puree the redcurrant in a food processor with the cooled syrup. Strain the puree through a sieve into a bowl. Refrigerate the puree until thoroughly chilled and then freee in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Makes about 2 cups.

Faisselle Ice Cream:
2 cups whole milk (50o ml)
1/3 cup heavy cream (100 ml)
3/4 cup sugar (170 gr)
3 egg yolks
1 Tb vanilla bean paste or 1/2 vanilla bean, seeded
3 oz drained faisselle (90gr)

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar. In a saucepan set on medium heat, bring the milk and the cream to boiling point, slowly pour a small amount on the egg yolks to temper. Pour the remaining over the yolks and sugar. Stir well then pour back in the saucepan and cook over medium low heat until the cream thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and whisk in the faisselle until completely incorporated. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until cold. Process in an ice cream maker according to your machine’s manufacturer’s instructions.

Once both ice creams are ready, pipe the faisselle into 4 rings lined with parchment paper (makes is easier to unmold) and freeze again until set. Proceed the same way with the redcurrant sorbet. Cover the tops with plastic wrap. Unmold just before serving and plate with the fried strawberries.

Fried Strawberries:
12 small strawberries, hulled and wiped clean with a paper towel
1 1/4 cups rice flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup water
vegetable oil for frying
powdered sugar for dusting

Heat the oil to 350F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar,baking powder and lemon zest. Slowly add the water until the batter is smooth and without lumps. Dip the strawberries into the batter and then drop them into the oil until they are golden brown. Drain on paper towels and dust with powdered sugar. Serve hot or warm with the ice creams.

The Faisselle Experiments – Part Two…And Three

25.08.2008 59 Comments

Allright, so let’s start this off the right way before I lose my mind. We all gathered today and read all your suggestions for a name for the dessert in the previous post and it was not easy making a decision…ya’ll are good!! But….the overall favorite was "Transatlantic" from Miss Lillas who said "Salted butter caramel from Normandy, American chocolate brownie. An elegant bringing together our 2 continents"….So Miss, please send me your mailing address so I can send this wonderful book your way! Congratulations!

A couple of weeks ago I took a long trip down memory and you were so kind to indulge me and read about my attempt to recreate a fresh cheese that my dad loves. The outcome was not "faisselle" like I remembered but something closer to fresh ricotta. The desire to recreate this unique product came from a conversation I was having with expat friend Aran from Cannelle Et Vanille after our first foray into re-creating desserts from our childhood and cultural heritage. She had a hankering for mamia and so did B. and I after we had a most delicious one on a trip back home at L’Ami Jean, a Basque restaurant in Paris. We started talking about making it right before she left on vacation so in the meantime that got me thinking about trying my hand at "faisselle" and when she came back we both agreed that it would be more logical and more fun to give you two experiments instead of one. Fast forward to last week, when my favorite Basque experimented with mamia and I with faisselle.

Much like her first batch of mamia, my first batch of faisselle for this post did not turn out as I hope for. After the batch I made last month, I decided to take away the added yogurt and to get straight for heating the milk, adding the rennet and letting it sit, until nice floppy large chunks of curd form and separate from the whey. Well, I got zippo zippeedee zip….I got liquid and tiny curds which once drained gave me about 1 cup of ricotta. For one gallon of milk you can expect that it did not cut it. I did not use raw milk this time and I don’t think it was the local homogenized whole milk I used…nope…just could not put my finger on it. In one email she mentioned she was trying another batch of mamia adding cream and dry milk and I went back to the drawing board with mine. Then I had the "genius"(self sarcasm) idea to call my dad and have him read the ingredients on a jar of store bought faisselle…Guess what?….Yep, added cream and dry milk, a little ratio working and I was back in !

I heated the milk again, added the dry milk, cream and rennet. Let it sit for a couple of hour and the result was exactly what it was supposed to be: large floppy and soft curds slowly separating from the whey. The first spoonful made me think I was definitely on the right track but it needed to develop a little character and an overnight stay in the fridge fixed that. Traditionally, faisselles are drained in molds set in larger containers so that the whey pooling at the bottom keep the cheese moist. I just drained the cheese with a large slotted spoon and scooped the cheese in containers. It did continue to render a lot of whey but I was too happy to have succeeded to be bothered!! The texture is soft but firm enough to separate into curds as you dig your spoon in it and the flavor is really not comparable to any dairy found here, neither sour nor tart.

My dad likes his with chopped fresh chives and fresh cracked pepper, which I have come to like, but I also love it on the sweet side. I served some with some lemon thyme lemon curd and some with chopped pistachios, redcurrants and maple syrup. Deborah from Bonbon Oiseau sent me a bottle of a local Vermont maple syrup producer and it arrived the day I was finishing the faisselle. My bottle of "maple crack" as she refers to it could not have come at a better time! Thank you! I played around with the remaining faisselle and used in some other pastry applications. It’s been a busy couple of weeks so I have not come around to sift through those pictures or even put them in a proper post yet…soon though.

Faisselle:

1 quart whole milk ( 4 cups – 946ml)
1/2 cup heavy cream (118ml)
1/4 cup dry milk powder (60 gr)
8 drops liquid rennet

Lemon Thyme Lemon Curd:

3 large eggs
1/3 cup (80 ml) lemon juice
1 Tb freshly grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon thyme
1/4 cup (60gr) granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (55 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces

In a bowl placed over a pan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon thyme, lmeon zest and lemon juice until blended. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 160F. Remove from the heat and strain the mixture over a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and whisk into the mixture until the butter has melted. Cover with some plastic wrap directly in contact with the curd to prevent a skin from forming. You can refrigerate it for up to a week. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
Note: I used liquid vegetarian rennet that I found at the health food store near me, but you can also find it here.