For lunch today, I ventured over to my favorite local lunch spot, Fig & Olive - a gem in a neighborhood of either extremely expensive options or boring run of the mill joints. Fig & Olive with its focus on cooking with olive oil and its Mediterranean bent is affordable and a great place to catch up with a friend; plus a large portion of the menu is exactly the food I like to eat -- clean, fresh, healthy, and flavorful.
I decided to try something new -- their chilled cucumber and pink peppercorn soup. A simple puree of cucumbers, mint, lemon, oranges, and pink peppercorns, this was refreshing, fresh, and very green while at the same time it had a creamy luxuriousness to it. It was served with a simple crostini of Greek yogurt topped with fresh slices of cucumber. The perfect light lunch on this Indian Summer Thursday.
It was interesting that the chef chose to utilize Greek yogurt instead of a fresh chevre or ricotta or fromage blanc on the crostini. A nice shift in the typical sort of pairing one would expect and most certainly lighter. Don't get me wrong, Greek yogurt has a fantastic creamy thickness to it and was just the perfect ratio of tartness to milkiness. It was the perfect lactic counterpart to the freshness of the cucumber on the crunchy crostini. Yes, still in the dairy family, but a different member.
I know that today's post didn't feature a fabulous cheese or cheese experience, but it shows you that sometimes in a place where you might expect to find cheese, you will find something else and although cheese might be your preferred option, the other options aren't half bad!
No comments:
Post a Comment