Fromage Fort and a Vacation

Last week we had a party- I cooked for days ahead of time, and you know what? I didn't take a single picture. What a terrible food blogger. Some of the things were things I've shared here before, the muhammara, the black lacquer chicken, my favorite quinoa salad. But that wonderful rhubarb custard pie, the cheese salad? Undocumented, lost to the wilds of imagination.

Add to that blogging offense, and we're headed out of town for a couple weeks on vacation (woohoo!). We're planning on taking some cooking lessons on our trip, and I hope to come back with much to report. But in the meantime, I'm culling through the 3,299 photos on my laptop (and I wondered why it runs slow sometimes), trying to find those items lost in the archives. Hopefully they'll keep you entertained in my absence.

First up we have an easy appetizer and a great way to use up those random tidbits of leftover cheese. Fromage fort, or strong cheese, is simply a mixture of cheeses blended with wine, garlic, and seasonings. What's so nice about fromage fort is that it can work with almost any combination of cheeses, even strong cheeses like blue cheese or epoisses. It helps to include a soft cheese, to bind the mixture together, but really anything goes. In this particular mixture I used provolone, parmiggiano reggiano, and camembert. The mixture is quite good in it's plainest form, but you can also add in any herbs (chives are great) or spices like fennel or turmeric.

Fromage Fort
The cheese can be served as a dip, or spread on toasts and run under the broiler until bubbly and fragrant.

1/2 lb cheese in pieces
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt, pepper
chives (optional)

Pulse in a blender until smooth.

Fresh Goat Cheese

Hello there.

I hope you had a nice long weekend. I certainly did. The impending move and new job loomed largely on the horizon, but it was full of lovely things none-the-less. There were adolescent lettuces and Eastern Shore popcorn at a fun birthday dinner, a nerve-wracking overtime game, a new episode of The Wire, and several walks in the bone-chilling, exhilarating cold. I managed to squeeze in a few yoga classes to warm me up, a cup of celeriac-kale soup with tomato dumplings shared with mom, and trolled my way through boxes of old photographs, one of those tasks that's never as productive as it's meant to be, but is a great way to while away an afternoon. What more could you ask of a weekend, really? Oh, and I bought a carton of goat milk. And then I made cheese.

I know, I'm excited just typing it. And it was so easy, too! There was that container of goat milk, slyly beckoning me from the market shelf, and my curious hands just had to buy it. Of course, I had visions of making beautiful little crottins of goat cheeses or perhaps some goat milk yogurt, but in the end I just made the simplest cheese recipe I could find. When I lived in places where ricotta cheese wasn't available, I made my own, and the technique used here is much the same. It's quick, easy, and yields delightful results. But though I've made simple cheese before, this fresh goat cheese was beyond my expectations. It has the soft-curd texture of ricotta but with an underlying flavor- don't expect anything strong or creamy like chevre, only a quiet subtle note that keeps it just this side of bland. On Monday night I mixed it into a beet salad, but the beets almost overwhelmed it, and the cheese was so delicious in its subtlety we ended up setting aside our plates and simply spooning the cheese onto little pieces of bread, carefully tasting and chewing each bite.

The recipe doesn't yield a huge amount, which is okay because it's best enjoyed at its freshest. Besides, it's ready in only half an hour, and then you'll have your own homemade cheese! I can't wait to see what next weekend holds, and I hope it includes more cheese.


Fresh Goat Cheese
This simple cheese is like a goat-milk ricotta, and is best freshly made. Its subtle flavor invites experimentation with flavors and seasonings- you could try infusing the mixture with different herbs and spices. Though this can be made with cow's milk, I think that would be rather beside the point.

1 pint goat milk
1 tablespoon mild vinegar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

1. Place milk in a medium saucepan, stir in the vinegar, lemon, and salt. Place the mixture over a medium flame and place a thermometer in it.
2. Meanwhile, line a mesh sieve with several layers of cheesecloth (I fold it over so it has about 4 layers). Set the sieve over a bowl.
3. Bring the milk mixture to 175 F (do not let it boil). When the milk reaches 175F (in my case it took until 180), you will see the curds and whey separate. You can give the mixture a gentle stir to encourage it, but avoid over-stirring. When it has separated, pour the warm mixture into the cheesecloth-lined sieve and let drain. Gently lift up the corners of the cheesecloth and tie them up. Do not press on the cheese. Suspend the cheese over a sink or bowl and let drain for fifteen minutes. Gently unmold cheese, transfer to a bowl and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for over a week, but is best in the first couple days.

Whey can be discarded or reserved to use in breadmaking or soups.

Reminder

Note to self: Cheese should be served at room temperature.

I'm not much of a cheese eater, despite the fact that pretty much everyone else around me can be found digging wedges of stinky Epoisses or cutting hunks of Cotswold before and after the dinner hour. Me, I occasionally have a sprinkling of cheese as an accent in salad, but for some reason last week I found myself craving big hunks of fermented dairy products. Wheels of brie and camembert, carrying the odors of sweet lettuces from spring's milk, are just ripening to perfection around now. Which brings me to the reminder: cheese should be served at room temperature so it oozes perfectly across the plate. Not I-took-it-out-of-the-fridge-five-minutes-ago and not baked in one of those pastry cases. I usually set mine out an hour to half an hour before serving. We had this Camembert with thin slices of baguette and some leftover cranberry-orange chutney. Delicious.