Weekly Cheese: Tomme Crayeuse

This weeks Weekly Cheese is one of my very favorite: Tomme Crayeuse (tohm cray-YUHZ). It is made from the milk of mountain grazing cows in the Savoie region of France in the Swiss Italian Alps. This buttery, semi-soft, soft-ripened cheese is layered with damp earthy flavors including straw and mushroom in the rind, and a mildly milky but tart almost citrusy center. When eating cheese I like to imagine myself enjoying a food with ancient roots and a long history; I was surprised to learn that this cheese is actually a relatively recent invention. It was developed in the nineties by a French Affineur (an expert in maturing cheese) Max Schmidhauser. He partnered with a cheesemaker in order to make a cheese superior to the areas classic: Tomme de Savoie; and I'm very glad he did. This beautiful cheese has a dusty brownish grey and white rind with bright yellow spots caused by cellulose in the cows diet. The ivory interior is smooth and soft with a slightly crumbly dense center getting a little gooey as you get closer to the rind which is thin and pliable enough to easily slice and delicious to eat.



















Reading the process raw milk undergoes to become this delicious cheese gave me a whole new appreciation for the art and craft of making cheese. One secret to this amazing cheese is two stages of aging for a total of about two to three months: the first in a warm moist environment; much like a sauna, the second in an equally moist but cool cave. The first stage loosens and softens the outer crust of the cheese and the second brings out the earthy mushroom flavor and preserves the milky center. This particular combination of techniques creates a moist flavorful wheel or tomme that now competes for popularity with Tomme de Savoie, and in my book is the hands down winner.
























I like this cheese best on a good piece of bread, or simple crackers.

Romaine and Artichoke Cobb Salad

This Romaine and Artichoke Cobb Salad is full of bold ingredients with assertive flavors and subtle textures: buttery avocados, rich bacon, sweet tomatoes, fresh floral cilantro, tender artichokes, crisp romaine and tart funky blue cheese vinaigrette. Ingredients that usually play a staring roll work together here to create a bold but balanced salad modeled after the original. A classic Cobb salad features chopped ingredients including bacon, avocado, blue cheese and tomato, and is traditionally made with iceberg lettuce and hard boiled eggs. I swapped in romaine and braised artichokes, and added some fresh cilantro (fresh herbs are amazing on any salad). While my substitutions were simple and easy to imagine, this concept could easily translate to a whole slew of recipes following a few basic principles: chopped ingredients, soft textures, and bold flavors. Try adding or combining poached chicken, tuna, or other chopped meats, corn, mushrooms, lightly steamed veggies like green beans, broccoli, etc, olives, beans, cheese, boiled or roasted potatoes, carrots or beets, and on and on. As a rule of thumb soft and savory ingredients work the best; you don't want any of your ingredients to be sweeter then the tomatoes or crunchier then the lettuce. As you can see this kind of salad is a great way to pack in the flavor and, I have to say, makes it really really easy to eat your vegetables. I few things I would keep in mind: the bacon is necessary, or I should say something must play the roll, and those are mighty big shoes to fill. If your trying to make this dish vegetarian I would try either olives or marinated, pan fried and crumbled tempeh. It is also important that the lettuce is crisp. One of the secrets to this recipe is a roll reversal. Lettuce is usually one of the softest components in a salad, in this case it's crunchy, juicy texture asserts itself, giving the dish the necessary body not supplied by its more glamorous players. This main dish salad is light but loaded; the good stuff in every bight; enlightened with tomatoes, artichokes, crunchy romaine, bracing chili blue cheese vinaigrette, and fresh floral cilantro and more than adequately enriched with avocado and two thick slices of bacon per salad, bacon in every bite, who doesn't like that.


the recipe:

1/4 - 1/3 head romaine lettuce
1/2 - 1 medium tomato
1/4 - 1/3 avocado
2 - 3 baby artichokes
2 thick slices bacon
1-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

vinaigrette:
4 - 5 tbsp blue cheese
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small clove garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
fresh chili, minced, to taste
salt, to taste

Note: You will probably have extra vinaigrette for an additional salad (or not, I don't judge). Also, I've given a range of amounts for many of the ingredients because this recipe is for a single salad; so make it the way you like it, and enjoy!

Add an inch of generously salted water, a squeeze of lemon juice, a grind of pepper, and a tablespoon of olive oil to a saucepan. Clean and trim baby artichokes (see Saveur's how-to slide show), and add to lemon water. Cover and simmer approximately 20 minutes, checking often to prevent over cooking. Drain and cool. Separate, rinse and cut ribs of romaine into half inch slices, dry thoroughly. Fry slices of bacon, drain on paper towels and crumble or chop into small even pieces. Chop avocados and tomatoes and braised artichokes into small even size pieces. Mince and smash garlic with a pinch of salt and combine with lemon juice, red wine vinegar, sugar, chili, and salt. Crumble in large chunks of blue cheese; whisk vigorously and slowly drizzle in olive oil. Taste and adjust seasoning. Lightly dress chopped romaine with a few tablespoons of vinaigrette and mound on plate. Arrange remaining ingredients over top or along side and top with chopped cilantro and additional blue cheese vinaigrette. Serves 1.

Weekly Cheese: Boucheron

This is the first post, of hopefully many posts, in a new feature I'm calling the "Weekly Cheese". I'm working at a cheese and Charcuterie counter at a small gourmet food market, and am immersed in the delicious world of cheese: "real" cheese. I say real cheese because once you start exploring this diverse and flavorful world, you'll probably never go back to supermarket cheese again. For those of you who have already discovered this world, you know; these cheeses are alive with flavors and textures, and each wheel comes with a story and each cheese a history, some going back hundreds of years. If your cheese experiences are limited to blocks of cheddar and string cheese, find yourself a good cheese counter, and dive in. Don't feel intimidated, just go for it. I recommend tasting at least a few cheeses every time you go, and buy small amounts (a quarter pound is pretty common) of a variety of cheeses. You should really buy only enough cheese to eat in a day or two, and go back for more freshly cut from the wheel or block. Don't be dissuaded by a cheese you dislike; likes and dislikes are necessary to narrow down your choices as you taste your way through the worlds huge variety of cheeses. Some people dislike an entire category of cheese, like sheep's milk, or aged cheeses, or stinky cheeses, these preferences will help you and your cheesemonger to make your first choices. I just caution you to test your preferences periodically. As you expand your palette and try more cheeses that fall out of the norm, you will find yourself able to tolerate more diverse flavors and textures.

For my first Weekly Cheese post, I will start with Boucheron [BOOSH-rawn]; an accessible, very briefly aged (5-10 weeks), soft, pasteurized, goat cheese from the Loire Valley in France. This cheese is a looker, a bright white bloomy rind covers a small forearm length log. Your cheesemonger will, using a wire, slice from this a perfect disk that reveals a beautiful cross section of bright matte white and dove gray. It's visual appeal makes Boucheron a great cheese for a party or cheese board. But its easy-going taste and price make it a great everyday cheese. The middle of this laid back cheese is mild, dense and crumbly like a fresh goat often referred to in the US as a Chevre, but then it gets interesting. As you can see, there is a layer of gooey cheese around the large chalky core, and finally a thin bloomy layer of mold similar to a brie style cheese. This is because of the nature of a "bloomy -rind" or "soft-ripened" cheese, (like brie) which age from the outside in. Thanks to the magic of mold you get two cheeses in one; a creamy, mushroomy, "brie" style, contrasting with a dry and clay-like, mildly tangy fresh goat. Boucheron also plays well with others. It is especially good on salads or with grapes, and compliments just about any bread or cracker. I especially like it with a simple spinach salad.























Finally, I know people don't need much encouragement to talk about cheese, but I ask, if you have tasted Boucheron or are inspired to taste it by this post, contribute to the discussion. Let us know what you think; what are your favorite pairings?, any similar cheeses you would recommend? Where do you get your cheese? any tips on serving or storage? etc....

Spicy Snap Pea Slaw

First, I would like to start with an apology for the lack of posts in June. My computer died and my blogging future wasn't looking good. Luckily my friend JS lent me his computer and saved the day. So, I thought I would take a sec and give special thanks to JS for the computer, RH for the digital camera, and LB for photography lessons, and a collective thanks to RB and my whole Foodie posse for hundreds of delicious meals and nerdy food conversations. As you can see without all my great friends, this blog would not be possible.

I had an amazing 4th of July; great food, lots of sun, and a surprise - perfect view of the fireworks! I started the day with a trip to the farmers market and breakfast with friends. Then I got sunburned laying in the sun reading (I know Mom), and spent a few hours cooking and hanging out with my friend LB. I made this snap pea slaw, and LB made amazing vegan strawberry coconut ice cream. We brought our creations to RH's for an "Indoor BBQ". RH made BBQ Seitan from scratch, and RB made basil pesto pasta salad. There was also watermelon, cherries, and appetizers. It was all delicious and the company couldn't have been better. We ended the evening on the roof. The New York City fireworks were moved to the Hudson this year, on the other side of Manhattan and we were anticipating an explosion free evening (a fate i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy); we were shocked when the festivities started, and we couldn't have hoped for a better view! All in all, it was a magical summer day in Brooklyn.

This crunchy fresh snap pea slaw is a perfect side for a potluck or picnic because it stays crisp for days, and can be dressed how ever you like to fit with just about any menu or theme. Its also easy to make; the two main ingredients are snap peas and "knife skills", along with some carrots and a sesame dressing.

the recipe:

approx 6 cups snap peas
2 lg. carrots, julienned
1 clove garlic, finely minced
4 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp honey (or sugar)
2 tsp minced fresh herbs ( I used mint, parsley, and cilantro)
Sriracha Chili Sauce to taste (or your favorite chili sauce or minced fresh chilies)

Clean snap peas, and snap off both ends, pulling down the side to remove fibrous threads. thinly slice diagonally and combing with julienned carrots in mixing bowl. In smaller bowl, combine remaining ingredients adjusting to taste. Slowly add dressing to vegetables until lightly coated. Serves approximately 6-8.