Goat cheese grits

My oh my, so much cheesiness to catch up on from the last few months!  Back in October, my husband and I took an impromptu trip to Asheville, NC.  It was a destination on our never ending list of places we want to go.  Life was getting to be a bit much, so we decided to escape for a couple days.

We had dinner our first night at Tupelo Honey Cafe.  I had the veggie plate where I got to pick three of their side items.  The minute I saw them on the menu, I knew I had to try them, and I was not disappointed.  The goat cheese grits were a delicious surprise.  Now that I'm home, I can't stop making them for breakfast.

 After dinner, we meandered downtown for some window shopping until we reached Onyx Orchard Cheese.  We purchased a local North Carolina hoop cheddar and a cheese which will forever be unidentified, as I cannot find the slip of paper where I wrote down its name. I recall that the shop owner told us it was a cheese that was sold as young, aged a few months and also aged many months, and we had something in the middle.  Both became part of a lovely picnic overlooking the pond at the Biltmore Estate.

Bruleed Goat Cheese

Just do it. You can thank me later.

Crepes

I love crepes. Whenever we have the good fortune to travel to Europe, I constantly keep an eye out for crepe stands or restaurants. For some reason, there seem to be so many more places that serve crepes there. Are we less aware of their deliciousness? I digress. My cousin, with whom we stayed while she was studying in Paris, visited for a few days during the Christmas holidays this year, and we reminisced yet again about my first crepe experience with her that summer in Paris. It was love at first bite. I created reasons to have one nearly each day. Now I own a crepe pan and can make them whenever I so desire.  I started by making sweet crepes but later branched out in the realm of savory crepes.  Spinach sauteed with onions and mushrooms and a little goat cheese are a flavorful combination.

Life of Parm, part 6 - Sauteed spinach

Fresh sauteed spinach + olive oil + grated Parm = perfect side for a grilled steak

Pizza in Baltimore's Little Italy

I recently met up with a couple long-time friends for a girl's weekend in Baltimore and Philadelphia.  While exploring the harbor in Baltimore, we had a wonderful pizza in the Little Italy area.  We went to Isabella's and had the Pizza Bianca, which is made with ricotta, feta and mozzarella.  It was incredible - definitely a memorable pizza for me!  I love a brick oven pizza (seriously, I'm convinced it does something magical to the crust), but this was a great mix of cheeses - tangy, sweet and incredibly flavorful.

Life of Parm, part 5 - more pasta

Fresh pasta + fresh assorted squash + olive oil + grated Parm = delicious dinner. Sometimes the best things are also the simplest.

Life of Parm, part 4 - Parmesan Crisps

I'd seen them made on several cooking shows, so I decided to grate some of the Parm to make Parmesan crisps.  I found a recipe that sounded tasty, appeared easy, and required only ingredients that I had on hand.  They were incredibly easy to make, but I opted to use wax paper on the cookie sheet in hopes of making cleanup quick and easy.  I think that decision was my downfall.  They baked perfectly, and the smell from my oven was incredibly enticing.  However, they were impossible to get off the paper when they came out of the oven. Cooling didn't help.  Now, I may or may not have eaten a little waxed paper in trying to sample them.  Eventually, I surrendered and tossed the remainder in the garbage, but what I had tasted was really good.  A little sweet and nutty, but also herby and very peppery.  Next time, I'll bake them directly on the cookie sheet and hope for better results.

Bonne Bouche

August is National Goat Cheese month in the U.S., a fact I didn't learn until one of the last few days of the month this year.  The day I found out, I felt obligated immediately wanted to purchase some goat cheese.  At Corrieri's, I asked for a recommended goat cheese and was in turn asked if I had ever tried Bonne Bouche.  I hadn't, and after trying a sample, I knew it was the goat cheese that would be coming home with me.  First, it's absolutely adorable. Just look at its little individual crate!

Second, it's delicious.  It's still tangy as one would expect with a goat cheese, but the ash covering adds a new element of  flavor.  I was definitely reminded of Humboldt Fog and enjoyed it simply with some crackers.  Did I mention its creamy, soft, slightly-gooey-under-the-rind center?

 
Bonne Bouche, French for good mouthful, is made by Vermont Creamery and won the Best Aged Goat Cheese award from the American Cheese Society competition in 2010, just 9 years after its 2001 debut. 

Mahón

Mahón, a cheese with DO (Denomination of Origin) status, comes from the Spanish island of Menorca.  It's a hard cow's milk cheese, typically aged anywhere between 20 days and 5 months (although some are aged up to 10 months, which causes it to become similar to a Parmesan in texture), depending on what the afinador, or ripener is wanting to achieve or bring out through aging in underground caves. The bright yellow-orange color of the rind is from being rubbed with butter, olive oil and paprika.

While not completely sure, I believe the Mahón I tried was semi-cured, or aged between 2 and 5 months.  The texture was firm, but not hard.  There were some small, irregular holes scattered in the wedge, a result of fermentation during aging. The taste was buttery and had hints of warm grass, making it a perfect cheese to simply eat and enjoy.

Mascarpone

I wanted to try my hand at making scones and decided that if I was exerting the time and effort to make homemade scones, then I should have clotted cream to go with them.  Having never had clotted cream, I had no idea what to expect.  A little research revealed that it doesn't travel well, so it's not really exported that much from Britain.  I found a recipe that called for mascarpone and whipping cream with a little sugar and vanilla to create an approximation of clotted cream.  I thought it turned out pretty well, but then again, I've never had the real thing.  The mascarpone was delicious alone - incredibly smooth and creamy like butter. It would be a treat in itself, simply spread on a slices of bread or apples.

Life of Parm, part 3 - Alfredo sauce

I've been reading John Mariani's How Italian Food Conquered the World in which he mentions the origins of alfredo sauce. It didn't begin as the heavy cream sauce which many are familiar with today. Oh no, the cream was not surprisingly, an American addition.  I decided some of the Parm wedge should be dedicated to authentic Italian alfredo sauce.  And if I was going to sacrifice a full half cup of Parm, I was going to do it right - no box of dried supermarket pasta would do.  I made of my first visit to Lazzaroli Pasta Shop in Nashville to purchase fresh linguine.  I followed the recipe Mariani shares in the book, and the results were fantastic!  It was still rich (likely due to the somewhat large quantity of butter), but wonderfully light.  Delicioso! 

Grilled Cheeserie

Nashville seems to have embraced the food truck craze, and I've had the pleasure of eating twice now at the Grilled Cheeserie.  Who doesn't love melted cheese on buttery grilled bread?  The Grilled Cheeserie takes the simple pleasure of a grilled cheese sandwich and improves it by offering several grown-up fillings.  The first visit, my husband had the Croque Madame, and I had a custom sandwich of Gruyere/Swiss blend and Benton's bacon on sourdough.  His sandwich trumped mine that night.  Mine was good, but I decided it needed one more flavor element (perhaps the caramelized onions). 

please excuse the missing bites - melty cheese is irresistible

My second visit, I had the Pizza Melt, and it was amazing.  This sandwich had so many wonderful flavors from the pepperoni (which was in itself unique - do not expect your typical supermarket or pizza pepperoni!) to the fresh basil, spicy marinara and of course, melted Italian blend cheese.  I can't wait to return - I've already picked out the next sandwich I want to try. 

Life of Parm, part 2 - grated

This may be the most obvious, uncreative use, but grating Parmesan onto pasta with nearly any type of sauce (or even no sauce, and just a little olive oil) is truly wonderful.

Life of Parm, part 1 - Welcome

A couple with whom my husband and I are friends had the good fortune to spend some time in Italy this summer, and they brought back several kilos of Parmesan.  Unfortunately, they moved cross country a couple weeks ago, but left us their remaining wedge as a temporary consolation.  Hence, we welcomed "the Parm" into our lives and home.  Isn't it lovely?

I decided to document its slow decline and eventual demise in words and photos over the coming weeks to challenge myself to optimize its use.  I will do my best to create things worth of this gift, although it is difficult to top the delicious simplicity of a chunk of Parm (honey optional for dipping), or perhaps with some prosciutto and bread as accompaniments.

celebrating Bastille Day...with a Swiss cheese???

Today is Bastille Day, so we incorporated some French elements (well, European at least) into our day.  I was really tired this morning, so tired in fact that I didn't feel like wasting time (or calories) on a latte, and instead opted for a single shot of espresso.  For dinner, we had egg sandwiches on French rolls, and for dessert, I made my first attempt at crepes (I've been dying to try out the rateau I bought at the Le Creuset outlet store on our vacation in Destin.  I will not discuss how excited I was to find this $3 dowel utensil in the store).  So what did any of this have to do with cheese?  Well, a few days ago, needing a new cheese to try, I purchased Emmentaler.  My cheese book suggested that it was a perfect cheese for a Croque Monsieur.  Lacking ingredients, we improvised with a pseudo-Croque Madame, scrambling eggs with spinach and melting shredded Emmentaler on top.  

Emmentaler is a cheese familiar to many.  It dates back to 1293, though it was not mentioned by name until almost 300 years later in 1542.  It's a Swiss cow's milk cheese, classified as a hard cheese, and aged anywhere between 4-18 months.  A single hoop of this cheese, which weighs 165-200 lbs, requires 265 gallons of milk.  The one I tried claimed to have been aged over 100 days.  The flavor was lovely, like Alpine meadows of warm grass and wildflowers, butter and a hint of nuttiness.  The texture was also very interesting.  At room temperature, it was soft and elastic, and then it melted beautifully for our sandwiches, becoming more stretchy without breaking down at all.  The cheese paired nicely with a glass of Riesling. 

Sweet corn mascarpone ravioli

To commemorate the 8th anniversary of the day we met, my husband and I went to The Mad Platter for dinner.  I had been wanting to try their "Chilli Mac," but it was not on the menu that night.  Fortunately, the sweet corn mascarpone caught my eye and was available that evening.  It did not disappoint.  While I'm sure the sweet corn would have been delicious in its own right, the mascarpone made it very rich and creamy.  It also didn't hurt that it was presented beautifully with shredded parmesan and flowers on top.  When I am bold enough to attempt making my own ravioli, I will definitely need to remember mascarpone as a filling option. 

a delicious use for Parmesan

Make a spring vegetable risotto!  The Parmesan (aided in part by the butter and cream, I'm sure) makes for a wonderful, creamy, rich dish.  I should have waiting a bit longer for more liquid to absorb, but I could barely stand it.  It still tasted fantastic.  This cheese is so versatile! It is a perfect snack alone, delicious in savory dishes, and even good as part of a dessert course.

Italian truffle cheese

The few times I've been able to try truffles in various dishes, I've enjoyed them, so a truffle cheese seemed worth a taste.

It was quite good, but pretty much what I expected.  The flavor was earthy, and even though I could only see tiny specs of truffles in the cheese, the flavor from them infused each bite.  It was nice to munch on alone, so I think it would be an interesting addition to a cheese board, but I also can't wait to try it grated on some pasta or steamed veggies.

Whole Foods video

The month of May flew by and June is quickly following suit.  This video made me laugh, and since it gives a shout out to one of my favorite cheeses, I'm posting it below.

http://youtu.be/2UFc1pr2yUU

grilled goat cheese

A friend touted the deliciousness of a grilled goat cheese and strawberry sandwich on her blog, so since those are two foods I absolutely adore, I had to try it for myself.  She graciously shared the link to the recipe, and although it took me a few weeks to actually have all the ingredients in my house at the same time, it was worth it! It's a wonderful medley of flavors - tangy goat cheese, sweet strawberries and spicy arugula and red pepper jelly. And I even feel that it's healthier than regular grilled cheese, since it's on whole grain bread and uses only a tiny bit of butter (I've also made this sandwich in the toaster oven with no butter, and didn't miss it).  The colors also make this sandwich a feast for the eyes!