So here we are already well into the first week of December. I swear that time travels more quickly the older I get. I remember as a young child our two week school holiday would last forever, and I managed to cram a million and one things into those long two weeks, often creating little games, making movies, writing stories, playing games and going on adventures. These days, two weeks seem to pass with barely any productivity it seems. I remember reading once that whilst time itself does not actually speed up, our perception of it does because when we are younger, everything we experience is new and life is full of new experiences. When we get older, not only have we experienced more, thus leaving for less “new” experiences, but we also tend to develop more rituals and routines and therefore time appears to go more quickly as we experience the same things every day.
Thus arguably, if we push ourselves to experience new things time in theory should slow down, or – once again – our perception of it should.
This is an interesting concept, but I’m not quite sure how accurate it is. I’ve been trying to take note of new experiences lately. In the last two weeks there have been numerous highlights – a wedding, a fun dinner with one of my closest friends at a new restaurant, plus an after-dinner cocktail (on a school night – crazy!) I also had a hair cut and colour, saw a live band, celebrated another friends birthday and went on a little Sunday adventure with B’s family while his sister was in town. Despite cramming a few fun and different experiences into my days however, I still feel the past two weeks have gone incredibly fast, and I wonder if it’s the fact that my day-to-day life is still fairly routine (9-5 job, gym, Pilates, etc) which allows the perception of time speeding up to prevail. Whatever it is, I still can’t get over the fact that Christmas time has come around again and we’re nearly another year over.
So – lets talk about this dish.
Baked cheese is always going to be a winner at any dinner party or catch up with friends that you may have coming up over the holiday season. Whilst I’d normally associate baked cheese with autumn or winter, the cold and rainy “summer” days we have been experiencing here in Tassie lately make me want to eat warm comfort foods, so I feel this is more than acceptable with the current climate.
I’ve made the ricotta here from scratch. While you could easily buy some ricotta from the store I encourage you to make your own – if you’ve never made cheese before at home this is the best place to start – it’s ridiculously easy and tastes a million times better than the store bought stuff.
I use a fresh, local non-homogenised milk which works really well – you need fat present to allow the curds and whey to separate, and you’ll also want to use a milk that pastuerised as little as possible (ie – no UHT). This dish is supposed to be deliciously rich and creamy, so looking for a low-fat option isn’t going to produce the best outcome – plus if you read my last post (or any media lately) you’ll know that fat is not the enemy and in my book real, whole foods win every time – particularly so when it comes to cheese.
And if you do make your own ricotta, stay tuned next week as I’ll share a great recipe to use up some of that left over whey.
- 1 cup | 200g full fat ricotta (made from 1 litre full cream milk)
- 1 Tbsp minced rosemary
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
- 1 tsp lemon rind
- 2 tsp baby capers, finely chopped
- Paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 160 C | 320 F
- Combine all ingredients except the egg in a bowl. Taste the mixture and season a little, though be careful not to over-season and the flavours will develop more during the cooking process. Stir through the egg and then add the mixture to a lightly greased ramekin or small baking dish, and bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until the top is set.
- Serve immediately.
Totally agree with time going faster and faster. Isn’t it mad that a 6 week school summer holiday felt like a lifetime, and now six weeks goes with the blink of an eye. I think all us adults need to stay more present too. I feel like we are always thinking about the next thing, event etc and that is why time goes so quickly as well!
I love that you made your own ricotta, I am yet to make my own cheese so this needs to happen. This dish looks so comforting! Rosemary cheese – hello!
Totally agree with you there Lauren, I always feel like I need to have a holiday or event in the pipeline to look forward to rather than just being present and happy in the everyday. Definitely a need to be more present in day-to-day life.
Hi Lauren,
I would really encourage you to have a go at making your own cheese, I promise you’ll love it.
I started in my kitchen about two years ago and got so bitten by the bug that I created http://www.homemadecheese.org as a way of helping out all amateur cheese makers.
Please check it out and have a go – you can actually make your fist lemon cheese in less than half an hour!
Best wishes
Adam
PS: The baked ricotta is L.U.S.H!
Never made baked ricotta before and after seeing this delicious post, I am so inspired to! Beautifully photographed as usual too – pinned!
Ricotta is so simple to make and the results are lovely – you should definitely give it a go Thalia :)
That is certainly a very interesting concept. I’ve never heard about it before. I like how you “challenged it” by thinking of all the new experiences you’ve had recently :)
This baked cheese looks just wonderful. I really want to try and make my own ricotta soon. Sounds heavenly.
And the pictures.. you’ve outdone yourself! They are beyond gorgoeus
Thank you so much Josefine x
I like your thoughts about the effect of routine on our perception of time. I think it’s true but I never put these ideas together until now. But when we do a lot on the weekends and get out of the normal routine the weekend seems to pass slower, in a good way. I think change of scenery, or new experiences as you said, disrupts our normal mindset and thinking patterns which in turn helps us be more present rather than thinking ahead which in itself speeds up perception of time.
And this baked ricotta, wow! What a great dish for the holidays. We can get raw milk at the honor system farm stands around here, which I like to use to make paneer. Some homemade ricotta will have to be next up on my raw milk to-make list! Thanks Dearna!
Im so jealous that you can get raw milk Katie! Its not legal to sell it in Australia, so unless you personally know a dairy farmer its very hard to get your hands on. Thankfully there are a few minimally processed milk brands to choose from nowadays which helps. Good luck with your ricotta cheese making, the process is quite similar to paneer so Im sure you’ll love the end result :)
This looks delicioooooous! I’m with you on all things cheese. Pairing it with rosemary? Love love love. I’ll have to see about making my own one day. I’ve never tried it. Seems adventurous!
Thanks Sharon! Hope you enjoy x