I'm Jeff Philbin and this is Dinner Diaz,
where we share our ideas for your dinner.
Today we're going to say and make cheese.
We'll show you how to make your own mozzarella.
It's so easy, no complicated equipment necessary and ready to
eat real quick.
Plus the secrets to a spectacular charcuterie and a very
special salad you can make even if you just buy
your cheese at the store.
Welcome to dinner Diaz. Joining me today in the kitchen
is Kelly Hayes.
She's President and Co founder of Cheesiology,
a company with a value statement that we can all
agree with.
Passion for cheese. And you were inspired to start your
own cheese making classes after a trip to Napa.
Yes, I actually retired early.
We went out to Napa.
I tried making some cheese,
came back home. There was nothing in this area.
So I went to town in my own kitchen and
practice practice and fell in love with cheese making.
And here we are today because today you're going to
be sharing your cheese making secrets.
And we have our own private classroom to do this
all in.
That's right, because we're going to be making fresh mozzarella,
then learning what to combine it with and how to
make it look great on our charcuterie board.
Plus, I've got a nice little recipe for a salad
to let the fresh cheese take center stage.
But we've got to get this mozzarella made.
So what are you doing right now on it?
This is mozzarella curd. We broke it up into about
one inch squares and we're tempering the cheese much like
you would temper chocolate.
We want to warm it up at a slow rate
and we just added 120° water,
so we're going to let it get warm all the
way through the center so that it will stretch beautifully.
Now where do you get cheese curds from to be
able to do a mozzarella like this?
So you can get this at a restaurant supply store
or you can get it at cheese ology?
OK, very cool. How long is it going to sit
and rest inside this bowl for probably 3 or 4
minutes?
When you start, it's it's firm like a tofu,
and as it sits it will start to get gummy.
So we're going to skip to the next step
and we're going to go on to
165° water to keep tempering this.
OK, so we just got rid of that water.
OK, so we just drained all of the
120 water. Yes. Now we're going to be adding a
hundred
65165. Yes,
we're just getting that all.
So getting it warm to a consistent temperature will help
to stretch it.
So you'll have that nice shiny,
stretchy mozzarella. OK. If parts of it are cool,
it won't stretch consistently. Got it.
That's the purpose. OK. So then how long will it
rest at this temperature then
the same amount of time,
two or three minutes and we're going to squeeze it
and see you can probably feel this already,
look at the difference. It's starting to even,
it's starting to even pull a little bit.
So, but we want that to be
cool or warm through the whole thing.
We actually have some already that was done.
What do we have to do here?
So same thing. We're just going to
get some more hot water.
OK. What temperature are we going now here,
This is still 165. OK,
so 165. So we just wanted to actually just rinse
it almost.
Yep. And get it get it warm again.
OK, this one probably is ready.
That one's even ready right now to go for there.
OK. So I take it out with a spoon.
OK. And I'm going to give you half,
OK, So that you can have fun stretching this also.
All right. I'm ready to party.
There you go. Look at that.
All right. So how do you do I just stretch
you?
Just
how far do you want to go?
As far as you can.
Yeah, you can do it.
I'm going. I'm going. I'm past my shoulders now.
I've got, like, full shoulder right here.
I've got my workout for the day and one and
two and three.
I'm just got let's. OK,
here we go. So we just need to add our
What is the and what does the stretching do for
us?
Then it helps to incorporate all the fat so that
it's it.
It just is happy and it makes mozzarella nice and
shiny.
It changes the texture. Totally.
Yep. OK, now what do I do?
Do I can. I can.
What do I do with my hands?
I don't know what to do with my hands.
What do I do with my hands?
Fold it back together. Fold it back together.
OK. Get it into a a piece like this.
And we're going to share this salt.
We're sharing that salt since I shared this cheese with
you.
So it's like, kind of like knitting a dough.
Fold it. Yeah. You're going to fold it and incorporate
it.
And we're going to put it back in the water.
If you notice, it's already stiffened up.
Yeah. Yeah. So we need to put it back in
that hot water.
OK, and once it's hot again,
we're going to make it into a beautiful ball and
then we're going to slice it and eat it.
OK, alright, I'm going to put that right back in
there.
The salt is right there to make this mozzarella fresh
for your dinner and learn Kelly's charcuterie secrets.
Grab the recipe at dinnerdias.com.
We have all of it ready to print,
with the exact amounts, the ingredients and the directions.
The quickest way to find us is to stop scrolling
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I see you. So do this instead.
Open the camera app as if you're going to take
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specifically, down at the black and white square in the
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That's our QR code. And when your camera sees it,
a link to us will appear.
All right, so we've got that.
Now. We're ready. We're ready.
Just like that. We're ready.
All right. So take your keys.
OK And you're going to stretch it again.
We're going to stretch it again.
It's beautiful.
I like it. I like it.
It's so pretty. And then I just take it and
I tuck it into itself.
You just tuck it into itself.
Do you roll Like, do you roll it in or?
No, I just take it and kind of
round it and tuck it into itself.
OK. OK To make a beautiful mozzarella ball.
OK, How shiny that is.
Yours is a lot Shiner than mine.
I'm not getting that. I mean,
is this, am I doing it right?
You're fine. Look at look at how good yours looks.
All right, I got a pride.
I've done this once or twice.
I can see that. But you know what?
If you're not happy with how it came out,
put it back in the water and do it again.
You know I'm going to go do that.
And when we come back,
some cheesy suggestions in a good way.
How to turn this into a tasty fresh salad.
That's one of my favourites.
Plus, the secrets of assembly are mozzarella into a picture
perfect charcuterie to impress all of your guests.
That's coming up on dinner,
Diaz.
Welcome back to dinner, Diaz.
My guest today is Kelly Hayes,
Chief Cheesiologist with Cheesiology. They're on a mission to spread
the joy of cheese making.
Before the break, we made our very own fresh mozzarella,
starting with a mozzarella curd,
which we broke into pieces soaked in
120° water, then drained and soaked it again,
but in 160° water. We then scooped it.
We seasoned it and made it into a mozzarella ball
we all know from the store.
But super fresh. Very fresh.
So I got to ask you,
can I, can I cut the cheese?
Go for it? All right.
Because this is just too good not to just,
like, go straight in on this one here.
We just literally made this one.
It's best warm. It's best warm.
Yes. Got it. Thank you.
How's it feel? It's still got a little bit of
warmth behind it,
too. Perfect. Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
There's something so gratifying knowing like,
we just literally made that.
Like,
we made it. No. Good job.
We did a good job.
Good job. So now we are letting this fresh cheese
take pride of place on this beautiful charcuterie board that
we're going to be putting together.
Where do we start? So what are the first rules
that I try to remember with a charcuterie board is
there are no rules.
Do what you like. If you read in a book,
they're going to tell you one soft cheese,
one medium cheese, one firm cheese.
My thought if you don't like firm cheese,
use all soft, do whatever you like.
OK? I I'd like to do one of each,
and I do usually 3 to 4 cheeses and three
to four meats.
I think it's a nice balance.
So I like to have something creamy
like a mozzarella or a Brie.
And then I'd like to have something middle of the
road,
a gouda, maybe a cheddar.
And then I like to have something with a little
bit more kick to it.
This is Adele Havarti. We have a blue cheese,
so we have a nice mixture.
There's no rules. I I like to just make pretty
designs.
Let's just fan it out.
Let's just place it
somewhere and I just build and build and build.
OK, Go for it. Grab some cheese.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna do like the whole,
like, leaning Tower of Cheesa.
There you go. I like it.
I like it. OK, We're just gonna do that one
here.
We're just gonna kind of go up there.
So there's certain cheeses like this Gouda that you can't
really slice it because it crumbles.
But guess what? That's OK.
Just put a pile of crumbles.
It looks incredible. It's a very rustic look.
Yeah, you just plop it on there.
Now, which one is this one here?
That is a heated
cheddar. It's it's got some kick in it.
It's got some and and that's gorgeous,
just just play with the shapes.
A lot of times I like to do
a a chunky 1A geometric design.
Then sometimes I'll just take a Brie
and make it simple and just
cut it. So you're cutting the cheese now and I'm
cutting the cheese now
and and just, you know what I love?
I love these earrings you have here.
What a minute on those bad boys.
I'm just noticing those. Everybody should have cheese earrings.
Very cheesy.
Yes it is. But it's absolutely,
really fun too. So cheesy fun.
They'll go hand in hand.
So. Alright, so that's a Brie.
Yeah, I just kind of
make it pretty and spread it out.
OK. Some dill on mine also.
I like it for. I like it,
'cause it's got some more.
And then you said this was a blue cheese over
in the second blue cheese.
Now is this one that I want to have as
crumbly as,
say, the Gouda so it can have a good a
good time with it.
That's right. That would like to do 2 time right
there is.
I like to just put it on there.
And would you hear me,
that little spoon over there?
OK. And I'm just going to break it up a
little bit.
You're going to break it up a little.
I'm going to follow your lead then.
So I'm just going to break that down a little
bit,
OK. So people can just grab a little fork of
it and it and it looks pretty.
You know what? And I'm going to let that one
be the centerpiece,
'cause I I love, I love blue cheese.
Like I'm the funkier the better.
That's right. When does the cheese meet the meat?
We're going to do the meats right now.
All right, cool. So what do we got over here
then?
We are going to make a rose and you use
10 slices of meat.
It's a great number. We've tried different.
Number 10 just seems to be the magic.
10 is the magic, magic number.
So you just go ahead and you wrap it around
your glass.
It's so easy. It's so OK you just keep wrapping
it.
You just wrap it and just wrap and fold it
right over the top.
OK, I'm going to follow your lead here.
Now let me ask you this like my my cup
is bigger than your cup.
If if someone at home does is seeing seeing this
what works best for shape size?
Does it matter? I don't.
It really doesn't matter. If you use a bigger cup,
you're going to have a bigger roast.
How deep does it go?
How do like like, did I go right in half?
You just right. Like a really a key thing is
to have at room temperature.
Yeah. It sticks together better and it molds over the
glass.
OK, so that's it. All I did was fold it
then
just like that, just like that.
You just take it off
and it's beautiful. So it's like just a little bigger,
that's all. Sometimes. Sometimes
I even like to take the pedals
and fold them back. You're just showing off.
You do that part so they can't do that real
rose,
that's all. See, that's beautiful.
There. That is so easy.
That is so easy. Like,
you know, like it's the little things that just could
take it from.
Hey, it was going to lay flat if you were
just thinking about getting it out of the fridge,
letting it. No, that's right,
take it up. Gorgeous. Now it's gorgeous.
That's gorgeous. So the next thing I like to do
is take my
prosciutto and make prosciutto ribbons.
I love it. I'm going back to this rose.
I want that rose to look like yours.
I can't get it. We'll play with that.
I want to thank you.
So I just fold it in half
and you don't need to make it even because you
want it to be all different sizes and shapes and
you don't need to fold it exactly even.
It almost looks better if you don't.
And then I just fold it back and forth like
ribbon candy,
this piece. And then I just kind of squeeze the
bottom
and then make it like it reminds me of ribbon
candy.
And you just make a row of it and we're
just going to keep adding to it and adding to
it and it's going to look gorgeous.
OK, OK, so here's one for you to try.
So then you just fold it in half.
Fold it in half here to make yourself something as
impressive as this for your dinner at Kelly's recipe.
And suggestions are all at
dinnerdiaz.com, including the details on all the ingredients and the
steps to make your own mozzarella.
Just visit dinnerdiaz.com. Just scan the QR code to get
right to us.
And so you made that look a lot easier on,
you know, All right. So let's see if I can.
Wow. I'm. All right. So we go half
fold that in half. Yeah.
We're going to fold in half
and then you just and then you just kind of
like that they'll be like that catch it together.
It reminds me of ribbon candy
or I can just kind of or you can totally
sneak the bite in there.
OK. So let's move on to an easier one.
Let's go on to an easier one.
How do we do the easier one?
So there's a couple ways that you can do this.
You can just fold it in half and fold it
in half.
OK. So then you're just doing a trial,
and then you can fold it in half again and
you can intertwine them.
This is like, so it's like Pac-Man meeting the other.
Exactly. We're just going to fold it and hold it,
fold it with one hand.
Fold and hold. Fold and hold.
Fold it with one hand,
fold it with the other.
So we've made our mozzarella.
We've assembled our charcuterie. We still have some beautiful little
accoutrements that we're going to be adding to it.
And when we come back,
I'm sharing my favorite salad recipe for making the most
of our fresh cheese.
And we'll let you know why you need to stash
a tomato in the freezer because it's all going to
make sense ahead on Dinner Diaz
Welcome back to dinner, Diaz.
Ideas for dinner and how to make them.
Today we've been making our own cheese with Kelly Hayes
from Cheesology.
They offer cheese making classes,
which anyone can attend and share the secrets of assembling
A superb charcuterie,
which Kelly also shared with all of us before the
break.
We learned what cheeses to combine and how to present
them perfectly.
Plus we did a sliced meat origami making that is
now the must have gift for Valentine's Day for every
carnivore in your life,
a salami rose. Now we have time for just one
more method for mozzarella.
Actually, we're going to start off with just a little
bit of salt and pepper first on this beautiful tomato
here.
And we want just to highlight our vegetable.
And we're just going to bring a little salt and
we're going to bring a little bit of pepper.
And it's going to be really simple because now
the cheese can now meet the tomato,
the most important. That's the star.
We just want to bring all these flavours together to
accentuate this now.
And then you also have some great olive oil and
some vinegar.
This is where you want to bring that out from
the cupboard here.
And we just want to have it dance right on
top of everything,
getting just a little bit all over.
And so we just got a little bit of olive
oil,
the good stuff, and a little bit of vinegar.
Again, Beautiful color, right? It's fresh and it's light.
The cheeses celebrated. It's the star
because all we're going to be able to do now
is take a tomato
that's been frozen. Now this tomato has been frozen for
24 hours.
It is
hard as a rock. You literally can start like,
hammering away on this. You don't need to do anything
more.
This is now your biggest friend in your tool.
Now we talk about tools and friends in this energy
kitchen quite a bit.
The microplane is a friend to you in the kitchen,
my friends. And all you want to do is take
your microplane
and just shave. Beautiful shave and
just work it all the way around
to get all that beautiful tomato
into
this dish. This is perfect for really a nice summer
day
and you're just letting celebrating some fresh vegetables here.
And these tomatoes you find some heirlooms at the grocery
store.
Go right ahead. You don't have the opportunity to find
that.
That's fine. This is a perfect out on the pool
snack.
This is exactly that. This is where it's like literally
you get to have some fun with just a modern
iteration of a a mozzarella caprese salad
and just a fun, beautiful way
to do just that. Now you want to have some
fun with some basil.
Now I love things just to kind of have that
fresh little bite here.
And this is where you don't have to have a
chiffonade
cut here. All you need to do?
Just rip your hands. Let it fall from the sky.
Because to make this salad for your dinner and not
forgetting to make the cheese so fresh in the comfort
of your own kitchen,
grab the recipes at dinnerdiaz.com.
We have all the amounts,
the ingredients, the directions, they're all ready to print at
dinnerdiaz.com. Just scan that QR code on your screen to
get there.
And don't forget, if you make this dish,
take a picture and share it with us.
If you're on Facebook, we are too.
facebook.com/dinner Diaz. That's where Doreen found us.
She's watching a Newport Richie and made the marmalade lemonade
recipe shared by the dreaded fisherman Dwight Hudgens.
Doreen says she used BlackBerry jam and it was a
very good Doreen.
Thank you so much. That drink this salad,
perfect for a beautiful, warm summer day.
And you said Kelly by the pool,
by the pool. I'm joining you on that one.
We're taking a quick break and when we come back,
gonna say just for show.
We're grabbing our forks and tasting everything.
And we'll let you know how it all takes ahead
on dinner Diaz.
Welcome back to dinner Diaz.
We've been making mozzarella today with Kelly Hayes,
Co founder of Cheesology. They offer cheese making classes where
people come together to make lasting memories.
And today we've been making memories and cheese.
Plus a fabulous charcuterie board and my fresh take on
a caprese salad,
the secret sauce shavings of frozen tomato on top.
Who would have funk it just like that?
But this right here is like,
the most beautiful dinner plate one could have.
It is literally fit for a queen.
I mean, is this like your dinner?
This is the best dinner.
You have your fruits, your vegetables,
your carbs, your meats and dessert.
Perfect. So this is not just a fancy snack.
This is straight up. Like,
you can have everything right here,
right now for dinner. This is dinner.
Let's dig right in. Where you going?
Like how? Like, which way you want to go?
I'm going to go right for the meat.
You're going straight in for the.
You're going straight in for it there.
All right, grabbing a little prosciutto and a little cheese
and I'm going to dip it in the fake jam.
I'm just going to follow you
some. Sweet. I see the Hershey chocolates now.
You were like Jeff, you got to add the Hershey
chocolates.
Oh, it's delicious. There's your sweet.
You want to have savory sweet?
OK, I like that. Now,
you also had the mozzarella that we made
that got this beautiful salad.
Can I slice you up some?
OK, now this was the mozzarella cheese.
Let me get this here for you here,
right into it.
I got a couple tomatoes there for you as well.
This right here, simple, clean,
and it's just like a reimagined take on
a caprese salad.
I like the meat that I had.
I got a little bite behind that too.
I like that. OK, now,
and let's go right into this bad boy here,
get a little bit of that basil,
get that mozzarella.
And we have everything working on this one here.
Delicious, fresh, clean, light, so fresh.
And at the end of the day,
the star is that mozzarella.
It's so good. It's absolutely fantastic.
I have had such a good
time with you today. I had to get one last
night.
I just had to go for it.
I just said double down on it.
But truly, thank you so much.
Again to Kelly Hayes. Details on cheesology and all the
recipes from today's show are at
dinnerdiaz.com. I'm Jeff Philbin. Thanks for watching and see you
next time with more dinner.
Diaz.