Featured food of the day Mozzarella Cheese

Do you use mozzarella cheese often? It is a cheese Eddie and I tend to eat more often during the warmer summer months. I don’t know why, could it be it stirs memories of Italy and those warm romantic Italian Summers………… 

Here is some information about Mozzarella - it’s a mild, white fresh cheese made by a special process where the curd is dipped into hot whey then stretched and kneaded to the desired consistency. At one point, mozzarella was made only from water buffalo milk. Now, it is usually made with cow's milk. There are two forms, regular and fresh. Regular mozzarella is available in low-fat and non-fat forms and has a semi-soft, elastic texture and is drier than fresh mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella is made from whole milk and has a softer texture and sweet, delicate flavor and is typically packed in water or whey. Buffalo mozzarella, is the most prized of the fresh mozzarella s, and is a combination of water buffalo milk and cow's milk. Other forms of fresh mozzarella are: 

Ovolini (egg size) 4 ounce balls 

Bocconcini (bite size) 1.50 ounce balls 

Ciliegine (little cherry size) .33 ounce balls 

Manteca is mozzarella molded around a lump of butter. 

Burata is like a mozzarella truffle-- a 'skin' of mozzarella surrounding a mozzarella cream. It can be found at specialty stores. If you can't find it, you can use fresh mozzarella.

             These facts courtesy of http://www.food.com/library/mozzarella-746

Here is a wonderful simple recipe taken from Delia Smith’s Summer Collection.

Ingredients:

1 lb (450 g) tomatoes
4 oz (110 g) Mozzarella sliced
About 24 fresh basil leaves ( dried basil could be used)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin (Italian) olive oil
Salt and freshly milled black pepper

Method:

Put the tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave them for 1 minute, then drain and slip the skins off using a cloth to protect your hands if necessary. 
Then slice the tomatoes thinly. All you do now is arrange the slices of mozzarella and tomato in layers, either in rows or concentric circles, on a serving dish. 
Scatter the whole basil leaves over them, then, just before serving, sprinkle with plenty of salt and freshly milled black pepper and drizzle the oil all over. 

Note of caution; many may eat this with warmed ciabatta bread, but if you are living the LCHF lifestyle, or are diabetic and need to keep an eye on blood glucose numbers, I think a better suggestion would be to eat it with some wonderful thinly sliced ham. Your choice of course.

Another recommendation may be a glass of chilled Italian White Wine.

Why not enjoy a taste of summer in the middle of Winter; well it is here in the UK as this post goes live! 

              Bon Appetit or should I say Buona Salute 

              (thanks to google and Delia for the images)

All the Best Jan