Cheese Bowls & Cheese Lace

A quick reminder: This blog has really grown in size. There are several recipes in the archives so settle in with a hot cup of coffee and take a few minutes to browse the archives. There are a lot of good recipes to spark your interest.

The new KitchenAid® RVSA rotary slicer and shredder attachment arrived Saturday so I decided to use for Sunday's meal. My goal with the KitchenAid® attachments is to eliminate a few single or limited use kitchen appliances thus freeing up a bit of kitchen space. I'm hoping this attachment will replace my slowly fading food processor.

KitchenAid® Shredder Attachment

This is a blatant plug for KitchenAid® stand mixers and attachments. I am extremely impressed with the quality of these appliances. At the front of the mixer there is a little port covered by the logo that flips up. The attachements fit in there.

When I opened the box for the rotary shredder/ slicer attachment, the first thing I said was "Oh my!". Talk about impressive looking! There were four cones: thin slice, thick slice, fine shred and thick shred. Immediately this gave me more options than my food processors. Each cone is about 4" long and 4" diameter. The housing is a heavy plastic that reminds me of melamine. The food pusher is built into the handle and the hopper itself is at least a good double the size of my food processor. Assembly is super easy. Just put the desired cone onto the shaft, give a slight twist then put the shaft into the housing and attach to the mixer port.

I initially had two problems. First, out of habit with my food processor, I was pushing to hard and caused the entire attachment to swing free. There is no need to apply pressure at all! Now this would not have happened if I had attached it properly in the first place. Each attachment has a little divet where the attachment knob tightens into. Looking at the attachment after it popped off gave me the clue I had attached it improperly. The second problem is the removal of the cone from the shaft. It does need a bit of a tap but that was easily solved.

Cheese Cups & Cheese Lace

Cheese cups and cheese lace are two ways to get a lot of protein without the fat. Both pack a lot of flavour! Cheese cups are used for presentation while the cheese lace is used for snacking or garnishing. Whenever I make either, I grate enough cheese to make extra cheese lace. We are rather partial to using cheddar cheese.

I think I stumbled upon this method when researching low carb diets for one of our friends. Immediately I saw the potential for presentation. Making cheese cups is rather easy but gives a very nice presentation for salads. Grate the cheese of your choice, spred into large circles on parchment paper for cheese cups or smaller circles for cheese lace then bake at 350ºF until all the cheese looks to be almost crisping.

Note: The following instructions require a fair amount of paper towels! You will be surprised at the amount of oil depending on the cheese. For the cups, remove from oven and cut each circle roughly away so you are working with one circle at a time. Work quickly as they do harden rather fast. Invert a glass into the centre of the cheese, quickly flip over and peel the parchment paper away. Using paper towels, press the cheese towards the glass then let cool. Repeat for all the cups you are making. Remove from the glasses and swab up any oil on the inside of the cups with paper towels. If making cheese lace, move the baked cheese circles while still on parchment paper to a cooling rack. When cooled, place onto a layer of paper towels to absorbe and extra oil. I find both keep well when vacuum sealed in canisters and refrigerated. However, I normally make only what we will use up within a day or two.

Salad in Cheese Cup

Salad served in an edible bowl is a nice treat and perfect way to fancy up a simple salad. It makes a nice presentation that looks like it took a lot of time but in reality didn't.

I have a couple of tricks when serving salad this way. First, the cheese cup should be cold as should the plate. Second, the lettuce should be dry. Third, fill the cup just before serving. I prefer using a homemade viniagrette at the table for salad dressing.

Homemade Viniagrette

2/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c herbed vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard

Here's where it gets fun. Substitute half the vinegar with lemon juice for a different flavour. Homemade herbed vinegars are easy to make (method in archives) so play with the flavours. You can substitute the dijon mustard with a mustard of your choice, honey or even sugar so the possibilities are endless.