Drained Maas Cheese Roll with Lemon, Pepper & Smoked Paprika

I've had a lovely response to my recipe for drained maas [amasi] cheese - thank you for the emails and messages!  I'm so excited by this method for making gorgeous soft white cheese at home that I've made three more batches this week, experimenting with a variety of flavours. Here is my current favourite: a 'salami' of cheese with lemon zest and white pepper, rolled in cracked black pepper & smoked paprika.

Drained Maas Cheese flavoured with lemon and pepper.
 Plate by Master Potter of Franschhoek David Walters.

This cheese is so inexpensive to make at home - the two-litre bottle of full-cream maas it takes to make two of these will set you back around R20. A huge saving, considering that a single, smaller (100g) 'salami' of this sort costs between R19 and R23 at upmarket stores.

I am smitten by white pepper, so tend to use it with abandon, but as it has a strong, rather 'dusty' flavour, I suggest you add it to the cheese in pinches, tasting as you go.

This home-made cheese is also good with sweet chilli jam (see Cook's Notes).

Another wonderful flavouring for this cheese is horseradish (see my Cook's Notes at the end of this blog post).

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Drained Maas Cheese Roll with Lemon, Pepper & Smoked Paprika

a drained maas cheese, made from 1 litre of full-cream maas
the finely grated zest of half a lemon
½ tsp (2.5 ml) white pepper
salt, to taste
freshly milled black pepper
1 tsp (5 ml) good smoked paprika

To serve: 
fresh radishes, or crunchy accompaniments of your choice
Salticrax or similar salted crackers, to serve

Tip the cheese into a bowl. Add the lemon zest, pepper and salt, to taste, and knead well with your fingertips. It's quite a sticky cheese, so you might want to use a sturdy spoon instead.

Roll the cheese into a tight salami shape.

Form the cheese into a ball and then roll it into a neat salami shape between the palms of your hands. Place a piece of clingfilm or baking paper on the counter and grind over it plenty of black pepper. Gently roll the cheese back and forth so it is coated all over. Now dip the two ends in the pepper. Repeat the process using the smoked paprika.

Place the cheese on one end of a new length of clingfilm and roll it up, as if you are making a Christmas cracker.  Grasp the two ends of the 'cracker' and continue roll the cheese away from you to form a neat, tight cylinder. Twist the two ends together (see picture above), and refrigerate for 4-5 hours, or until firm.

Unroll the cheese, slice it into discs (see Cook's Notes) and serve with crackers and radishes.

Makes one cheese; serves 4 as a snack, with accompaniments.  

Cook's Notes

• The best way to slice this cheese is with a length of unscented dental floss or similar thin, strong thread.   
• If you're not in South Africa, you can make this with yoghurt, using this recipe.
• This is also good with sweet chilli sauce, tomato jam, wine jelly, quince jelly, and so on.
• Try using the maas cheese in my recipe for Smoked Venison with Horseradish & White Pepper. You can serve this pressed into a mould, or formed into dear little 'lollipops' (see below, right.)

Smoked Venison with Horseradish & White-Pepper Cream Cheese, served two ways

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Smoked Venison with Cream Cheese, Horseradish and White Pepper

This is a heavenly combination: paper-thin smoked venison, fresh horseradish, cream cheese and white pepper, all bought together with a tart, sweet pomegranate reduction. Look, I know this recipe has some unusual ingredients - including pomegranate syrup, which I couldn't fit into the title - but I promise you won't regret the effort it takes to find them.

A sweet, tart pomegranate syrup brings everything together.

This is a quick and easy dish that is ideal for serving, with some biscuits or melba toast, as a snack with drinks. Use a good, full-fat cream cheese. I used Lancewood Cream Cheese, but Philadelphia, or similar, will do nicely. Whatever you choose, make sure the cheese is very thick, and stiff enough easily to hold its shape.

[Postscript, 2 September 2013: Do try this recipe using my drained maas (amasi) cheese!]

I think white pepper is a most undervalued and underused ingredient, with a marvellous flavour quite distinct from that of the ubiquitous freshly ground black pepper. It's quite a strong spice, though, so add just a pinch at a time, tasting the mixture as you go along.

I used fresh horseradish (see my latest horseradish recipe here, and tips for preserving it in olive oil, and freezing it, here) but you could, at a push, used the creamed, bottled variety (in which case use a little less olive oil).

Any sort of lightly smoked venison, sliced paper-thin like carpaccio, will do for this recipe: ask your butcher. I've also made this with smoked salmon and smoked beef.

Pomegranate reduction is available in good delis, and at Woolies.  If you can't find it, use a sharp fruit jelly, or a wine jelly, or any sweet, zingy sauce.

The little leaves strewn on the top of this dish are mustard sprouts, but you can add any crunchy leafy topping of your choice.

Smoked Venison with Cream Cheese, Horseradish and White Pepper

one tub (250g) full-fat cream cheese
2 tsp (10 ml) fresh horseradish, peeled and very finely grated
½ tsp (2.5 ml) white pepper
about 2 tsp (10 ml) olive oil
salt, to taste
6 slices paper-thin smoked venison 'carpaccio'
a handful of mustard sprouts, or baby herb leaves
1 T (15 ml) pomegranate reduction
a little extra oil for greasing the mould

Put the cream cheese, horseradish and white pepper in a bowl and, using a wooden spoon, beat well to combine. Add just enough olive oil to to create a rather stiff, smooth mixture.  Season with salt to taste.

Lightly grease the inside of a ramekin dish, teacup or similar mould (capacity about 1 cup/250 ml) with a little olive oil.  Neatly line the mould with slices of venison, pressing it well into the sides and base and allowing the slices to overlap the edges by 4-5 cm. Spoon the cream cheese mixture into the mould, and press down with the back of a spoon.

Fold the overlapping slices of venison over the top of the cream cheese, cover with a piece of clingfilm [saran wrap] and press down firmly to eliminate any air bubbles. Now turn the mould over into the cupped palm of your hand, and deliver a few smart smacks to its base.  If you can't release it, run a sharp knife around its edges. Slide onto a small clean plate. Trickle the pomegranate syrup over the base of the plate. Top with the mustard sprouts. Serve with biscuits or melba toast.

Serves 4 as a snack


Cook's Notes:

• This keeps well in the fridge for a day. Cover it, still in its mould, with clingfilm, and add the sprouts and pomegranate reduction just before you serve it.
• If you don't have a suitable mould, turn this into a 'sausage': lightly grease a piece of clingfilm, and cover with overlapping slices of venison. Spread the cream cheese, in a stripe, at the edge closest to you. Pick up the leading edge of the clingfilm and carefully roll, away from you, into a neat tube (as you would if you were making sushi rolls).  Twist the ends of the clingfilm to make a tight, narrow Christmas-cracker shape.  Place in the fridge for a few hours.  Remove the clingfilm and, using a very sharp knife or unscented dental floss (yes, really!), slice into neat discs.

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