I am sure you are all curious as to who won the chance for a match with Ms. Brie, well ladies and gents it is Contestant Number 3. Why you might ask? Well let's discuss the cons of the other two contestants first, before mentioning the pros of number 3.
Contestant Number 1: The juiciness of the heirloom tomatoes would overwhelm Ms. Brie's creamy consistency and struggle to form a coherent flavor profile. Proving that bloomy rind cheeses do not tend to work with the tastes and consistencies of fresh tomatoes -- their cream simply cannot hold up to the tomato's juices. For contestant number 1, you either need a grated hard cheese or a cubed semi-soft or hard cheese or crumbled goat's cheese or of course, the class Mozzarella.
Contestant Number 2: Creamy & sweet plus creamy & gooey are difficult bedfellows to place together to create a harmonious pairing on your tongue. The creaminess of the cheese will tend to overwhelm the chocolate, making it a definitely uneven and not a fifty-fifty or even sixty-forty relationship. For a successful dark chocolate pairing, you tend to want to go with something that is creamy & savory, allowing sweetness and savoriness to complement one another and form a new flavor profile. For this, I recommend a nice blue cheese like a Fourme d'Ambert.
Contestant Number 3: The creaminess of the cheese stands up perfectly to the crispiness of the apples and the crunch of the nuts. The flavors of contestant number three do not in anyway overwhelm or underwhelm or completely conflict with Ms. Brie and in so doing, you are able to create an excellent taste profile from this contestant -- Freshness + Nuttyness + Natural Sweetness = pure bliss when paired with Ms. Brie.
I hope you all enjoyed this week's dose of Marriage Mondays, check back next Monday for an ingredient paired with three different cheeses. And now, moving right along to today's recipe. I don't know about you folks, but the weather outside today feels like early March all over again. It's time for warming dishes and nice glasses of red wine, what's going on?
For today's recipe, I thought we would make one of my favorite simple fall/winter dishes perfect for the weather and nicely complemented by a glass of Malbec -- this should do wonders at warming you from the inside out. A lot of people like to take the flavors I am working with today and turn them into a soup, but I guarantee that this route, is just as interesting, if not more so. So let's get started.
Grab a head of cauliflower, high in dietary fiber, folate, and vitamin C, I find this vegetable to be particularly filling when prepared correctly. Cut off all the florets and place in a large oven roasting dish with two cloves of chopped garlic, a chopped shallot, a nice dose of extra virgin olive oil, about 2/3rds of a cup of Comte cheese, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Place this in the oven at 300. While that is cooking, slice up about a quarter of a baguette really thinly and brush olive oil and sprinkle parmesan on each piece. Place these into the oven to bake for about five to seven minutes or until the cheese is fully melted and somewhat golden. Next grab a bunch of leeks and chop these up, toss with olive oil, a chopped shallot, some salt and pepper and saute till they get some crispy. About five minutes before the leeks are done, dice up your baguette slices with melted parmesan on top and combine with your leeks. Now you should have crispy leeks with homemade parmesan croutons. At about the twenty minute mark of your cauliflower roasting or when the cauliflower is tasting soft and just starting to brown, combine your leek and parmesan crouton mixture for an extra five minutes. Pull out of the oven and you should have your own version of a deconstructed Cauliflower Leek Soup, I personally think better than its soup counterpart. Enjoy with a nice smooth Malbec.
Have a good night folks.
No comments:
Post a Comment