Cheese Admiration and Celebration
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Thank you AnnPT77. It just shows how easy it is to trigger me.As a friendly reminder, this is not a junk food debate thread: There are various of those around MFP, for those inclined.
It's a cheese thread.
Me, I eat some cheese - sometimes multiple servings - pretty much every day. As an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and one who tends to under-consume fats if she doesn't pay attention, I find it nutritionally helpful. I almost never go over the MFP sat fat default (get a fair fraction of MUFAs/PUFAs from other foods), and the cheeses have useful protein, useful fat . . . plus they're delicious. It seems like a psychological miracle that I can (mostly) moderate them! (I apologize to those who can't for underscoring my good fortune in that way.)
Today, I ate a goat feta - a favorite - from my local farmstead creamery. It's quirky, not a classic feta really, but I adore it. Though I don't love cauliflower rice (bigger chunks of cauliflower have more flavor), tonight's dinner was cauliflower rice with a nice garlic/tomato pasta sauce, an egg, and a portion of that good feta. Enjoyable, and a good macro/micro profile to fill out my day. I'm full and happy.
I envy you. There is no weight-loss way I can afford to eat cheese, even if it is the only food I know of that is capable of making me feel "full and satisfied". It's just the calories that don't cooperate. And yes, feta is also a favourite of mine. One portion for me is "as much as is available". Ouch.
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ETA another P.S.: Cornelian cherry is a near relative to Dogwood, which I think is interesting, too.1 -
If I am not mistaken, our red osier dogwood is edible as well, but perhaps more bitter. I have never tried it, though I can imagine it must be rather heavenly in combination with cheese.As a friendly reminder, this is not a junk food debate thread: There are various of those around MFP, for those inclined.
It's a cheese thread.
Me, I eat some cheese - sometimes multiple servings - pretty much every day. As an ovo-lacto vegetarian, and one who tends to under-consume fats if she doesn't pay attention, I find it nutritionally helpful. I almost never go over the MFP sat fat default (get a fair fraction of MUFAs/PUFAs from other foods), and the cheeses have useful protein, useful fat . . . plus they're delicious. It seems like a psychological miracle that I can (mostly) moderate them! (I apologize to those who can't for underscoring my good fortune in that way.)
Today, I ate a goat feta - a favorite - from my local farmstead creamery. It's quirky, not a classic feta really, but I adore it. Though I don't love cauliflower rice (bigger chunks of cauliflower have more flavor), tonight's dinner was cauliflower rice with a nice garlic/tomato pasta sauce, an egg, and a portion of that good feta. Enjoyable, and a good macro/micro profile to fill out my day. I'm full and happy.
ETA: That thing @acpgee posted a while back here, with the smoked cheese plus a sweet topping (genericizing the idea) was really good, in experiments I tried. I had some with Cornelian cherry jelly (that a friend made), some with pomegranate molasses, neither of which were exactly the original concept . . . but really good on melty smoked gouda or provolone.
@lietchi, what was the nature of the cheese in the 'postre vigilante' you had? I looked at some web articles, but they were more descriptive of the "dulce" layer (which can be quite various, it seems), and not very specific about the cheese. In your photo, it looks like it could be Halloumi-like, or queso-fresco-like, or paneer-like, or . . . ? Can you describe what you had?
ETA another P.S.: Cornelian cherry is a near relative to Dogwood, which I think is interesting, too.
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I am still in thanksgiving planning mode (apologies to any who find this annoying). I will be cooking mainly for elderly relatives but I have found that it is challenging for them to enjoy a cheeseboard these days - hard to reach and cut and prepare one’s own selection - so I am going the route of prepping little filo pastry tart shells that I will fill with raclette and fig jam, or brie and cranberry, or feta and tapenade and bake in the oven until crispy and melty, I also found some appetizer sized bamboo skewers which I am going to thread with dried apricot, a chunk of peccorino a friend brought me, and some prosciuttio san danielle. I am hoping these bite sized treats already prepared will be easier for everyone to manage.5
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And I don’t want to see this thread go off topic either, but this article in Eating Well magazine about what happens if you eat cheese every day might make people on this list happy; https://apple.news/AF3BmSxCQRUWYSII7l5_cYA
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@Sinisterbarbie1 The filo shells with cheese & toppings are a great idea! One of our go-to holiday foods these days is puff pastry baked in mini-muffin trays topped with brie covered in berries, jam, herbs, nuts, whatever. It’s like serving baked brie, but you can make many different variations at once easily. They’re always a hit. We basically use this method, but vary the toppings: https://www.wellplated.com/brie-bites/1
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@lietchi, what was the nature of the cheese in the 'postre vigilante' you had? I looked at some web articles, but they were more descriptive of the "dulce" layer (which can be quite various, it seems), and not very specific about the cheese. In your photo, it looks like it could be Halloumi-like, or queso-fresco-like, or paneer-like, or . . . ? Can you describe what you had?
Perhaps the choice of cheese also varies. And obviously, while the dessert is typically South American, I had this dessert in Spain. In my case it was a fairly standard cheese that we had seen throughout our trip through Andalucia at our breakfast buffets, a fairly hard white cheese, most likely a mix of sheep's and goats milk, fairly mild. I'm no cheese expert, but probably an iberico style cheese.
To continue on the theme of cheese combined with sweet: for lunch I enjoyed some blue goat's cheese we brought back from Granada, on some bread with redcurrant jelly.
Picture before I closed my sandwich to eat it 😉
I don't know if it's because I don't have a sense of smell (since birth) but I have a weak spot for blue cheeses, as well as food that combines several basic tastes. So this combination really hit the spot flavorwise. Just a pity about the calories 😛
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You might like Oka, a Canadian cheese. I tend to compare it Port Salut on the less tasty end and Esrom on the more tasy end.I don't know if it's because I don't have a sense of smell (since birth) but I have a weak spot for blue cheeses, as well as food that combines several basic tastes. So this combination really hit the spot flavorwise. Just a pity about the calories 😛
And yes, too bad about the calories. If it didn't have so many calories, It'd be my number one staple.
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Very nice, there is one catch though:Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »And I don’t want to see this thread go off topic either, but this article in Eating Well magazine about what happens if you eat cheese every day might make people on this list happy; https://apple.news/AF3BmSxCQRUWYSII7l5_cYA
The problem is that this is true for everything without exception. Even radioactivity, in moderation, may offer potential health benefits.As with any food, eating cheese in moderation may offer potential health benefits.
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BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »
Very nice, there is one catch though:Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »And I don’t want to see this thread go off topic either, but this article in Eating Well magazine about what happens if you eat cheese every day might make people on this list happy; https://apple.news/AF3BmSxCQRUWYSII7l5_cYA
The problem is that this is true for everything without exception. Even radioactivity, in moderation, may offer potential health benefits.As with any food, eating cheese in moderation may offer potential health benefits.
This thread is about cheese not radiation, less we forget, again.7 -
Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »I thought I would share an idea for a thanksgiving first course/side dish. I am someone who experiments in the kitchen and cooks mostly by sight and smell until ready so I can’t say that this is a “real” recipe or tested … but I am planning to halve and core pears, brush them with a balsamic glaze or a vin cotto for flavor and pre-bake them in the oven until they are hot & soft, but still hold their shape, (you may want to cut a sliver off the bottom to make the sit flat in the baking dish) then top/stuff the cores with some soft blue cheese or brie (I have a carambazola blue, but a dolce gorgonzola or if you don’t like stinky cheeses, a mild brie) and put back in the oven to melt. Top with some crushed nuts (pistachios or sliced almonds) toasted for a few seconds on a pan to crisp and get fragrant. Maybe a turn or two of black pepper. Serve on greens with a sprinkle of vinegar and oil and maybe some pomegranate arils or dried cranberries.
I do something similar with peaches in the summer. Halve and pit peaches, lightly drizzle olive oil and sprinkle with chili powder. Roast in oven for 20 ish min. Add goat cheese to each peach half for last several minutes in oven and drizzle with aged balsamic to finish.6 -
@sandielewis2001 and @knotmel thanks for the additional great ideas!0
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It wasn't a weak moment.
I had actually written "cheese" on my shopping list. So I spent some time looking and deciding.
I had a small package of goat brie in my hand. I decided to put it back and grab a hunk of goat gouda. I have had this cheese before, and I must have liked it. But it's not "Gouda cheese," it's "Gouda STYLE cheese." At least it's made in Netherlands.
How long will it take me to eat the whole thing? Not as long as it should, but I'll enjoy every damn bite.5 -
In anticipation of US Thanksgiving on Thursday, but without a specific plan in mind, I bought a chunk of Cambozola. Of course I needed to sample it today, in order to plan better.
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It's not a very big chunk, TBH. But I think that other cheese is maybe more affordable here than there? It was $31.99 a pound IIRC (not on sale) on Monday, so 5 pounds would be 'only' $160, not $180. We could pool our cheese purchasing resources. 😉😋0 -
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It is (almost) always Gouda style. Gouda is just a generic term to describe a type of cheese and it is not protected, unlike Roquefort or Stilton.It wasn't a weak moment.
I had actually written "cheese" on my shopping list. So I spent some time looking and deciding.
I had a small package of goat brie in my hand. I decided to put it back and grab a hunk of goat gouda. I have had this cheese before, and I must have liked it. But it's not "Gouda cheese," it's "Gouda STYLE cheese." At least it's made in Netherlands.
How long will it take me to eat the whole thing? Not as long as it should, but I'll enjoy every damn bite.
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BartBVanBockstaele wrote: »
It is (almost) always Gouda style. Gouda is just a generic term to describe a type of cheese and it is not protected, unlike Roquefort or Stilton.It wasn't a weak moment.
I had actually written "cheese" on my shopping list. So I spent some time looking and deciding.
I had a small package of goat brie in my hand. I decided to put it back and grab a hunk of goat gouda. I have had this cheese before, and I must have liked it. But it's not "Gouda cheese," it's "Gouda STYLE cheese." At least it's made in Netherlands.
How long will it take me to eat the whole thing? Not as long as it should, but I'll enjoy every damn bite.
It's actually because it is made from goat's milk. True gouda is made from cow's milk.0 -
I opened the goat Gouda "style" cheese and grabbed a plane. I think it would be better if it were a little more aged, but it was quite good. It could have had more of a "goat" flavor, but it made nice slices.
As a bonus, I was able to eat just some of it and put it away for another time. It would have been easy to just keep going. I'll give myself a gold star for that. I saved room for some roasted vegetables.4 -
The cabrales(=blue goat) we dragged home from vacation in Valencia is glorious. I used it a little too sparingly in tonight's salad that also contained sliced tangerines, halved grapes, croutons, baby gem, rucola and honey mustard vinaigrette. Next time I will be more generous with the cabrales. This is actually a very quick salad to put together. We make vinaigrette in bulk to keep in food grade squeeze bottles in the fridge. Whenever we use a recipe that requires removing bread crusts we make croutons in bulk to store in an air tight jar.
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@AnnPT77 that is what I bought to stuff my balsamic glazed pears with on thanksgiving! I keep looking at it in the fridge with great anticipation. Here are some more goodies from the cheese drawer, some slightly nibbled on (gjetost for breakfast!)
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@Sinisterbarbie1, Cambozola with balsamic-glazed pears sounds wonderful: Yum!
I tried Gjetost years once, years back, and really didn't care for it: It seemed a little too goaty for me. (I may also have been put off by it looking just like Fels Naptha bar soap!) If I could find a manageable sized chunk to buy, or if I see it somewhere that I can get a sample, I'd like to try it again. I know my tastes have changed for other things.0 -
@AnnPT77
I bet you'll find Gjetost a little too sweet for your current palate. It has a very interesting taste and texture, and I actually like it. I bet it would be good with slices of Winesap. We used to have a cheese monger in the food coop that had an amazing array of cheeses. They would custom cut any cheese, and they would wrap it in butcher paper rather than plastic. Now it's all pre-cut, and the selection isn't as vast. So sad. They also had ridiculously low cheese prices.
Wallace and Gromit would have loved this place.2 -
@AnnPT77 gjetost is really weird cheese - i like it for breakfast or as a dessert cheese board offering a lot. It also seems to appeal to people more when sliced with a plane rather than in chunks - less overpowering and the texture is better. I may be making this up, but it has always tasted to me like caramel - could that have something to do with how it is made? Might there actually be some caramelization going on contributing to the sweetness? Anyway, I discovered it years ago with a wine tasting group and loved it. I thought it was some exotic crazy expensive and hard to find cheese, but then discovered that it was available in most grocery stores in small cubes in pre-packaged boxes but I just never knew what it was (the wine club version was from a proper cheese monger). It seems to last forever and not dry out or change character either.1
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Ok couldn’t resist googling it. It is a Maillard reaction that makes it brown and sweet so I was pretty close. And it comes in varying sweetnesses if you get it in Norway …. You can use it to flavor and thicken stews etc. and it is recommended to have for breakfast with coffee on toast with jam or as the last meal of the day with a stout or porter and some apple slices. I guess my northern European DNA was just steering me to do things https://www.wine4food.com/food/gjetost-norwegian-cheese/1
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Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »Ok couldn’t resist googling it. It is a Maillard reaction that makes it brown and sweet so I was pretty close. And it comes in varying sweetnesses if you get it in Norway …. You can use it to flavor and thicken stews etc. and it is recommended to have for breakfast with coffee on toast with jam or as the last meal of the day with a stout or porter and some apple slices. I guess my northern European DNA was just steering me to do things https://www.wine4food.com/food/gjetost-norwegian-cheese/
Honestly, every time I go to Norway I feel tempted to their 'brown cheese', and every time I do I regret my decision. I can't help it, I don't find it pleasant at all
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OK, I'm going to have to try gjetost again, even if I need to buy a chunk. Maybe I can use it up as a richening ingredient in food combinations, if I don't like it plain. But I'm skeered. 😬
Most cheeses, when eaten plain, I prefer to be very thinly sliced, though I don't have a plane. (I'm not a big cracker person, think they usually take away from rather than add to, when it comes to cheese. So, if I have an especially yummy special cheese, I'd normally eat it on its own. Right now, that's my plan for the Cambozola, though I can't exactly slice that.)0 -
@AnnPT77
Splurge on a nice cheese plane. Seriously. It may well increase your enjoyment of almost any cheese. You get so much more surface area; you don't need crackers. Get a good one. If it doesn't work easily, it's just frustrating.
Once that goat gouda "style" cheese I had got too thin for the plane, I ate it in thicker chunks. No crackers. And it was so much better planed thin.
Cambozola.... I will often put that on a cracker. A nice plain cracker. I think it adds to it. I can also just cut off a chunk and... Mmmmmm.1 -
The balsamic pears with cambazola were a hit. I finished them with crushed toasted pistachios and some flash fried sage leaves. When I cooked them i put some red wine in the bottom of the pan to keep the balsamic glaze from burning (I don’t drink any more so mine happened to be dealcholized already, but if yours isn’t bring it to a boil to burn off the alcohol first so it doesn’t overpower), I drizzled the remainder over some mixed salad greens. The little cheese tarts with various toppings also worked out so much better for my elderly relatives than a cheeseboard would have and everyone had a chance to sample a perfect bite of everything without anything getting messy or crumbly.5
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