Food Gallery: Homemade

homemade butter

Homemade or storebought? When you have to decide whether to grab a product from a shelf at a supermarket or prepare everything from scratch, which criteria do you use? Time, money, taste, healthy vs. unhealthy? Or something else?

Homemade Ketchup

Over the past years I've started making more and more things by myself. Sometimes it's out of pure curiosity. Other times it's for the pleasure of making something at home. And still, most of the times it's because I don't trust anyone anymore. Just grab a bag of cookies for example and check the ingredients list °__° Is it really necessary to put all that stuff inside a simple, little cookie, when I can make delicious cookies with just a few basic ones: eggs, butter, sugar.

homemade Ricotta and Spinach Tortelloni

If you've never made pasta at home, you have no idea how much fun it can be. Before I made the tortelloni for the first time I thought it was difficult and complicated. I was so wrong. And how delicious they were, with that thin sfoglia and rich ricotta and spinach filling, altoghether melting in your mouth. Who would want to buy them again?

homemade Strawberry Jam

Jams - I often bought them, because certainly if you don't have your own fruit growing around the house then certainly it's hard to say it is convenient moneywise. But the control you have over the ingredients, the quantity of sugar and the whole process of making it, is priceless. Then you get a wonderfully tasting jam and can enjoy it guilt-free.

Homemade Vanilla Extract

It's been a while now that I'm using only homemade vanilla extract, unless the recipe calls for the vanilla bean. Some people will argue it is not convenient, but I say "make it, and you'll change your mind". No comparison needed.

Homemade Spinach Bread

And my favourite topic - bread. I was a totally hopless bread baker until I met that brilliant recipe for No knead bread. Ever since then, I have no fear of bread. Even if it dresses alien colours (yes, that's what my daughters called my latest creation, Alien bread  ^__^ )

Homemade "Nutella"

I know, everybody loves it, noone can resist it, and we all know it's delicious but not a guilt-free treat. Making it at home may improve that guilt aspect at least a little bit. I've tried David Labovitz's recipe with a few changes seeing that I can't get hold of powdered milk.

Homemade condensed milk (sweetened and unsweetened)

I don't have problem with buying condensed milk, but I can find only the sweetened one and it's not so cheap.
So, out of pure curiosity, since I really wanted to make an ice cream using unsweetened condensed milk (evaporated milk) I decided I could make it by myself. And it really was easy. Just put milk (any fat content you prefer, mine was 1,6 %) in a pot, bring to a boil and cook on low heat until it is reduced to 30-40 % of the initial quantity (the glass on the right). It is just slightly denser than plain milk and it changes colour during this process, you can compare it to the colour of the plain milk in the glass behind. And if you want the sweetened condensed milk, add sugar when it has reduced by half and cook a little bit more until it gets thicker (the little pitcher on the left).

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

You've followed me on my ice cream adventure ever since I got my ice cream maker last Christmas. My local ice cream shop has certainly forgotten my face since I tried making it on my own. Rich or simple, creamy, fruity, chocolate or caramel, I love them all. But vanilla, it's the top class...

Homemade Lemon and Orange Curd

It's been a long time since I first tried Lemon Curd. I was a first year student fascinated by everything English/British (being a student of English language and literature). And in that period I discovered a small grocery store that carried some english stuff, like lemon curd for example. Have to admit though, that only many years later I decided to make it on my own. I don't even remember anymore what the storebought stuff tasted like, but I certainly know I won't need it again, since making it at home is so easy.

Homemade butter and buttermilk

Shall we talk about butter now? Have you ever tried making it at home? Did you know how easy it is? You may have even made it as a result of a kitchen disaster while trying to whip some cream.

Step 1: put 500 ml of cold heavy cream into a mixing bowl (or the bowl of the stand mixer) and whip for about 15 minutes or until the solid part (the butter) has separated from the liquid part (the buttermilk).
Step 2: Place a piece of cheesecloth or similar thin cloth over a strainer and pour the butter in. Close the cloth and squeeze out as much water as you can.
Step 3: Shape the butter as you like and store in the fridge for a few days or freeze it. Don't throw the white liquid that remained. It's the natural buttermilk you can use for baking, for example. It is different from the storebought, cultered buttermilk, because it is not fermented so it's actually sweet and not as dense as the cultured one. You may season the butter you have just made with salt, finely chopped garlic, herbs, citrus zests etc. or leave it plain as it is.
You'll get 250 ml of buttermilk and about 180 g of butter.


Burro fatto in casa e il latticello


1. Mettete 500 ml di panna fredda in una ciotola o nella planetaria e montatela finché non si separi la parte solida (il burro) dalla parte liquida (il latticello), circa 15 minuti.
2. Mettete un pezzo di garza o altra stoffa pulita sopra un colino e versatevi dentro il burro raccogliendo il latticello. Spremete/pressate bene il burro per far uscire il latticello rimanente. 
3. Date al burro la forma desiderata  e riponetelo in frigorifero per qualche ora prima di consumarlo. Si conserva in frigo per qualche giorno e può anche essere congelato. 
Il burro fatto in casa è particolarmente adatto a essere aromatizzato con spezie, erbe, ecc. (per esempio le scorze di agrumi, con aglio ed erbe aromatiche come prezzemolo, salvia, basilico).
Il latticello ottenuto così è diverso da quello che comprate al supermercato, perché non è fermentato ed è quindi più liquido e dolce (non acidulo). Potete berlo o usarlo per dolci, torte e vari altri impasti lievitati.
Con 500 ml di panna si ottiene 250 ml di latticello e circa 180 g di burro.


Domaći maslac i mlaćenica


1. korak: Mutite 500 ml hladnog slatkog vrhnja (svježeg slatkog vrhnja za šlag, ne ona biljna vrhnja) dok se prvo ne pretvori u jako čvrsto umućen šlag, a zatim se razdvoji čvrsta masa (maslac) od tekuće (mlaćenica). Trebat će oko 15 minuta (najbolje je to prepustiti stolnom mikserom). 
2. korak: Procijedite tako dobiveni maslac kroz cjedilo preko kojeg ste stavili komad gaze ili tankog platna. Dobro stisnite maslac kroz platno da se ocijedi višak mlaćenice.
3. korak: Maslac oblikujte po želji, zamotajte u komad masnog papira i čuvajte ga par dana u hladnjaku ili ga zamrznite.
Ovaj domaći maslac naročito je pogodan za aromatizirati ga po želji s naribanim koricama agruma, začinima i začinskim biljem poput peršina, kadulje, bosiljka.
Mlaćenica dobivena na ovaj način drugačija je od one kupovne jer nije fermentirana pa je slatka i manje gusta.
Od ove količine vrhnja na kraju dobijete 250 ml mlaćenice i oko 180 g maslaca.





If you'd like to share your favourite homemade recipes for things we all usually buy in a store, just  add a link here below (name of the recipe and URL that takes to it, not the URL of your blog), I'll be glad to check it out.

Mi farebbe piacere vedere anche le vostre ricette preferite "fatte in casa", quindi, se volete, aggiungete i link ai vostri blog (il nome della ricetta e l'URL della ricetta) qui sotto, e vi verro a trovare.

Ako želite dodati link na svoj blog za svoje recepte iz "domaće proizvodnje" dodajte ga u formular ovdje ispod (ime recepta i URL do njega, ne URL vašeg bloga), sa zadovoljstvom ću ga pogledati.