Lex Culinaria

Zucchini soup with sauteed leeks, duck confit and brouillade of duck egg

A few weeks ago, my friend Joan took me, as a birthday treat, to Indulgence Edmonton, a fantastic local food event meant to showcase local food producers and local chefs. For a cheap-as-chips $45, you get to sample small plates of all sorts of really great locally grown and locally prepared foods. You know the phrase, "we drank our faces off". Well, we didn't exactly drink our faces off. We ate our faces off.

One of the things that I really enjoyed was Patrick Turcot's Zucchini Soup. Luckily, Mr. Turcot, the executive chef at the Fairmont Hotel MacDonald, had a stash of printed recipes on hand and kindly obliged me by permitting me to reprint it on my web site.

This dish would make a stunning first course or lunch dish. The soup would also be great on its own. It's velvety smooth and thick enough to hold the scrambled duck eggs and confit on its surface, so quite substantial. The zucchini taste is lovely and mild. Also, it's not as difficult as it looks. The soup is a breeze to make and anyone can scramble an egg (use good free-range hens eggs if you can't find duck eggs) and fry some leeks. The only tricky part is the confit, but since I recently provided a recipe for "Cheater's Confit" you don't really have an excuse, do you?

I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit by using the bones and skin from the duck confit to make a small amount of duck broth, which I used to replace about half the chicken stock.

Zucchini Soup with sauteed leeks, duck confit and brouillade of duck egg
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 small potato, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large zucchini
• 500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock
• 125 ml (½ cup) white wine
• ½ cup duck confit
• 3 duck eggs
• ½ cup minced leek
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Method
Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, salt, and pepper and saute for 2 minutes, or until the onions are tender and lightly caramelized. While the onions are cooking, peel and slice the zucchini. Deglaze the onion mixture with the wine and then add the zucchini, potato and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender. Puree in batches in a food processor or blender until smooth. Return to the saucepan and simmer until the soup is thick and hot.

For the garnish, saute the leek in olive oil until tender then mix the leeks with the duck confit. Set the confit and leek mixture aside. Beat the duck eggs with a fork and cook to a soft scramble stage. Adjust the salt and pepper if needed and serve the soup hot with a garnish of duck confit and scrambled egg.

Recipe courtesy of Patrick Turcot Executive Chef, Fairmont Hotel Macdonald

Parmesan mousse with poppyseed and asiago crackers

These crackers weren't in the original plan. I'm glad I made them though. You see, The Parmesan mousse was something I'd made for first course of the disaster dinner. On the night of the disaster, I served it on top of a layer of chargrilled asparagus. I just don't think it stood up to the asparagus the way I'd intended though. It was too mild. Never one to want to walk away from something that I know could be good if given the proper opportunity, I decided to try a different partner for the mousse, and was I ever glad I did. I must give credit where credit is due though, and point out that it was Cakes' idea for me to make crackers.

I made some cookies a fair while back that included cornmeal in the batter. It gave them a really nice, slightly meatier, texture, so that's where I started out with my crackers. I really just chucked a bunch of stuff in a bowl, based on what I had in the cupboard, and what came out was fantastic. These little crackers are crispy and flavourful and a tiny bit cheesy without being too heavy on the cheese or the fat - one of the problems with a number of the cracker recipes I perused for inspiration. All of them seemed so heavily buttery and cheesy that I couldn't in good conscience pair them with what is already a fairly rich partner.

Try this combo for an appetizer for your next party. I guarantee they'll disappear. The crackers stay pretty crispy as long as you keep them well sealed, so make some extra for snacks.

Parmesan Mousse

• 250ml cream
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed with the back of a flat knife
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 packet (8 grams) of gelatin dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1 cup grated good quality Parmesan
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 cup grated other cheese such as Gruyere, cheddar or provolone (I used Gruyere)
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped herbs - I used chives and parsley - I reckon basil would also be nice.
• 250ml cream

Simmer the garlic in the first quantity of cream at medium-low heat in a small saucepan for 10 minutes. Place yolks in a small bowl. Whisk 1/3 cup of the warm cream into the yolks. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan of cream, whisking continuously. Continue to heat the cream over medium heat, whisking, until thickened. Stir in the softened gelatin and continue stirring until dissolved. Add cheese and salt and pepper. Stir until cheese is fully incorporated. Remove pan from heat and set in a cool, not cold, water bath while you whip the second portion of cream to stiff peaks. Check that the custard is cool, but not started to set up.  Fold the whipped cream and custard together. Adjust salt and pepper if necessary. Add the chopped herbs. Divide into individual serving dished, or one big dish if you are planning on spooning servings out later. Chill for a minimum of 3 hours, preferably overnight. You could also do this in dariole molds and turn them out onto individual serving plates.

Poppy seed and Asiago Crackers

• 1/4 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup cake and pastry flour
• 1/4 cup white cornmeal or quick grits
• 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup finely grated asiago cheese
• 4 Tablespoons yogurt

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Rub the butter through the way you would for making biscuits. Stir in the cheese and then mix the yogurt through with a wooden spoon or using a stand mixer until you have a cohesive but slightly sticky ball of heavy medium-soft dough.

Spread some flour on a clean surface and use your hands to pat the ball down into a flat disk. Flour the top of the disc and roll the dough into a sheet roughly 1.5 millimetres thick. Use a metal ruler and a sharp knife to slice the dough into rectangles approximately 2 by 4 centimetres. The dough should make roughly 75 of these little rectangles. Transfer them to a non-stick baking sheet, leaving 1 centimetre between their edges. Bake at 400F for around 12 minutes, or until you see them start to brown lightly around the edges. Transfer them to a wire rack to cook completely.

An unusual panacotta

I love confounding expectations in the kitchen: mushroom bread pudding, yogurt drained and used like cream cheese, salted caramels.... are all a little different, and they work so very well.

As does this great appetizer panacotta. It's gralicky and very parmesan-y. It's super quick to make and goes very well with all sorts of heavy crusty bread. I bet it would even do well with a nice salad and some grainy bread for a light and unusual lunch. I adore it, and we have made this to the raves of our dinner guests quite a few times. It's also one of my most popular recipes with readers. If you haven't already, give it a go.

The original post and recipe is here.

Right about now, I'm shopping at the Prahran Market!

Tom Jued: Thai Clear Soup With Minced Pork

This really easy and light-tasting soup is the first Thai dish I learnt to make on my first trip to Thailand in August 2000. It's also probably the only Thai soup that isn't hot and spicy. Thanks to the garlic, coriander and beansprouts, it really highlights the fresh and light taste that characterizes Thai food, without the usual heat. If you can bear to eat a Thai meal without adding a few peppers, be my guest!

I usually make a large quantity of the meatballs and freeze them raw in a plastic baggie. Having them on hand that way make this soup even easier: 5 minutes from start to finish! It's make a great first course to a heavier meal because it's so light ans refreshing.

The recipe below is adapted from the recipe given to me at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School by Sompon Nabnian, the proprietor of the school.

If you can't find coriander root, you can use the stems, finely chopped, but increase the amount to 4 tablespoons. Glass noodles are also called bean thread. You should be able to find them in any Chinese grocery store. You will need to soak them for a few minutes in hot tap water and then use kitchen scissors to cut them into smaller pieces. After that, drain them and they are ready to use in your soup recipe.

Serves 6

• 300 grams minced pork (about 1 + 3/4 cups)
• 3 tablespoons coriander root, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cups chicken stock or water
• 3 cups Chinese cabbage
• 1 cup soft tofu, cut into small pieces
• 1 + 1/2 cups soaked glass noodles (about 150 grams dry)
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves

Mix the pork, coriander root or stem and garlic together with your hands until very well Separate the mixture into tiny meatballs, about the size of a small grape - you should be able to make approximately 48. Set aside.

Put the stock into a pan and bring to the boil.  Add the meat balls and cook for 2 minutes.  Turn down the heat to medium-low, then add the shredded Chinese cabbage and tofu and simmer gently for another two minutes.  Add the soaked glass noodles followed by the light soy sauce and fish sauce.  Ladle into 6 bowls and garnish each with coriander leaves and spring onions.

Capsicum and wild rice soup

I know it looks like carrot soup, but trust me, it isn't. I made it with organic orange peppers (capsicum). I have a standard recipe I use for creamy vegetable soups. I first made it in tenth grade (1987 for you math buffs out there!) and I love this recipe, although the circumstances under which I discovered it were, to my young mind, profoundly tragic. In fact, I thought it was the end of the world. I was doomed to a life of misery.

I'd invited two of my closest girlfriends over for a sleepover on a Saturday night and I wanted to make a special supper for them. Mum sat me down with a bunch of cookbooks and magazines to pore through, but the recipes I wanted to use came out of an advertisement for the Canadian Butter Association in Reader's Digest. Each of the recipes: Golden carrot soup, pan fried white fish and caramelised oranges with ice cream, featured, in a central role...you guessed it, butter. I seem to recall my mother scanning over the recipes and proclaiming that, all together they called for a pound of butter. She asked whether I really wanted to make them and I said yes. So I did. My 14 year-old self couldn't have cared less about eating a pound of butter.

I cooked and cooked and chopped and stirred all day Saturday. Ceri and Jennifer were supposed to come over at six pm. At six thirty there were not still there. Nor were they at seven. I finally called Ceri's house. They weren't there. I called Jennifer's house. Jennifer came to the phone and told me in the nasty, cruel manner employed only by 14 year-old girls and certain bitter celebrities, that they had decided that three was too many people to be friends and that they were not interested in being mine any more and so would not be coming over. My little heart was crushed. I cried for days.

The soup was damn good though. Still is.

Although the original recipe called for carrots, I make it with far less butter these days. I may have much more stable 30-year old friends now, but alas, less of a 14-year old's metabolism. I use the same basic recipe for any vegetable cream soup - asparagus, capsicum (bell pepper), fresh garden peas, mushroom, zucchini - the list could go on interminably. I vary the seasonings and spices as well: dried cumin and fresh corriander with the carrot, dill and a bit of fetta with the capsicum... I also occasionally throw in some extra wild rice (as here), or barley or something after the pureeing stage if I want something a little more filling.

Creamy capsicum and wild rice soup

1 tablespoon butter

• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 750 ml chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 4-5 cups chopped capsicum
• 1/3 cup uncooked white rice
• salt, pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup cooked wild rice (optional)

Melt butter in a large (about 4-5 litres) heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook and stir onions and garlic in melted butter until soft and slightly browned. add the remaining ingredients, excpet the fresh parsley and wild rice. Bring to a biol, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender. Use an immersion blender to puree the contents of the pot. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this in a regular blender, but be sure to do it in very small batches and remeber to keep your hand very firmly on the lid. If you fill the blender more than 1/4 full, or forget to press down on the lid, the contents will probably blow the lid off and you will end up with scorching hot pureed vegetable all over yourself and your ceiling.

Once the soup is pureed, add the parsley and briefly pulse the blender (whichever kind you happen to be using) to cop the parsley more finely into the soup, but no not allow it to puree, or it will make your soup an unappetizing muddy green colour. Add the cooked wild rice. Serve with a dollp of cream, sour cream, buttermilk or creme fraiche...or just by itself.

IMBB 16: Upside down caviar

Thanks to Viv at Seattle Bon Vivant for naming eggs as the guest of honour for the June edition of IMBB.

I was so pleased to finally have a chance to flip through the copy of Georgeanne Brennan's Holiday Eggs which I bought second-hand for $12 a couple years ago. At the time my husband said, "A whole book about eggs? Who needs a whole book about eggs?" I bought it entirely for the photos (it is a gorgeous book) and have paged through it from time to time, but have never specifically made anything out of it before.

My husband, Doubting Thomas that he was at the time of purchase, was cheering for the oeufs a la niege - poached sweet meringues floating, well, float-ily, on top of a pool of pale yellow creme anglaise and topped with fresh berries. He still might get that sometime soon, just not in time for IMBB.

Alas, the oeufs a la niege were not to be...as I was instantly smitten when I saw the recipe for quails eggs and caviar.

I love caviar (which are eggs too, now that I think about it) but the traditional sour cream/onion/toast/caviar combination topped with minced hard-cooked eggs seems so trite and boring. But if you turn it upside down, by using the caviar as a topping for the eggs...well now we're talking!

Also, I especially love that quail eggs look so cute. I have always had a soft spot for miniature anythings. A childhood trait I must have forgotten to outgrow. I came to love quail eggs when I was living in Melbourne and ever since then, one of my favourite party snacks has been hard cooked quails' eggs rolled in a mixture of sea salt and toasted ground cumin. Simple, but amazingly good.

These little caviar-topped beauties are just as simple and ever more cute than the cumin rolled ones. It's a shame that they disappear so quickly.

The secret to this, and any other hard cooked egg recipe, is to cook the eggs exactly long enough to avoid both the uncooked squishy yolk (blech) and the overcooked and highly unappealing grey yolk (double blech). Fortunately, there is a foolproof method for hard cooking both chicken and quail eggs. The method for quails eggs is contained in the recipe below. For perfect hard cooked chicken eggs, place the eggs in a pot of cool salted water, bring it to a boil over high heat, immediately remove the boiling pot from the heat and cover it. After 10 minutes, pour off the hot water and immerse the eggs in cold water. Does everybody already know this? I only learnt this last year (when I was in a hard cooked egg phase) and was shocked to find that I had been suffering through years of grey yolks for no good reason at all. I strongly suspect that I am the last person on the planet to have discovered this method.

When choosing your quails eggs remember that, at the best of times they are difficult to peel as they are quite delicate. Older eggs will peel better than fresh ones, so check the best before date on the cartons at the store and choose less fresh ones, or buy the eggs at least a week ahead and le t them sit in the refrigerator to age.

Quails eggs and caviar

• 12 quails eggs
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup finely minced yellow onion
• 1 small jar black lump fish caviar

Place eggs in pot of cool salted water and bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Allow the eggs to boil for exactly one minute, before removing the pot from the heat, pouring out the hot water and immersing the eggs in cold water. Leave the eggs in the cold water until you are ready to peel them. You can boil the eggs up to a day ahead.

Peel the quail eggs carefully, making sure not to tear the egg white from the yolk as you do.  rinse and dry the peeled eggs to ensure that there are no microscopic pieces of shell on the eggs. Slice each egg in half lengthwise and place on a plate. top each egg with a tiny dollop of sour cream, a few pieces of minced onion and a dollop of caviar. you'll have quite a lot of each topping left over when you are done as each egg half uses only a microscopic amount.

Roasted Garlic and Reggiano Panacotta

I was inspired by a sub-par restaurant experience I recently had to make this third (and I think, best) instalment in my 3 chapter IMBB series. I ordered a divine-sounding Roast Garlic Custard, and this dish is exactly what I was hoping I'd get, but didn't.

I love, love, love the way this turned out! This is definitely one of those little discoveries that makes up for all the failed attempts in the kitchen! make this as the starter for your next dinner party. Your guests will propose marriage! It is a perfect blend of cool and creamy, cheesy and garlicky. And. It spreads on warm bread like a dream!

Ingredients:

1 whole head garlic, anointed with 1 tsp good olive oil, wrapped in foil, roasted and then left to cool
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 crushed clove fresh garlic
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp good sea salt
1 pkg gelatin
100 grams good reggiano, grated fine

Whiz cream, milk and roasted garlic in a blender. Don't worry if there are some chunks of garlic left, they add character to the dish.  Heat cream in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium-low heat with gelatin,  crushed clove, salt and pepper. When it is sufficiently warm, and the gelatin has dissolved, stir in the finely grated cheese. 

When cheese is thoroughly melted, use a fork to fish out the crushed clove. If you miss some small bits, don't worry. Pour warm mixture into little individual glasses ( I use Ikea candle holders that cost $0.50 each!) and chill until set.

Serve with warm (or toasted) crusty rye or multigrain bread. Try not to eat it all at one sitting.

Non-Stop Sunday Cookfest Extravaganza in Seven Chapters

After so many weekends where I have hardly had time to make toast, I finally had a chance to redeem myself this weekend.

Whenever I can spend a whole weekend cooking, I feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile. Not that the other things I do aren't worthwhile...I just get a deep feeling of satisfaction from cooking.

This weekend's inventory included:

Chapter One: Mystery cupcakes with mystery icing (coming to an IMBB near you on 24 March)

Chapter Two: Whole wheat bread - From my mother's recipe that she wrote out on a 4x6 index card for me when I went away for my first year of uni in 1990.

Chapter Three: Banana bread - From straight out of my head. I basically chucked some stuff into a bowl. One of Cake's stock jobs in the kitchen involves mashing bananas with the potato masher as he knows it will lead to hot banana bread within an hour. I've never been a big fan of bananas in any form, but this is one of Cake's favourites, so it gets made a fair bit in our house. My recipe, if it can be called such, involves 3 to 6 riperiperipe bananas, 2 eggs, a splash of oil (I'm guessing somewhere between 1/4 and a 1/3 of a cup), a hefty dose of vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg (all fresh ground), brown sugar (a cup and a half or so, sometimes split half and half with white sugar), orange blossom water, toasted pistachio nuts or hazelnuts or pecans, a chopped soft pear, baking soda (4 teaspoons), baking powder (1 teaspoon) and enough whole wheat cake flour to make a dough that is marginally wetter than a drop-scone consistency.

I bake it at around 350 until it's brown on top and a knife comes out clean. I pull it from the oven, cut 2 thick slices, lavish them with butter and present them to Cakes. Although this recipe makes an enormous loaf (I use oversize pans) it's usually gone within 12 hours.

Chapter Four: homemade chicken stock - Having  learnt my lesson about stock on the stove (which is that I am too scattered to be trusted with a $300 stockpot a duck carcass and a stove)...plus I don't have a stockpot anymore (also part of learning that particular lesson). I bunged two roasted chicken carcasses with plenty of meat left on and the onion wedges caramelized from roasting still shoved up their bottoms, a handful of organic baby carrots, a few ribs celery, lots of garlic, fresh parsley, a bay leaf, sea salt, cracked pepper, an additional onion, halved in my slow cooker on high with water to cover and left to cook for the better part of 18 hours, adding water as necessary. Amazing. It has been magically transformed into cubes in my freezer and awaits its next incarnation.

Chapter Five: Three onion and Merlot soup - Another slow cooker success. 3 huge sweet onions, 1 purple onion and one sharp yellow onion plus a giant knob of butter in my slow cooker on high for 4 hours, stirring occasionally, after which I added the better part of half the contents of a bottle of nice Merlot and a bit of beef broth. I let is burble away in the cooker for 10 hours. How simple is that? There's no need to watch it the way you have to on the stove (especially if you're like me and you get impatient and try to turn the heat up in an effort to get it done faster!) and the onions are gently caramelized and lovely by the end.

Chapter Six: Roast beef - As an example of how food-oriented my family is, I got a gorgeous big roast of beef in my Christmas stocking. My mum made these enormous stockings for us one Christmas, and this roast damn near filled it up. Well, that and the little farting Santa doll. 

I always use Nigella Lawson's cooking times for roasts, because they are fool-proof. Although, this time, I increased the heat a little (see above re: impatience) and the beef came out a little less moo-ey than I normally like. Cakes and I are rare meat eaters, so unless it still moos when prodded firmly, it's too well done for us. That said, it was nice anyway. I cut little pockets in the meat and slid in some cloves of garlic, which always helps. Otherwise, I rubbed it with a little oil and left it alone. I poured the rest of the Merlot in the pan with a bit of beef broth and left some garlic cloves to roast in there. It made the nicest, darkest richest gravy. I caught Cakes drinking it from the gravy bowl after he offered to clean up the kitchen. Sneaky Cakes. When he left the kitchen in disgrace, I had a drink too.

Chapter Seven: Smashed potatoes - Need I say more? gorgeous yellowy, skin-on potatoes with cream, buttermilk, butter, salt and pepper. Nothing else. Yum. I used a fair bit more liquid than I usually would, and the potatoes came out beautifully light and mouss-ey. I think that had partly to do with my use of Yukon gold rather than my traditional russet. I may just have switched potato teams for good!!

 

Chapter Eight: A really nice salad of creeeeaaaaamy Bulgarian feta, crisp romaine, red onion, campari tomato, a squeeze of lemon and the tiniest splash of balsamic. And cracked pepper.

Phew.

I need to go lie down.

Randy's Sinful Barbequed Shrimp

Randy was right. These are damn good. Make sure you use the French bread to properly mop up all the sauce or Randy will inspect your plate in the kitchen after and pronounce you unworthy. Whatever you do, avoid the unworthy pronouncement. You might never get to eat this divine dish again.

This dish isn't, strictly speaking, barbequed. What it is is buttery and saucy and yummy. There's no point in counting calories here as you'd burn out your calculator battery. Serve this with a crusty warm french loaf to dip in the remaining sauce. Also, plan on going through some serious napkin usage and these little suckers are messy. messy but goooooood.

ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs unpeeled, shrimp, heads removed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 lb butter, melted
• splash olive oil
• 1 pkt River Road barbequed shrimp seasoning

Combine all ingredients in a shallow casserole and mix to coat thoroughly.

Bake in a 350 farenheit oven for 20 minutes until shrimp are pink.

You could probably alter the amount of butter if necessary or add lemon juice or other seasonings if you like.

Serve with lots of crusty bread for mopping.

yum.

Luscious Labanya

From the post: A Perfect Winter's Eve Supper

Make this beautiful spicy, soft mediterannean cheese ahead and keep it in the fridge for company or just for a delicious snack of an evening.

I suppose you can do this with store bought yogurt, although I prefer to make my own. It’s always creamier and milder than the sometimes gelatinous and too-tart stuff from the dairy case. If you must use store-bought yogurt, please buy full-fat and organic if you can find it.

Ingredients

1 litre creamy, mild yogurt

3 garlic cloves, peeled and partly crushed

1 small hot red pepper

a few peppercorns

a few good-sized pieces of lemon or lime rind

sea salt

olive oil

Line a sterilized colander with fresh and impeccably clean cheesecloth or butter muslin and dump in the yogurt. Let it drain, over a bowl for 6-12 hours, scraping the yogurt from the cheesecloth and stirring it up every two or so hours so that it drains properly. The yogurt on the outside will become firmer and less liquidy as it drains and it is important to allow the softer yogurt on the inside to drain as well. When the consistency is quite creamy, rather like room-temperature mascarpone, bring up the sides of the cloth and tie into a bundle. Suspend the cheese-filled cloth (I tie mine to a cabinet handle) over the colander and bowl and allow to it drain for a further 12 hours, taking it down occasionally, untying it and redistributing the yogurt as before. It should achieve a solid, creamy consistency similar to that of a thick butter icing. The firmer your yogurt was to start with, the less time it will take to drain to the right consistency.

Scrape out the yogurt into a clean, sterile bowl and mix up with a bit of sea salt and, if you like a few dashes of fresh ground cumin.

Pour olive oil into a sterilized jar until it is 3 or 4 inches deep. Add in the garlic, peppers, and rind. Drop spoonfuls of the yogurt into the oil in the same way (and same size) you would for drop cookies. When the dollops start poking through the oil at the top, add more oil so they remain covered. Continue until all the yogurt has been dolloped into the jar and the whole lot is covered with enough oil that it is a centimeter or so above the yogurt balls.

You can keep this in the fridge for a few weeks. If your fridge is pretty cold the olive oil will go all opaque and sludgy, so take the whole jar out and sit it on the benchtop for an hour or so before you want to use it. Then, use a fork to carefully scoop out some cheese blobs and put them in a little dish and spread the yummy oily cheese over nice bread or biscuits.