Back from hols to sunny Ireland... or am I?

Hello all,


I have been back from holidays for a few days now and readjusting to living in Ireland. I was delighted when I got back because a heatwave was on the forecast for the next few days. Sadly, the heatwave barely lasted 24 hours and disappeared as fast as it came. Now, it's back to a showery and rather cool Ireland. The thing is though, when I heard about the heatwave, I went to the market on Saturday and bought lots of "summery" food, thinking I would rather enjoy them this week. 
Now, don't get me wrong, I am still enjoying the summery food I bought on Saturday, but I have also had to readapt my weekly menu to suit the climate of the week.
Yet, one of the dishes I did not really have to modify is my beetroot, fennel and rocket salad with homemade goat's cottage cheese and sour dough bread.
So here is how it's made:

Beetroot, Fennel and Rocket Salad & Sour Dough Tartine with Homemade Goat's Cottage Cheese

Ingredients:

1 ltr of Goat's milk
1 teaspoon of vegetarian rennet
1 spring onion
A few sprigs of thyme
Cheese cloth
1 bunch of rocket
2 beetroots
1/2 bulb of fennel
Juice of half a lemon
A few glugs of olive oil
Salt, pepper
A few slices of sour dough bread


1. Make the cheese, two hours in advance + cooking the beetroot
Heat the milk to about 37°C, i.e. luke warm temperature. Make sure it does not get hotter or you won't be able to make the cheese. Then, add the teaspoon of rennet. Leave in the pan for 10 minutes to cool down. Once cooled down, transfer the mixture into two overlapping cheese cloths and leave to drain for two hours.
Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, add the two beetroots and boil for 45 minutes or until you can pierce them easily with a pointy stick. Once cooked, transfer into cold water to cool them down.


2. Finish making the cheese + peel the beetroots
After two hours, you should have in the cheese cloths a fair amount of goat's cheese with the consistency of cottage cheese. Transfer that into a bowl. Add the sliced spring onion, the bit of thyme, season well.
Peel the beetroots and cut them into cubes.


3. Make the salad + Prepare the bread tartines
Put the cubed beetroot into a bowl, add the sliced fennel and the rocket. Add some salt, some pepper, the lemon juice and the olive oil. Stir everything.
Spread some of the cheese on the sourdough slices.



Et Voilà!!!
Bon appétit!