Life of Parm, part 6 - Sauteed spinach

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

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Éire go Brách

A belated St. Patrick's Day dinner with friends provided the perfect occasion to search out an Irish cheese.  I found a couple options at Trader Joe's, and opted for Dubliner, which is a cow's milk cheese aged around 12 months.  It was billed as a combination of elements from cheddar, Swiss and Parmesan, and it did not disappoint.  With a firm texture and sharpness like many cheddars, it was dry and a bit grainy like Parmesan and sweet and nutty like Swiss.  It was a unique and wonderful combination of textures and flavors.  While it was great alone, I also grated it on top of baked zucchini and found both options to be equally delicious.

source

Batting .500

I was recently introduced to the wonderful cheese section at Trader Joe's, so I purchased two new cheeses for February.  I chose two French cheeses - Comté and Abbaye Ste Mere.

Comté is a hard French cheese from the regions of Franche-Comté and Rhone-Alpes in the east of France.  It's a very old cheese, that has been around for over 800 years, and is currently protected by the AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlee).  Approximately 120 gallons of cow's milk is required to make each 80 lb wheel, which is aged anywhere between 4 and 18 months.  This was a really nice cheese to enjoy alone, although it supposedly works well in quiches, gratins and other French cuisine.  We could almost taste the sunny, grassy meadows where the cows grazed.  I would classify it as a medium cheese, as it was neither distinctly mild nor sharp.

Abbaye Ste Mere is a semi-soft French cheese made at an abbey in the Normandy region of France. It's made from raw cow's milk.  Upon opening the packaging, I immediately noticed the smell.  It was quite off-putting.  I went ahead and sliced off a bit for myself and Brett, trying to convince myself it was the rind, and it would be fine if I just cut that off.  However, even after trimming off the rind, it still smelled like what we decided was moldy socks.  After much negotiating with myself (we paid good money for this cheese, perhaps it tastes better than it smells, I have to at least try it to have an opinion, etc), I took a bite.  I'm not going to lie - it was pretty unpleasant.  Unfortunately, as with many things, I can't get past the smell, so I won't be eating anymore of this cheese.

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

Mafiaoza's Part 3: the feast continues

Initially, I was a bit disappointed that one of the cheeses at Mafiaoza's was a Stilton with blueberries, but I decided to give it a fair chance. I liked this one much better than the one we had at New Year's. It was softer, more crumbly and not as sweet, which helped balance out the sweetness of the berries.

We also tried Asiago. There are two types - Asiago Pressato and Asiago d'Allevo.  I think we had the latter although the menu did not specify.  Asiago d'Allevo is a hard cheese made from the milk of cows grazing on mountain pastures while Asiago Pressato is semi-soft, contains irregular holes and is made from the milk of cows grazing in low pastures. Both types can only be made in specific production areas within the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige and are aged 20-40 days in wheels ranging from 24-33 lbs.  It was dry and crumbly, but less so than Parmesan, and I thought it had a slightly sweet and very smooth flavor.

One of the highlights for me was the Drunken Goat cheese, or Murcia al Vino. I wasn't sure what to expect after the waiter described it as goat cheese soaked in wine, but I was intrigued at once.  It's a Spanish cheese from the Murcia region in the Southeast.  It is made from the milk of the native Murciano-Granadina goats.  A semi-soft washed-curd cheese, it is aged at least 3 weeks and washed with local Jumilla and Yecla red wines.  The wine gives the rind a beautiful dark purple stain.  It tasted mild to me in comparison to tangy, soft goat cheese I was familiar with, and though it seemed a bit rubbery in texture, I really enjoyed it.  Although I usually find myself cutting the rind off cheese, I did eat this one as it was quite thin and contained the subtle flavors of the wine.

Mafiaoza's Part 2

The cheese plate was served with a small cup of honey.  We were so overwhelmed by the cheese cornucopia spread before us that we forgot which cheese the waiter recommended actually pairing with the honey, so we ended up trying it with several, and I don't think any were disappointing.  Our favorite, however, was dipping the Parmigiano Reggiano in the honey.  It was a perfect contrast of smooth, sweet honey with the salty, dry, crumbly Parmesan.

Parmigiano Reggiano is a hard cheese made with skim cow's milk. The production is highly regulated.  The cows must be fed only fresh grass, hay or alfalfa, depending on the season, which creates variability in the flavor of the cheese throughout the year.  It can only be made in four provinces in the region of Emilia-Romagna (Modena, Parma, Reggio Emilia and Mantova) and one province in the region of Lombardy (Mantova).  The recipe has remained largely unchanged since the 12th century.  It takes 160 gallons of milk to make each 85 lb drum and each is aged between 18 and 36 months.

La Reggia

After just one bite of this crumbly cheese at Mafiaoza's, my husband paused and said, "This reminds me of the Pecorino with honey we had at that place in Fiesole. Do you remember it?"  I looked at him silently for a moment before responding, "Do I remember it? Really?  I remember everything about that meal.  It was amazing!  We had the asparagus tart appetizer, I had the tagliatelle with guinea-hen sauce, you had the ravioli with tomato-orange sauce, and we had the Pecorino with honey for dessert.  It's one of my most memorable meals!"  It was the first time I had really considered cheese as a dessert, other than cream cheese.  We savored each bite of the firm, slightly grainy, cheese drizzled with sweet honey.  The pecorino was "di Grotta."  It was a sheep's milk cheese aged around four months in caves and washed with oil.  The restaurant was La Reggia, and we stumbled on it quite by accident.  We had taken the bus to Fiesole, and then climbed a steep incline to the overlook.  We ended up staying quite a while, so transfixed by the view of Florence during daylight, that I decided I wanted to stay long enough to see how the city lights and mountains looked in a night sky.  Therefore, we needed to kill some time, and there's no better way to do that in Italy than with food!  We walked a short ways back down the path and discovered La Reggia.  It was the only restaurant that we saw up where we were, and from inside, we could still look out over Florence to enjoy the changing light.  We both want to return to Fiesole and stay there for a couple days.

climbing to the overlook

Florence from Fiesole

Firenze da Fiesole alla notte

Mafiaoza's Part 1: if it's possible to be drunk on cheese...

...then I have been.  Last Thursday, in the midst of yet another Nashville snow this winter, my husband and I went to Mafiaoza's to try their Restaurant Week special, which was ALL of their Piccoli Morsi, consisting of 6 dips with crostini, 7 different cheeses and at least 5 cured meats.  It was the perfect night to go, since most of the city wouldn't dare venture out.  We were able to leisurely try and savor each item.  Needless to say, it made for quite the meal and was more than the two of us could finish, so over half the cheese and meat came home with us.  Next time, we'll bring friends to help.  Two of the dips also had cheeses, so I'll definitely be writing multiple posts about this experience.

The first dip with cheese was a mascarpone artichoke dip.  It was smooth, creamy and delicious.  Mascarpone is a fresh Italian cow's milk cheese made from heated cream that is curdled and then the whey is drained off.  It dates to the 12th century.  I typically think of this cheese as the cream in tiramisu, but I enjoyed this dip very much.  It was a mild flavor, yet seemed rich.

The second dip was a round of goat cheese with honey and red and yellow peppers.  This was a wonderful combination of flavors with the tangy-ness of the goat cheese contrasting with the subtle kick from the peppers and the sweetness of the honey.  The visual contrast was equally appealing.  The red and yellow colors really stood out around the bright white circle of cheese.

new year, new blog, old friends

I've been talking about having this blog for the last several months of 2010.  I love cheese.  I often quip that "a day without cheese is like a day without sunshine," which for me means less happy.  However, I don't often branch out to try new varieties.  I also enjoy travel and other cultures, so I decided to experience other countries through their cheeses.  My husband fully supported my endeavor with a couple cheese-related gifts for Christmas.

An impromptu New Year's Eve party with friends seemed a perfect occasion to start this endeavor, after all, we were planning to stay up until 2011, when I had planned to officially begin my cheese study.  Since it was hastily planned, I didn't have long to hover in the specialty cheese section at the local supermarket, and there was no pre-planning of types or countries or what might pair well.  By chance, we ended up with two English cheeses - Double Gloucester and White Stilton with Blueberries.  I also grabbed a goat cheese, because I always enjoy its smooth, creamy tangy-ness.

Double Gloucester dates back to the 15th century to the Cotswold region when it was made with sheep's milk.  Today it is made with cow's milk.  It's also the cheese traditionally rolled down Coopers Hill in May.  It's considered a hard cheese aged around 4 months. (Unless otherwise noted, all fun "cheese facts" on this blog are from Harbutt, Juliet, ed., World Cheese Book, 2009)

Stilton debuted in the early 18th century in the town of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire county, but it was served at a hotel in the town of Stilton, which is how it derived its name.  It was trademarked in 1910, can only be made in 3 counties and has Protected Designation Origin (PDO) status by the European Commission.  Only 7 dairies are licensed to make it.  It's a cow's milk blue cheese aged 9-14 weeks.

Between the 2 new cheeses, I preferred the Double Gloucester.  It had a really nice flavor - strong, but smooth, and its texture seemed a bit softer than a cheddar.  I enjoyed the White Stilton with Blueberries, but I was expecting a stronger cheese.  I suspect a White Stilton is not aged as long as a regular Stilton, as this didn't have the blue marbling.  The blueberries made it seem overly sweet, so I would still like to try a regular Stilton.

Judging by what was left on the cheese board by the end of the night, it seemed everyone agreed with me.  A special thanks to Tim & Meri for humoring me and for ringing in 2011 with us!