by Lisa Kerrigan
Roll on Spring! This wonderful weather conjures up images of buds about to burst on trees and shrubs everywhere, of long lazy afternoons soaking up the first season sunshine, of sipping a cool glass of crisp white, of nibbling bits and pieces of this and that, of not fussing in the kitchen but of throwing a plate together and relaxing with friends or with a good book!
Ah, but what to nibble? The answer? Cheese. What can beat a platter of cheese, crisp crackers, a slice of quince paste, a sweet black olive, a muscatel. Some may say that cheese is too heavy for spring – all that cream! However, among our farmhouse cheeses being produced in Australia today – and by the way, farmhouse means that the milk to make the cheese is actually grown on the same farm that makes the cheese: it is not delivered heavily pasteurized in a giant stainless steel truck. It does not have stabilizers, preservatives and all those things that give that soapy consistency to supermarket lines – there are many that are just perfect for that lazy, light snack on a spring afternoon.
Buffalo Mozzarella is one such cheese. Mozzarella is a cheese that through mediocre blends and over-maturing has come to mean that ghastly yellow waxy ball that gets grated on pizza. Well, certainly that is a style of mozzarella, but conceptualize this. What we know in Australia as Bocconcini is actually fresh mozzarella. Boccone in Italian means “mouthful” and bocconcino “small mouthful or bite-size”. If you buy fresh mozzarella in Italy, it generally comes in a ball the size of a baseball. To differentiate the big balls from the small ones “bocconcini” appeared. The most common of this fresh mozzarella is made of cows milk – light, smooth and not having a great deal of flavor on its own, but given to assuming the flavors served with it perfectly. Buffalo Mozzarella is instead made from Buffalo milk. There is one farm in Australia producing this divine silky ball. The particular breed of milk-producing buffalo was brought over from Italy, acclimatized here in Australia and then given to milk production. Once you have had buffalo mozzarella you will never want the cows milk variety again! The former is smooth, creamy but firm, silken in texture and larger in size, although sometimes the size of the balls does vary considerably. How to use it? Here are a few ideas.
- Slice thinly, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with fine flakes of sea salt and eat with a crunchy loaf.
- Alternate slices of thinly sliced mozzarella with slices of rich red vine ripened tomato, torn basil, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and this becomes the perfect, lunch dish or entrée or just a great snack.
- Chop spring onions, tomatoes, basil, continental parsley, olive oil, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, with chopped mozzarella, and stir through hot spaghetti.
- Layer with prosciutto or roast vegetables and rocket in a sandwich.
- Layer over thin slices of veal scaloppine and a rich napoli and bake in the oven for a main.