"...could you use a litre of buttermilk?..."
I hadn't planned on cooking anything special this week, but when the offer came to use up some fabulous Victorian produce the temptation was too much to resist.
For some time I've been meaning to make homemade ricotta, and with a full litre of buttermilk at hand it seemed this was the perfect opportunity to finally give it a go. With just two ingredients it couldn't be simpler, and after a few false starts as I got used to the right curdling point, while there's still plenty of room for improvement what resulted from my first attempt wasn't too shabby.
However, I needed something on which to enjoy my new chef d'oevure (*cough*) and so I decided to try my hand at soda bread with this six-seeded version, which sounded like it would do just the trick.
Reminiscent of a giant scone, while it's not quite your traditional bread texturally the flavours in this loaf are fantastic, and the fact that you can have everything thrown together, baked and slathered with your favourite topping within the hour is also pretty appealing.
new season Fuerte
homemade ricotta & honey
But that wasn't quite it for the buttermilk, and with a little bit still to go there was just enough room for this seasonal salad of farro, fennel and asparagus, all held together by a delightfully fresh and tangy buttermilk dressing.
Particularly nice beside salmon this was a lovely new addition to the salad line-up, and a pleasing deviation from the pancakes and muffins typically reserved for buttermilk uses.
Superb.