Marinated homemade cheese is a delicious appetizer for a festive dinner. There are many options for making cheese, but the main ingredients are always the same. The recipes for this appetizer came from Mediterranean cuisine.
What is an appetizer good for?
Pickled cheese can be used as a complement to light alcohol, such as wine. Another appetizer is perfect for sharing with salads. But you can serve it as a separate dish, for example, in the form of canapes.
Pickled cheese is also added to dishes instead of regular cheese to spice it up. And many housewives use it instead of the usual when cooking pizza.
What cheese is used to make snacks?
To prepare snacks, you can use both soft and hard cheese. Of the soft, the following are most preferred:
- Adyghe;
- tofu
- feta cheese
- panir;
- feta.
The last one makes an excellent pickled feta cheese.
Their hard cheeses can be used as follows:
- Parmesan;
- Cheddar;
- Russian;
- edam;
- gouda;
- beaufort.
What is the difference between hard and soft cheese and which is better to pickle?
The first and most important difference between the two varieties from each other is the texture. Hard cheeses are quite dense and resilient, soft cheeses are slightly watery and resemble cottage cheese. It is not for nothing that in many European languages cottage cheese and cheese are indicated in one word.
Soft cheeses are more high-calorie and contain more milk fat than hard ones. But soft ones also have more fluid.
As for the choice of cheese, it is worth relying only on personal preferences.
What spices and herbs can I use?
Pickled cheese has a spicy taste and pleasant aroma. This effect is achieved through the use of a variety of herbs and spices. For the preparation of pickled cheese, herbs such as:
- oregano or oregano;
- basil (both fresh and dried);
- rosemary;
- dill (both fresh and dried);
- parsley;
- thyme or thyme;
- sage;
- marjoram;
- tarragon or tarragon.
Spices give pickled cheese not only taste and pungency, but also a beautiful color. For example, turmeric has a bright orange color, therefore, cheese made using turmeric becomes brighter. In addition to turmeric, it is used:
- paprika;
- allspice ;
- chilli;
- caraway;
- ajgon (ajvayn or ayovan);
- cumin.
All housewives know that pickling always involves the addition of vinegar. But not all recipes use it. This feature is due to the fact that instead of vinegar, you can add lemon juice.
Hard cheese
To make pickled cheese in oil you will need:
- About four hundred grams of any hard cheese.
- About two hundred grams of vegetable oil.
- Six cloves of garlic.
- Spices (allspice, rosemary - a pinch of each).
- A small slice of hot pepper.
The cooking instruction is as follows:
- Cheese is cut into large cubes.
- Garlic is peeled, washed and cut into large flat pieces.
- Hot peppers are also peeled, washed and cut into thin strips.
- It is recommended to grind spices in any way. You can crush in a mortar.
- Spread all the ingredients in one container and mix thoroughly.
- Transfer cheese to a liter glass jar.
- Pour it with vegetable oil - it should completely cover the cheese.
- The jar is sealed and refrigerated for a day.
After 24 hours, the snack will be ready to eat.
Hard pickled cheese: recipe
Ingredients:
- about three hundred grams of hard cheese;
- two hundred and fifty grams of olive oil;
- thirty grams of liquid honey (candied can be melted);
- 1 tablespoon of dried basil and sweet paprika;
- one teaspoon of dried dill and a mixture of ground peppers;
- half a lemon;
- three cloves of garlic;
- a pinch of salt if the cheese is unsalted.
Cooking Instructions:
- The cheese is cut into large cubes and put in a glass jar.
- Garlic is peeled, washed and fried in a pan in ½ tablespoon of olive oil.
- Lemon juice is squeezed into a separate container. Olive oil, spices, salt (if necessary), honey and roasted garlic are added to it.
- Sliced cheese is poured with marinade, the jar is hermetically sealed and left in the refrigerator for two days.
Pickled Soft Cheese Recipe
Ingredients needed for cooking:
- about 300 grams of Adyghe, tofu or any other soft cheese;
- 200 ml of olive oil;
- several olives (five to six pieces);
- two to three cloves of garlic;
- peppercorns - ten to twelve peas;
- a small bunch of fresh basil;
- on a branch of several Provencal herbs (oregano, rosemary, marjoram, sage and others);
- one chili pepper;
- salt to taste.
Cooking Instructions:
- Oil is poured into the pan, and peeled and finely chopped garlic and pepper are added to it. The mixture is heated over low heat, but not brought to a boil. You can add salt to taste. Salt is recommended to be added if the cheese itself is unsalted.
- In a jar of cheese put pepper (you can not cut it) and herbs.
- The cheese is cut into cubes and stacked in a glass jar in layers. The first layer is cheese, the second is finely chopped basil and olives. The layers are repeated until the jar is full.
- Pour everything with heated olive oil. Close the jar tightly and leave for several hours at room temperature to cool the oil.
- After cooling, the jar is left in the refrigerator for 24 hours. After this time, the snack is ready to eat.
The second recipe for pickled soft cheese
For cooking, you need to take:
- about one hundred grams of soft cheese (Adyghe, feta, panir and so on);
- a third of a teaspoon of paprika, sumac or turmeric;
- half tsp caraway or cumin;
- half a teaspoon of dried basil;
- a third of a teaspoon of tarragon, rosemary or thyme;
- half tsp oregano;
- some salt and hot pepper;
- about one teaspoon of vinegar, or instead you can use lemon juice - 30-45 ml;
- 220-250 ml of any vegetable oil.
Cooking:
- The cheese is carefully cut into cubes and spread in a container, for example in a glass jar.
- In a separate container, vinegar (lemon juice) is mixed with vegetable oil.
- Spiced herbs and spices are added to the cheese, mixed thoroughly.
- Pour marinade.
- Leave in the refrigerator for two to three days. After this time, the cheese is ready to eat.
The third recipe for pickled soft cheese
For cooking, you must use:
- about two hundred grams of soft cheese;
- sixty milliliters of lemon juice;
- one clove of garlic;
- one pinch of marjoram, rosemary and oregano;
- one pinch of sweet paprika black and hot ground pepper;
- thirty grams of honey;
- two hundred grams of olive oil.
Cooking:
- Cut the cheese into identical slices and put in a glass jar.
- In a separate container, mix olive oil with spices, lemon juice and honey. Add finely chopped garlic to the mixture.
- The marinade must be heated to a temperature of 50 ° C. This can be done on low heat or in the microwave.
- Cheese should be filled with heated marinade, tightly closed and cooled at room temperature. After cooling, the snack should be left in the refrigerator for two days. After this time, the pickled cheese is ready.
Features
When pickling soft cheeses, it is important to use acidic ingredients: vinegar (regular or apple) or lemon juice. This is necessary because soft cheeses have a light, “curd” texture, and acid gives some elasticity to the product. Due to this, after pickling the product does not crumble.
When preparing pickled cheese, you need to be able to choose the right combination of herbs. The combination of basil and thyme (thyme) gives the dish spiciness and piquancy, the combination of tarragon (tarragon) with basil - a pleasant spicy aroma, and rosemary with basil - a noble pepper aroma. Basil is present in almost every pickled cheese recipe. This is due to the special aromatic components that are in the plant. Basil gives the dish a light, spicy aroma and some astringency in taste.
Sage is used for pickling, because it has a bright and pleasant aroma, and also gives piquancy to the cheese. For pickling, the most commonly used is the nutmeg species of the plant. But do not add a lot of sage to the dish, because the bright aroma of the herb can interrupt and drown out the smells of other seasonings and spices.
An important ingredient in making snacks is salt. She can be "saved and killed." Salt is recommended to be added only when pickling fresh-tasting cheeses. It must be completely eliminated, for example, in the preparation of such species as feta cheese or parmesan. They have a salty taste, which is better not to strengthen. On the contrary, it is recommended to add a little salt when cooking Adyghe cheese.
Many cooks prefer, among other ingredients that were described in recipes earlier, to add sun-dried tomatoes. They will add a touch of acidity to the dish and, as a result, will make the taste of the product unique and stand out from the others.
When pickling, it is important to constantly mix the ingredients, that is, periodically it is necessary to remove the jar from the refrigerator and shake it well. This will help speed up the process, as well as make it even so that all pieces of cheese are marinated equally.
This is an unusual dish with a piquant taste. When cooking, it is not necessary to strictly adhere to the recipe, you can add other ingredients or change the look: why not cook pickled soy cheese?
Yes, you can experiment not only with oil or salt, vinegar or lemon juice. You can change the types of cheeses and use not only those that are given in the article, but also others. Who knows, perhaps it will be possible to open some new recipe for making cheese in marinade, which many will like and take pride of place on the table? After all, it is in experiments that real culinary masterpieces are born.