Phew do I feel sleepy, I just took my first ever bikram yoga class and boy oh boy, it makes marathon running feel like a walk in the park. Always curious to try this intense activity, I think I satisfied my curiousity with my ninety minute session this evening. Therefore this week's marriage mondays might be somewhat shorter than others and for that I apologize.
For this week's Marriage Mondays, I thought I would choose an ingredient that is certainly in season now, zucchini blossoms -- delicate flowers of the zucchini, these guys are such a warm weather treat. Full of flavor, these blossoms transport me to the south of France, complete with a glass of rose in hand. Truly the sort of produce found strictly for a few months of the year, you know that you have to enjoy them when you can. And enjoy them we will when paired with one of this week's three contestants:
Contestant Number #1: Nettle Meadow Farm's Kunik - Decadence and luxury in cheese form symbolize our first contestant. Hailing from the Southern Adirondacks in Upstate New York, this cheese is 75% goat's milk and 25% Jersey cow's milk cream giving the cheese the weight of cow's milk with the light tang of the goat's milk -- the perfect mix! A bloomy rind cheese, this hockey puck sized roundelle is buttery, creamy, gooey for all the right reasons.
Contestant Number #2: Ardith Mae's Fresh Chevre - Our youngest contestant of the bunch, this chevre is freshly imported from the mountains of PA. Best in the early summer months, this cheese is imbued with the terroir of the region in which it is produced -- full of grassy, citrusy, and herbacious notes, just because it is young, that does not mean it doesn't pack a punch!
Contestant Number #3: Bobolink Dairy's Jean Louis - Our oldest contestant today, this raw cow's milk gooey contestant hailing from our neighborhoring state of New Jersey is named for Jean Louis Palladin. Palladain ran the Jean Louis resto in the Watergate, opening its doors in the boom-time 1980s and staying alive through the mid to late 1990s -- this restaurant definitely saw the American artisanal food movement take off! And being that this cheese is so incredibly unique and extremely stinky and totally American, it makes sense that it is named for a man who changed the culinary landscape of America. Not for the faint of heart, this is a big cheese full of barnyardy, farmy, puckery and pungent flavors...it sure makes its voice heard when served.
So who do you think will win folks?
Check back tomorrow....
During my recent travels to Australia, a country I never recognized for cheese production, I did not know what types of food to expect. But, I was pleasantly surprised. After tasting the local favorites, like kangaroo, it was time to start cheese spying. My favorite Australian cheese was, oddly enough, a Manchego Cheese. Usually produced on the other side of the world, in Spain’s La Mancha region, Manchego has become a well-known Spanish cheese and was historically relatively non-existent in Australia. But the residence of Kangaroo Island adopted the Spanish ways and began producing the cheese. The “Island Pure” Manchego, as it is called, is not simply a replica of its Spanish ancestor. The Australian version has a more mellow taste than that of Spain, but they do share a similar texture are both relatively hard cheeses. This sheep’s milk cheese is great on crackers and was surprisingly less dry than the Spanish version.
ReplyDeleteCheers from down under!