have cheese, will travel

I had purchased a second Living Social deal to Corrieri's and had been planning to use it in March to sample some more new cheeses.  But a few days before it expired, I found out that I had to go to Louisville for work, and since Louisville is almost halfway, Brett and I decided to tack on an extended visit to the in-laws in Indiana, which meant I wasn't going to make it back before the voucher expired.  So, the night before we left town, the husband and I went to the shop to make some selections.  After sampling several types, we walked away with five wedges:  St. Andre, Ossau Iraty, Garroxta, Monte Enebro and Prima Donna.   The next day, the cheese came along with us in a cooler. We also packed several items to pair the cheese with - bread, apples, walnuts, dried cranberries, olives and honey.

St. Andre is a French soft-ripened cheese from the Normandy region and is produced from cow's milk.  If you think that the picture looks like butter, you'd be about right.  This triple cream cheese contains up to 70% butterfat!  It was creamy and incredibly rich, so much so that it almost required pairing with bread, walnuts or dried cranberries.  The texture in the center was similar to whipped butter, while the texture closer to the rind was silky smooth and heavier more like cream cheese.  Very decadent!


Ossau-Iraty is a hard sheep's milk cheese from the Aquitane region of France.  It is aged at least 3 months and is protected by the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controllee).  This sharp cheese had a firm texture, and I thought it tasted like the warm grass or hay eaten by the sheep.  It had a pleasant animal smell.

Garroxta is a goat's milk cheese from Cataluña, Spain.  It's classified as a semi-soft cheese and is aged between 2 and 4 months.  Compared to many other cheeses, this artisan cheese is a relatively new, having first been produced in 1981.  Like most goat cheeses, it was tangy and bright white in color.  I enjoyed it not only alone but also with Spanish olives.  The rind was especially beautiful with it speckles in various shades of gray.

Monte Enebro is classified as a natural rind goat's milk cheese.  Made in Avila, Castilla-Leon, Spain, the curds are pressed into the shape of a mule's hoof..  The girl at Corrieri's explained that the mold covering the rind is the same kind that is injected into Roquefort cheese, but only covers the surface on Monte Enebro.  According to the World Cheese Book, it was the first modern Spanish artisan cheese to gain recognition internationally.  I found the appearance to be very unique.  I preferred the center, which was softer, creamier and milder than the part close to the rind, which definitely had a stronger, more blue flavor.  The flavor of the goat's milk, which I love, was easier for me to detect in the center, as the blue flavor near the rind was more dominant.  However, this was a nice blue cheese for me, since I tend to shy away from them.

Prima Donna is a hard Gouda-style cheese from the Netherlands.  Made from cow's milk, it's aged about a year (Corrieri's noted the one we had was aged 16 months).  This is significantly less than some Goudas, some of which are aged for several years.  There were small round holes scattered throughout.  It had a firm texture with a rich, strong flavor from start to finish that paired very well with apples.  While delicious alone, I imagine it would also be great on a sandwich.  It's a cheese that should seem familiar to Americans with a texture and sharpness similar to a medium cheddar, however it had a nuttiness similar to a Parmesan.

Only in moderation

You know dinner is going to be wonderful when your plate looks like this:

This was our first sampling of the cheeses we picked up from Corrieri's: Humboldt Fog, Lamb Chopper, Midnight Moon and Manchego.  We decided not only to taste them alone, but also to sample them with some of their recommended pairings, since we happened to have several of the items on hand.  While perhaps not the most well-balanced meal, since it consisted primarily of dairy and carbs, it was nice for one of the many meals we eat in a week.  It was a plate to be slowly savored.

Humboldt Fog is a beautiful cheese from California.  It's a soft goat's milk cheese that has been surface ripened and has a layer of vegetable ash in the center.  Hands down, it's one of the most interesting cheeses I've ever seen or tasted.  The center has the texture and flavors of what I am used to with a goat's cheese, but the edge, just under the rind, has a texture similar to brie and a stronger flavor.  The wedge is aesthetically pleasing with the gray stripe of ash in the center and the contrast in texture from the center part to the ripened edge.  It's like getting two types of cheese in one!  Delicious alone, we also paired with the recommended mandarin orange, cranberries and walnuts.


Lamb Chopper is a sheep's milk cheese from Holland (which I learned makes up two provinces within the Netherlands, so I should stop using them interchangeably for the country).  Smooth and almost buttery, with a chedder-like firmness, it was very enjoyable alone.  Since it was recommended for kids on a grilled cheese sandwich, we melted some on toasted French bread, which tasted quite good.


Midnight Moon is a goat's milk cheese from Holland.  The nutty flavor reminded me of a Parmesan, although not quite as dry or salty, and the texture occasionally seemed a bit gritty.  We paired it with apple slices and the same fruits and nuts as the Humboldt Fog.


Manchego is a Spanish sheep's milk cheese from the dry plateau south of Madrid.  A hard cheese with DOC status, it is aged anywhere between 6-18 months.  Although most Manchego is now made in factories, much of the milking is still done by hand.  The surface of the wedge was pocked with small irregular holes.  It was dry, nutty and a bit salty, and as it warmed to room temperature, the surface became slightly oily.  Delicious alone, we also grated some over pasta drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, which was equally good.

I enjoyed all four, but if I had to pick a favorite, the Humboldt Fog might have a slight advantage.  It was delicious and incredibly unique.

Mafiaoza's Part 4: the finale

The next cheese was Taleggio, which is classified as a hard Italian cheese.  It is protected by the PDO, which designates that the surface must be imprinted with the four-leafed brand of the Corsorzio Tutela Taleggio, and that, when sold, it must be wrapped in a certain type of paper carrying the brand name.  Both are proofs of the quality and origin.  Taleggio is made from both pasteurized and raw cow's milk in the Italian regions of Lombardia, Piedmont and Veneto.  It is aged 25-40 days in caves (or rooms in which factors such as temperature and humidity are controlled to mimic those in a natural cave) and comes in large squares.  This was one of my favorites from Mafiaoza's platter.  It was soft, almost like a firm Brie, and was better the more it warmed to room temperature.  It tasted very rich and creamy and was incredibly smooth.

We also sampled Gouda, a Dutch cheese which is made all over the Netherlands and accounts for 60% of the country's total cheese production.  It's a hard cow's milk cheese that is aged anywhere between 4 weeks and 3 years, but to qualify as "aged Gouda" must be aged at least 18 months.  Young Gouda has a yellow rind, while aged has a black waxed rind, and the cheese itself becomes more yellow with age.  What separates Gouda from other cheeses is that once the curd is cut, a process of washing the curd is used to dilute the whey and remove lactose from the curds.  The Gouda we had was really good with a firm texture and sharp taste.

The last cheese was Gorgonzola, an Italian blue cheese from cow's milk, highly regulated and protected by the PDO and produced in the regions of Lombardia and Piedmont.  It may have been the first blue cheese, the result of a happy accident.  The legend is that a young boy, distracted by love, accidentally left a bundle of curds hanging overnight in the cellar.  The next morning, he attempted to hide his mistake by adding those curds to the morning's fresh batch.  However, several weeks later, the cheese had a mold though the center.  Today is it made at around 40 dairies and factories in either the traditional "two day curd" method, or the "one day curd" method in which the blue mold is added to the milk.  The single day method creates more blue coloring but less flavor.  Four weeks into the aging process, which totals 3-6 months, the cheese is pierced to encourage the mold to spread throughout the drum.  Prior to Mafiaoza's, I only recall having Gorgonzola in other things, such as salads.  Sampling it by itself revealed a very strong, pungent, salty and spicy cheese.  I decided that I definitely prefer blue cheeses in dishes and not alone.

Mafiaoza's was quite dark, but since it quickly became evident that there was no way we could finish everything that night, I decided to take a picture the next day at home.  These were the "leftovers."

clockwise from 9:00-Stilton with Blueberries, Taleggio, Parmesan, Gouda, Drunken Goat, Asiago, (center) Gorgonzola