Day Three Hundred and Sixty Three : Airco Marriage Mondays

Seeing as the Packers won last night's Superbowl, I thought it would be fitting to utilize yesterday's Wisconsin contestant, Airco, the mixed milk hickory smoked cheese from Carr Valley Creamery as the star of today's Marriage Mondays.

Instead of suggesting beverage pairings today for our dear Airco, I thought we would suggest fruit / vegetable contestants, that would lead to a lovely sweet creamy smoky recipe.

Contestant # 1 : The Tomato - Originally native to South America, this omnipresent fruit comes in 7500 different variations. High in natural antioxidants, vitamins A and C, they are known to help prevent cancer as well. Cooked, eaten, and enjoyed the world over, our first contestant transcends language and cultural barriers. Will it have what it takes to win over our Wisconsin star today?

Contestant # 2 : The Eggplant - Considered a berry due its nicotinoid alkaloid rich seeds, our second contestant hails from India. Now cultivated the world over, in many different varieties, colors, shapes, and sizes, it is one of those foods I find people either love or hate, indifference is uncommon. Will the Airco fall in love with our nicotine heavy contestant?

Contestant # 3 : The Mushroom - Our last and final contestant is the right type of fungus, more specifically, the supple meaty flavorful body of a fungus grown at ground level. The many varieties of edible mushrooms are high in dietary fiber, protein, niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine. Delicate, meaty, earthy, are a few words to describe our dear mushrooms but will the phrase perfect match work with our mushrooms and the Airco?

Stay tuned to find out!

Day Three Hundred and Sixty Two : Carr Valley vs. Keswick Creamery

It's an hour till the kickoff of the XLV Superbowl, a head to head match between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers! So I thought we needed to have a Pennsylvania vs Wisconsin cheese takedown today. For Wisconsin's contestant, I thought we would play Airco, a mixed milk cheese composed of cow, goat, and sheep's milk that has been hickory smoked at Carr Valley Farm. Carr Valley is most well known for its aged cheddars primarily but has been a Wisconsin cheesemaking institution dating back four generations. They sure know their cheese at Carr! Today's contestant is semi firm in texture with a nice hint of sweetness mixed with just the right amount of smoke. Airco adopts the best nuances of sheep's milk cheese with its classically nutty buttery qualities and the citrus grassy tang of goat's milk cheeses and the fabulous round mouth feel of cow's milk cheese. A winner from the midwest! Does it have what it takes to beat out Keswick Creamery's Wallaby? I don't know about that.....but we will see...

Keswick Creamery does not date back for generations, but that doesn't mean it can't tango with the cheeses of Carr Valley. Keswick Creamery is based in Newburg, PA. They have had jersey cows since the mid 1970s, but didn't get into the business of raw cheese production till 2001 and boy have they gone to town in their cheese experimentation, with a full repertoire of fabulous cheeses! Today's contestant is a natural rind aged raw cow's milk cheese known as Wallaby. Why Wallaby? Well it is named in honor of a cow dear to the farm's heart. This semi firm cheese has a hints of earthy mushroomy-ness with a bright crisp finish and creamy lactic overtones. Surely a crowd pleaser, this is a very versatile cheese, designed to please. 

So who will take the prize? The generations old cheese making institution or the newer youngster? The Steelers or the Packers?

We will just have to wait and see won't we?

Day Three Hundred and Sixty One : Petit Frere Spotlight

Petit Frere or little brother is the focus of today's cheese spotlight, crafted by the four Crave Brothers in Waterloo, Wisconsin. It is a pasteurized cow's milk washed rind disk of creamy cheese-y goodness aged with vegetable rennet for at least six to eight weeks. The older this cheese gets, the more intense it gets for all the right reasons. At any age however, it is the perfect marriage of washed rind stink and bloomy rind unctuous creaminess. Crafted in honor of the French - Irish heritage of the cheesemakers, this cheese marries the classic cheese making techniques of each nation and makes it completely its own.

Full of earthy, barnyardy, farm-y notes with a creamy buttery-ness, this cheese walks the right sort of fine line. Perfect with some nice crusty bread and dried fruit and if you're me, a glass of Pinot Gris. However it would also work excellently with a nice beer.

$7.99 at Fairway for an 8 ounce round.

Day Three Hundred and Sixty - Salmon Melt

Last night, I had the most fabulous roasted salmon mango salad and I got to thinking, gosh, why not make a rif on a tuna melt but utilizing a homemade salmon salad and some nutty melty gruyere cheese on top?

So let's get to making that salmon salad. What goes into it?

1 6 oz salmon fillet
chives
dill
EVOO
Lemon
Shallot
Garlic
Fresh Ricotta
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Dijon Mustard

Saute the salmon fillet with olive oil and a diced up shallot over medium to high heat for about three to five minutes per side or until it is flaky and cooked through. While you are cooking the salmon, dice up one zucchini and saute briefly with garlic, sea salt, and EVOO. You want to make sure to maintain the crunch of the zucchini so saute for four to five minutes. Place into a bowl combine with two tablespoons of ricotta, a small teaspoon of mustard, a drizzle of lemon juice and of olive oil. Add chopped up chives and fresh dill, sea salt and black pepper. Mix together. Add one chopped up Persian cucumber and the zucchini. Place your salmon salad on top of Ciabatta bread and top with a generous helping of gruyere and heat in the oven as this should be an open faced sandwich, too much bread will get in the way. Enjoy with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Have a great weekend folks!

Day Three Hundred and Fifty Nine - Spotlight on Raschera

The other evening I strolled into the little gem of a neighborhood cheese store, Cheese on 62nd, looking to pick up one or two cheeses that would be nice with some prosecco and crackers. I knew I wanted some Gorgonzola Dolce to pair with my mixed berry oatcakes, but I wasn't sure of the other cheese selection I planned on getting. After a few tastes, I settled on the Piedmontese cheese -- Raschera. Raschera has a cousin, known as Alpine Raschera which is only crafted with milk from cow's at pasture above 900m above sea level (obviously this is not a year round cheese due to the weather conditions). A semi firm semi fat, pressed cow's milk cheese crafted in one of two shapes -- either a cylinder or a square block-ish style. Aged for at least one month, the interior has a nice ivory paste-y look to it with an ashen exterior. It has some small irregularly placed holes scattered throughout the cheese. Earthy yet with a slightly sweet creamy milky-ness, this nutty cheese is great for every sort of palate -- very versatile when it comes to pairing partners and can easily be featured with some crackers and / or bread in a simple preparation or utilized in cooking scenarios.

Raschera is not an overly exciting cheese but it sure is a delight on the tongue and a great go-to cheese, affordable, dynamic, and overall yummy! A nice straightforward and satisfying cheese investment.

Image courtesy of http://www.dibruno.com/



Day Three Hundred and Fifty Eight - A hearty salad for a cold evening

Taking inspiration from my lunch-time salad, I thought we would make a bright legume centric salad featuring French green lentils -- high in fiber and protein, low in calories and fat, and if prepared correctly, utterly fabulous! Peppery, herbaceous, and crunchy -- a great base for a salad! An added bonus is that unlike other dried legumes, lentils are actually much more time efficient to cook.

How shall we prepare these lentils today?

First cook the lentils through. Then place in a pan with EVOO, white wine for cooking, and shallots over very low heat, to infuse a nice aromatic bent to the legumes. While they are cooking, let's roast some butternut squash and carrots with garlic, rosemary, and thyme to toss in with the lentils -- providing a nice brightness to the salad. Cube the butternut squash and chop up carrots. Place in a roasting pan with some EVOO, a diced up garlic clove, fresh rosemary, thyme, and sea salt. Roast at 300 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden brown and the carrots feel tender and caramelized. Combine your roasted veggies with lentils, some roasted walnuts for a crunch, and chop up some chives, toss those in the bowl as well. Then add some nice crumbles of French feta cheese -- the perfect creamy lactic tangy brine-y counterpoint to the roasted veggies and aromatically infused legumes. A simple mixture of good, honest, fresh ingredients that will be a satisfying midweek salad chock full of protein and fiber!

Day Three Hundred and Fifty Seven - Pickle Results

Happy February!  Shall we get straight to those pickle results?

Let's first discuss the cheese that totally missed the boat, can you guess which one it was? Our second contestant, Rogue River's Smokey Blue. I threw that fabulous cheese in the mix because I thought the idea of a smoked cheese could present an interesting conundrum for those of you meat eaters out there who like faint smokey-ness in a sandwich setting but unfortunately this cheese is just too fantastic for our pickles. It will surely take control of the pickle's spotlight and the pairing will become all about the classic blue piquant punch and the woodsy smoke, not only overshadowing but also not really even having the opportunity to possibly create an interesting pairing -- a bit like oil and water.

That leaves the Fol Epi and Edwin's Munster, which will be the more unique and dynamic pairing partner? Although the Fol Epi is super versatile and an easy to please sort of a cheese, it will not challenge the pickle to allow it to coax out hidden flavor nuances. It will take a back seat to the pickle and just kind of blend in to its surroundings. That's not what you want in a pairing is it? No way! Fol Epi is a great snacking, go-to, every day sort of cheese, smooth, classic and delish but not dynamic enough for our dear pickles!

That leaves the washed rind king, Edwin's Munster as today's winner! These two actually have a lot in common -- they are both washed in brine, infusing each with a unique salty, brine-y, vinegar-y tang. The difference in that tang will bring each closer together -- it will be a marriage of brine and its effects on cheese and vegetable flavors. The gooey creaminess of the cheese will play off that nice crisp crunch of a classic pickle and the barnyardy farmy-ness of the cheese will be an excellent counter part to the vegetal herbaceousness of the pickles.

Enjoy a nice piece of Munster on a fluffy onion poppy seed roll with a dollop of honey mustard and a few pickles...an interesting flavor combination, definitely one that is in your face, but one that will bring to life that pickle who is this week's star.