Yogurt!

If you like eating yogurt, you should certainly try making your own. You can make delicious and varied styles of yogurt for the cost of milk, and it can be used in many meals and recipes, either as a stand-alone (as for breakfast or dessert) or as a beautiful replacement for sour cream on tacos or in scones, for instance. Yogurt-making is rewarding and  not very difficult, but you need one thing that many people don't have readily available: the ability to incubate something at body temperature (99 F or 37 C) for 16 hours or so. I happen to have an oven with a pilot light in it, and it happens to stay very close to 99 F when it is turned off and I'm not using the range. Even if you have an electric oven or an electric ignition gas oven, you may be able to make it work. Some ovens have a "proof" setting but this is variable; it is generally around 100 F but can be 85-115 depending on the model. Too cold, and your yogurt culture won't thrive; too hot, and it will die. If your oven has a light, you can keep the light on and this will provide a very gentle heating. Test your oven by placing a glass of water in the oven in a particular location and let it sit overnight. Test the temperature the next morning. If it is more than 5 degrees off of 99, try something different. Place the glass closer to the light, or further away, or move the rack up or down. Once you find the perfect conditions in your oven, congratulations! You're ready.
This recipe calls for one quart of milk. You can not double the recipe unless you extend the incubation time or you have access to an automatic stirrer. This is biology at work! Yogurt develops as the culture thrives, the Lactobacillus sp. bacteria (yes they are bacteria), and the sixteen hours of incubation here is for one quart of milk. Doubling the milk will not necessarily double the incubation time, but if the culture is not continuously stirred the bacteria will not have enough time to convert all the milk to yogurt, and you will waste milk. You can tell if milk was wasted by looking at the "whey" in the bottom of the straining container. If it is relatively clear, you have strained out water and have not lost much milk protein. If it is milky, well, that's milk. By the way, you can use any milk for this, whether cow's, sheep's, or goat's, but I use cow's milk (as fresh as I can find, organic if possible) as it is the easiest to find and the least expensive. Also, this recipe calls for a 16 hour incubation and 12 hour straining time. I find that it's most convenient for me to start the whole process around 2 pm, incubating by 3 pm, straining by 7 am the next day, and finishing by 7 pm. The 12 hour straining produces yogurt that is very thick, like ice cream though it is not frozen. One of my favorite preparations is simply to drizzle a little honey on top. For something special, this can be combined with some fresh berries and freshly toasted seeds (such as sunflower, poppy, and sesame) on top. On to the recipe:

1 quart (1 L) milk
2 Tbsp yogurt culture (you can use any yogurt that you like and which contains live culture; after one batch of yogurt you can keep yours going forever. I like the culture in the Greek yogurt Fage)
Cheese cloth; at least one yard (1 m), double-thickness

Mix 2 Tbsp milk with your yogurt culture. Set aside. Place remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to boil, stirring occasionally in order to prevent burning. Once milk boils, remove from heat and allow to cool down until it reaches a temperature of 99 F (37 C). Monitor the milk temperature carefully, this is science. When the milk is at the correct temperature, make a hole in the skin that has formed on top and pour in your yogurt-milk mixture. Place the pan in the oven-incubator so that it stays at 99 F for 16 hours.
After the incubation, the milk should have a pleasant aroma, not like spoiled milk. Place a large strainer or pasta colander over a medium pot. Lay on cheesecloth until you have three layers and the colander is covered. Carefully pour in the warm milk mixture, scraping the saucepan clean. Place the colander and pot in a refrigerator; refrigerate for 12 hours for thick yogurt that is the consistency of ice cream. Strain for fewer hours for thinner yogurt.

Tenderloin Roast with Zinfandel Sauce

I was given a Bluetooth-enabled temperature monitor called the iGrill last year, and it is fabulous. It works like a meat thermometer, but it Bluetooths the temperature out to an app on your phone, and you see a plot of the rising temperature as it cooks. You can set a goal temperature (such as 120 F) and your phone will tell you when you're done. This is invaluable if you're distracted at a dinner party. For this recipe, use the highest quality beef tenderloin you can find, and use a decent Zinfandel (red!) wine, which should have some jammy notes of blackberry. I like "7 Deadly Zins" for this sauce. Also watch the salt that can come from the stocks. It's better to use unsalted stocks and adjust the salt yourself than have too much.

4 large shallots, peeled and sliced thin
a little peanut oil
dried Chanterelle mushrooms, soaked in hot water 30 minutes
2 Tbsp raspberry wine vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
1 bottle good Zinfandel with black fruit notes
2 cups beef stock (low salt)
2 cups chicken stock (low salt)
Fresh thyme sprigs
Black peppercorns
Bay leaf
2 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 two-pound (1 kg) boneless beef tenderloin
salt and pepper
fat for searing the beef (pork fat, butter, peanut oil, etc.)

Reconstitute the dried Chanterelles with hot water, soaking for 30 minutes. Drain. Heat a large saucepan and add some oil. When the oil is hot, add the sliced shallots and the mushrooms. Cook until the shallots are tender and translucent. Add the vinegar and the sugar. Cook until the liquid disappears and the mixture is dark and fragrant. Add wine and boil until the volume is halved. Add both stocks, thyme, a dozen peppercorns, and a bay leaf. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Simmer uncovered for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour or more. Strain sauce through a fine sieve or cheesecloth into a small saucepan. Bring back to a slow simmer. Thicken by making a beurre manie: mix together the butter and flour using a fork, and add the mixture a piece at a time to the simmering sauce, whisking well after each addition. If the sauce is too thin, make a little more manie and whisk it in. Bring back to the simmer. To keep the sauce, either pour into a Thermos until service or keep it off the heat and reheat gently for service.
To make the beef, preheat the oven to 350 F. Season the beef well with pepper and especially salt on all surfaces. Heat a large oven-proof skillet over high heat and add fat or oil. When the fat is hot, add tenderloin and sear well on all sides. As you turn the meat onto the final side, insert a meat thermometer and place in the oven. Cook to an internal temperature of 120 F for medium-rare. Remove the beef and place on a cutting board, tenting with foil, to allow to rest. Rest for about 10 minutes. Carve the beef into thick slices and serve with the warm sauce over or on the side.