Cheeseplates

two blue is too blue

 I had enjoyed the Gorgonzola Dolce at Proof so much that it made me wonder how it compared to other sharper blues.   When I saw it at the cheese counter while shopping for our holiday party, I thought: "why not have two blues and let people compare?"

Well, because not everyone likes blue cheese, as I was reminded this evening when a large portion of both were left on the plate.  The accompaniments (honey, dried cranberries, and walnuts) went over well and I did hear a few people comment "oh, honey with blue cheese, I never realized how nice that was." However, all in all, I'd have to say this was not a successful cheeseplate experiment. :(

Return to cheeseplatery: old standbys

So now that I am no longer pregnant and can eat any cheese in the world again (see adorable baby photo at left), I was delighted when my cousin recently brough t over a selection of cheeses as an appetizer. Frankly, they were probably all pasteurized, but cheeses just taste better when you don't have to look at the wrapper to check. We had a brie, a chevre, and what I think was an Irish style cheddar (not looking at the wrapper has its down side too) with sesame crackers. Normally I am opposed to strongly flavored crackers b/c I think it drowns out the cheesy goodness, but with these three reliable standbys, the crackers were great.  I managed to dig up some Guava jelly from the fridge and we were set. Two nights later, I reprised the whole assortment when a friend came by for dinner. yum.

awesome cheese knives arrive for christmas

No rinky-dink cheese knives here (You know, the kind with the porcelain vegetables on the handle, leaving you to wonder "why AM I stabbing at this brie with a decorative pea pod??") there is even a fork and a spatula in this set.

friends for dinner and some creamy cheeses

We had some friends for dinner on Saturday, which was, of course the perfect excuse for another cheese plate.  I decided to go the creamy cheese route, and wanted to pair something nice and safe with something I'd never tried. One trip to Whole Foods later (I know, I need to branch out) and I had three cheeses that seemed like they would match up well.

• Port salut (always a favorite);
• French Munster (which looked nice and oozy, but sounded safe - all the Munsters I've had have some flavor, but are pretty calm ); and
• A Chimay Grand Cru- which I had never heard of, but was described as an unpasteurized, nutty, semi-firm cheese with a rind washed in Chimay beer.

It turns out that French Munster is nothing like other Munster -- rather, it has a decidedly pasture-ey flavor, which is delicious in a creamy cheese, particularly when eaten as a gob on top of a single dried apricot and never-mind the cracker. The majestic sounding Chimay Grand Cru was rich and pleasant: it paled a bit beside the French Munster, but rounded out the trio nicely. With ryvita crackers and a few almonds and apricots on the side, we even had a good array of cheesy accompaniments.

note: for more info on Chimay Grand Cru, see CurdNurd's entry on the cheese.

a random pair of cheeses

I'd been traveling in Africa for a couple of weeks, during which time cheese plates were few and far between. There were a few cheeses present in in-flight meals, but nothing worth mentioning here.. except perhaps a moment of cheese horror in business class on Kenya Airways, where the cheese cart was so distressing that I passed it right by (A shimmery blue cheese with square hunks of mold? ew).

So tonight I picked up a Saint Nectaire (semi-soft French cows milk cheese) and a Queso de Marcia (semi-hard Spanish goat cheese), which I intended as  an appetizer, rather than as a dessert.  Somehow, I feel that at least three cheeses are absolutely necessary if one is trying to be luxurious after a fine meal.  In advance of a fine meal however, (particularly one cooked by my charming husband, Peter) just two cheeses will do the trick.

I quite liked the flavor of the Saint Nectaire, although my cheese bible tells me that I bought one of the lesser brands (Livradois).  It was creamy in texture and had a mild touch of that that straw-ey barn-yard flavor that I quite like.  Peter preferred the Queso de Marcia, which was crumbly in a chalky way, but not too dry.  The goaty flavor was also pretty mild. I think that I would have wanted a stronger flavor in both if this had been dessert plate, but for an appetizer they were  just fine.

Friday night with my cheese

Sometimes you just need a cheese plate at home – on a Friday for example. Luckily, we live near Whole Foods, where festive cheeses are only a visit away.  (As an aside, Whole foods will actually let you taste the cheeses if you are trying to decide between two of them. I was flabbergasted by this idea – unwrap the cheese and cut a piece off?! In the middle of the store?! Apparently, that’s fine) 

So our home constructed cheese plate included:

• Appenzeller: a hard cow's milk cheese (not a pony) from Switzerland.
• Dimon Morbier: reasonably obviously French semi-soft cow's milk (and potentially my favorite type of cheese, ever)
• A three cream blue from Iceland called “Stori Dimon” (incidentally this looks more like a fuzzy brie when you first unwrap it. It has a few veins of blue, but the flavor is closer to a brie on steroids than to what you typically think of when someone says “blue cheese”)

The Appenzeller I resurrected from the fridge – when I bought it a few nights ago we didn’t really like it – kind of barn-yardy but with the texture of Irish cheddar. Paired with the other two friends however, it was suddenly a really nice third party on the plate – further evidence that cheese plate-ery is in fact a fine balancing act!

These three went quite nicely together if you are a fan of strong cheeses. They each had enough character to remind you of their individual flavors every time you had a bite. So often there is a mild cheese there among the strong ones, but I always feel like that one gets lost among its more assertive buddies. At the same time, there was a consistent earthyness across these three that it wasn’t odd to switch from one to the next. Mmmmmmmm.