Soft fresh cheese

Ingredients:

• 1L Full fat milk (I like to use goat)

• 250ml buttermilk/1-2 tablespoons of vinegar or rennet

• Salt

Method:
Heat the milk until almost boiling.

Take off the heat, add the buttermilk, vinegar or rennet and stir thoroughly.

Leave for about 15 minutes. The milk will curdle and the whey and curds will separate.

Pour the mixture through a sieve or colander, lined with a double layer of cheesecloth.

Rinse with cold water and sprinkle a little salt over the cheese. Leave to drain for about 2 hours.

This will keep, if chilled, for up to a week, but the flavour will mature.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon 

Butter

Ingredients:

• Double cream (at room temperature)

Method:

Put the cream into a bowl.

Mix and stir vigorously with a whisk, or your hand for 5 – 10 minutes, the cream will thicken, then suddenly start to slosh around as the buttermilk separates from the butter.

Drain the buttermilk, and stir again for another minute to remove the last of the buttermilk, before draining one last time.

Rinse the butter with cold water. Optionally you can now season with salt or try adding herbs or garlic to the butter.

The buttermilk can be used for making cheese, cakes or biscuits.

Taken from my book ‘Eat like a Viking!’ Available now on Amazon