Cheese of the Week No. 4

I'm going to have to slow my cheese of the week offerings down a little bit. There are only a couple dozen cheeses that I really love from my rather modest selection at the cheese counter. I'll have to do some more exploring (cheating?) at other cheese counters around the city to give you options like these:

Schlosskranz: raw cow's milk, California. A washed rind, raw milk cheese from the good ol' USA? And it stinks, too? Great! Give me half a wheel, please. Or rather, half a wreath (Schlosskranz is "castle wreath" in German, and the wheel is a flat donut.) The rind is orange-brown, crusty and pungent, the inside is a maize colored paste that oozes just slightly at room temperature, and the taste is earthy, nutty, and downright musty. If you make this a first date cheese, and there ends up being a second date, hold on to what you've got, because that is one very special relationship.

Hoch Ybrig: raw cow's milk, Switzerland. Again a washed rind cheese, this time a much larger example from the fun folks that brought us Swatchguards and neutrality. This cheese is anything but neutral, though. It's big, meaty, sweet and spicy, bigger than Gruyere, something more like Appenzeller (a cheese for another day). It would make a luxurious addition to a fondue, but it might be better served at room temperature sliced thinly with fruit and a crisp wine or champagne.

Cupcakes!

Melissa, fan of all things cheesy and savory (which is probably why she likes Mike the omeletologist) suggested during the course of a Steelers game last week that we try making savory cupcakes. Brilliant, I said. Instantly, images of cheese frostings and meat fillings came to mind, and we set the date for last night.

Armed with some tasty goodies from work, and with Mike as my sous chef, I set about creating several savory cupcake options. Credit must go to Gourmet Magazine for the basic structure, but I really felt that any good cupcake deserves a filling and an icing, and I wanted to spice up the cake a little.


In the end, we had a truffle mousse-filled cupcake with cheese icing, a cheese-filled cupcake with more cheese on top, a well seasoned corn muffin that went great with truffle mousse spread on top, and a corn cake layered with cheese frosting and accented with, what else, more truffled liver mousse. Mike made a side dish of green beans and mushrooms that were made in true Danger Mike style, with a first-degree burn and numerous vegetable casualties .

Everything could have used a little more salt, maybe some more spice, and the truffle liver mousse dominated a little bit (not really a bad thing), but overall, the experiment was a smashing success.

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Cheese Cupcakes with Two Fillings

2 eggs
3/4 c milk
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
1 c grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large shallot or small onion, minced and sauteed until softened
1 handful finely chopped green onion
1 tsp herbes de Provence or a combination of your favorite herbs
a good grinding of pepper
a good shake of crushed red pepper
3/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk eggs, milk and oil together. Combine about 3/4 c of the grated cheese with the rest of the dry ingredients, and add them to the wet ingredients. Stir until well mixed. Add the garlic, onions and spices. Pour into greased muffin tins and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are slightly golden brown. Allow the cupcakes to cool while you prepare the fillings.

Meat filling

1/4 lb soft meat mousse or pate, such as truffled liver mousse

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Cheese filling and icing

6 oz mascarpone cheese
6 oz gorgonzola dolce
1-2 T milk

Whisk the cheese ingredients together and place about half of the mixture into a pastry bag. Fill another pastry bag with the meat filling. You can make a quick pastry bag with wax or parchment paper and tape. Make a cone, cut the opening in the top to about 3/8", and pack the mix into the cone. Roll up the wide end and squeeze the filling to the tip. With the handle of a wooden spoon, poke a hole into the bottom of each cupcake and pipe filling in. Frost the cupcakes liberally with the reserved filling and EAT!

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Savory Corn Muffins and Layer Cake

1/2 c cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c flour
1 c sour milk (1 T lemon juice in 1 c milk works)
1 egg
1 T bacon fat or oil
1 handful of finely chopped scallions
1 finely chopped shallot, fried until softened in olive oil
1 chopped clove garlic
1/4 c grated Parmigiano Reggiano
herbs, spices, hot sauce, and seasonings

Heat the oven to 400. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk the egg and oil together with the milk, and add this to the dry ingredients. Stir in the onions, garlic and seasonings. You can make 12 muffins, or 6 muffins and a little corn cake. Pour about half the batter into six buttered muffin tins, and pour the rest into a buttered ramekin. Sprinkle some cheese and herbs over each one. Bake the muffins 15 to 20 minutes, and the cake about 20-25 minutes.

Mike had the great idea of making a layer cake out of the corn cake. We filled it with cheese frosting and a little accent of truffle mousse. It was over the top and delicious.




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Green Beans with Mushrooms

One medium pot of boiling salted water
1 lb green beans, washed and trimmed
1/2 lb button mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
2 T olive oil
1/4 c grated Parmigiano
salt and pepper to taste

Blanch the beans by putting them in the boiling water, bringing the water back to a boil, and cooking for two minutes. Remove the beans from the pot and refresh them in a bowl of running cold water for a couple minutes. This will give you cooked-yet-crisp, bright green beans.

Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the mushrooms, ginger and garlic and toss for a couple minutes, then add the beans and toss for a few more minutes until heated through. Season well with salt, pepper, and cheese.

Cheese of the Week No. 3

Let's take a trip to Italy today. Sometimes you forget just how good the old classics are.

Mozzarella di Bufala: water buffalo's milk, Italy. This has my vote for best fresh cheese. Moist, tender, utterly delicious, it's the very essence of buffalo milk, with a nice grassy note. Unsalted mozzarella will let you truly appreciate the quality of the milk. It should be eaten within a day of being made, but the hermetically sealed cheese we get from Italy supposedly stays edible for a month. It's very good, but I highly recommend a trip to the motherland for the real deal. Serve it simply with good tomatoes, cracked pepper, and some fresh basil.

Fontina d'Aosta: cow's milk, Italy. It's an Italian Raclette, sweet, nutty, full flavored, and great for melting. It's an excellent addition to a fondue, and it also makes a great snack with a little red wine and bread.

Parmigiano Reggiano: cow's milk, Italy. Pound for pound probably the tastiest cow's milk cheese in the world. The 75 lb. wheels we have in the shop were made about two and a half years ago, and when we crack those babies open, all those months of aging spring to life and fill the whole area with a fantastic aroma. The days we chunk, shave and grate Reggiano are some of my favorite days of the week. Do yourself a favor and toss out that green can of wonder cheese you have, and get yourself a chunk of the real deal. There's no comparison to freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and a little goes a long way. Use it on pasta, in risotto, in savory cupcakes (coming soon!) and just about anywhere. Goes great with wine as a dessert or hors d'oeuvre.

Taleggio: cow's milk, Italy. This is a great washed-rind cheese from Lombardy with a sticky, stinky rind and very soft, sticky inside. It's sweet, earthy, and a little tangy, with the taste enhanced by the smell of the rind. It would go well with nuts, fruit and white or light red wine as a dessert.

Risotto Time Again

Most of the recipes I've shared to this point have been pretty simple affairs, but every now and then I like to raise the bar a little. With a little more time and loving care, you can bring your risotto to the next level. I asked my friend what she'd like in a risotto, and she said mushrooms and fresh herbs. I added tomatoes to the mix and ended up with this recipe.

5 T olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 15 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 c red wine
2 c arborio rice
5 c vegetable stock
1 large portobello mushroom cap, coarsely diced
1/2 tsp each: sage, marjoram, rosemary
1 handful dried porcini mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp truffle oil
1 T butter
1/2 c freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano plus more for garnish
2 T chopped Italian parsley plus more for garnish

Heat the stock in a saucepan to a simmer and keep it hot for the whole process.

While the stock is heating, soak the porcini mushrooms in a little boiling water. Chop the onions, garlic and portobello. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saute pan over high heat and add the portobello. Season with herbs and toss frequently for about 3 minutes. You don't want the mushroom to dry out, just seal in the moisture. Set the cooked mushroom aside.

Dice the porcini and add the soaking liquid to your stock. You're now ready to start the main event. Heat up the remaining four tablespoons of oil over moderate heat in a casserole or deep saute pan. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until softened. Add the garlic and cook a few more minutes. Crush the tomatoes with your hand and add them with their juices to the pot. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add the wine and cook another minute. Now you must give your undivided attention to the pot. Stir in the rice and allow it to absorb the majority of the tomato juice. Begin adding the stock, ladle by ladle, allowing the rice to absorb each addition before the next. After about 20 minutes, your risotto will start to become creamy. Test it occasionally to check for doneness. When it is just al dente, add both mushrooms and stir well. You want the rice to be tender, creamy, and neither mushy nor crunchy. Add the grated cheese and parsley, stir well, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Finish by stirring in a tablespoon of butter and the truffle oil.

Serve immediately with some crusty bread and a red wine like Chianti. Serves 8 as a side, or 5 as a main.

Do you have some leftover risotto? Don't throw it away! Save it for the next day and fry it up.

leftover risotto
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, cut in 3/4" dice
1 egg, beaten with 1 T water
1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
oil for deep frying

Heat up about an inch of oil in a suitable pan for deep frying. Grab a small handful of risotto and make a pocket. Tuck a chunk of cheese into the middle, and cover it with more rice to form a ball. Roll the ball first in the egg wash and then the breadcrumbs. Repeat until you've finished the risotto. Fry them a few at a time, turning occasionally, until they brown nicely. Fry up some cheesesticks while you're at it. Serve hot with beer or wine.

Cheese of the Week No. 2

The federal government has outlawed raw milk cheese that is aged for less than 60 days. It's all for fear of the natural bacteria that exist in raw milk, and it's a shame because we don't get to try the wonderful raw milk Brie and Camembert of France. We do, however, get a few raw milk cheeses that are among the best in the world.

Chimay Lait Cru: raw cow's milk, Belgium. This washed rind cheese is made by the same Trappist monks who bring us the Chimay line of Belgian beer. The cheese is just as great, with huge depth of flavor and aroma. As a washed rind cheese, it is bathed with a brine solution during ripening that gives it a very stinky, sticky rind. A beer-washed version of this cheese also exists. The interior is sticky and soft, tasting of toasted walnuts, mushrooms and hay. Awesome. Serve it with red wine or Chimay beer.

Keen's Farmhouse Cheddar: raw cow's milk, England. This straw colored, occasionally blue-veined cheddar is in a class by itself compared to our orange blocks of cheddar. It has a much more interesting array of flavors that keep developing as you eat it. It's fruitier, spicier, deeper than the old standby. Goes great with nuts, fruit, and red wine.

Cabrales: raw cow, sheep, and goat milk, Spain. My favorite blue cheese. Grazing high in the mountains of the Asturias region of Spain, the animals who give their milk to make this cheese live a rough life. They really have to work to find good grazing, and it builds character that translates into one of the most amazing blue cheeses in the world. The cheese is wrapped in sycamore leaves and aged in limestone caves until the airborne bacteria (helped by piercing the cheese) permeate and create a wild network of deep blue veins. One little taste, if you can restrain yourself, will unlock smokey, berry, nutty, meaty flavors that keep exploding in your mouth. Keep the cracker or bread simple, and serve it with a red wine.

For Lack of Buttermilk

What do you do when you want buttermilk pancakes, the Aunt Jemima's all out, and you have no buttermilk in the house? Try a little sour cream - it works in coffee cake, why not pancakes? These hotcakes come together quickly and cook in no time, and they have the tangy richness of a great buttermilk flapjack.

Sour Cream Pancakes

1 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c milk
1/3 c sour cream
1 egg
1/3 c melted butter or vegetable oil

Whisk the five dry ingredients together in mixing bowl. Measure your milk and sour cream into a measuring cup, beat in the egg, add the oil, and pour the mixture into the dry ingredients. Whisk it all together until smooth. Pour half cup ladles onto a hot griddle and cook until the top starts to dry, then flip and cook until browned on the bottom. Pile on some blueberry rhubarb jam, maple syrup, or what have you. Eat! Makes about six 6" pancakes, or many more silver dollars.

Once upon a time, in a better, richer day, butter was made from cultured cream. I'm not talking about the hastily cultured, pasteurized sour cream we get in stores today. I'm talking about raw cream from a cow that is allowed to rest for a day and thicken naturally, more akin to the creme fraiche they adore in France and Switzerland. The result is a nuttier, more delicious butter, and wonderful buttermilk that isn't anything like what is sold commercially here. Unfortunately, the City of New York has strict rules about keeping livestock in residential buildings, otherwise I'd have a Jersey cow or two for making butter, cream and cheese. I'll bring you some raw milk cheeses in this week's cheese picks, but until the FDA relaxes a little on the raw milk scene, we'll all just have to move to farms.

Cheese of the Week No. 1

So as a way to both survive in the big city and be surrounded by great food more often than not, I've been working at a cheese counter on the Upper West Side. Each week I'll try to bring you my picks for a weekly cheese combo platter. Some of them might be on the pricey side, but if you treat yourself on occasion, you'll be sampling a masterpiece -- the cheesemakers' interpretation of milk as art.

Humboldt Fog: goat's milk, USA; crumbly yet very rich and creamy with a dry mouthfeel, tangy and definitely "goaty," with a distinctive layer of ash in the middle separating the two milkings used to make the cheese; aged to perfection, it's my favorite goat cheese so far; eat with plain water crackers or nice crusty bread and a light bodied dry red wine.

Brillat Savarin: cow's milk, France; soft-ripened Brie-style cheese, though very young with only a hint of cheese flavor; a dreamy triple cream cheese that, when warmed to room temperature, spreads like butter and is perfect on strawberries and other fruit or bread. Great with champagne or a dry white wine.

P'tit Basque: sheep's milk, Spain; a stout little cylinder of semi-firm cheese, it's sweet, a little tangy, not overly "sheepy," really flavorful. Serve with a light red and bread, crackers and fruit.

Raclette: cow's milk, Switzerland. This modest looking cheese is really delicious and full of flavor. Sweet, a little nutty, not too firm, it's pricier than most Swiss cheeses, but there's a reason for it. Melts perfectly; makes a great addition to fondue, mac'n'cheese, or just as a table cheese. Sweet or dry white wine would be a nice addition.

Enjoy!

Absolut Creamy Goodness

Add heavy cream to your list of things to have handy. It makes a last minute vodka sauce a reality, and it's great poured over strawberries or swirled into coffee. My vodka sauce isn't overly rich, and the alcohol cooks out. It's great as a main or side.

Penne alla Vodka

2 T olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1 T fresh chopped basil or 1 tsp dry
2 T fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 c freshly grated Parmagiano Reggiano
1/2 c heavy cream
1/4 c vodka
1 T butter
salt and pepper to taste
12 oz penne or similar pasta, cooked al dente
extra parsley and cheese for garnishing

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saute pan or pot. Add the onions, toss to coat with oil, and cover for 10 minutes to sweat them. When the onions have softened, add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their sauce, crushing them with your hands. Toss in the bay leaf and red pepper and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the the basil, parsley, Parmagiano, cream, and vodka and simmer another 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste, and finish by swirling in the butter. Toss with the pasta, and try not to eat it all at once.

Serves 4.