Cheese Admiration and Celebration

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Replies

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    When we were in Bosnia last week, we ordered a “cheese assortment” appetizer. They gave us what looked like a disappointing plate of soft white cheese wedges.

    OMG. Absolutely divine.

    Soft enough to serve on the homemade bread they served.

    All we could understand was that it was a cows milk cheese. I’ve tried googling it and can’t find anything similar. It looked like a fresh farmers cheese of some kind, similar to what we were served in rural Ukraine.

    What I need is a milk cow so I can try making some of these. How hard can it be? 😂

    I wonder what the neighbors would think if we put Bessie in the courtyard. Reminds me of the time my dad told the neighbors the pony in our back yard was just a very big dog, and to mind their own business.
  • MacLowCarbing
    MacLowCarbing Posts: 350 Member
    I do high fat/low carb so cheese is a great addition to my daily diet. I love just about any kind of cheese, with a meal, for a snack, as an ingredient-- whatever.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    When we were in Bosnia last week, we ordered a “cheese assortment” appetizer. They gave us what looked like a disappointing plate of soft white cheese wedges.

    OMG. Absolutely divine.

    Soft enough to serve on the homemade bread they served.

    All we could understand was that it was a cows milk cheese. I’ve tried googling it and can’t find anything similar. It looked like a fresh farmers cheese of some kind, similar to what we were served in rural Ukraine.

    What I need is a milk cow so I can try making some of these. How hard can it be? 😂

    I wonder what the neighbors would think if we put Bessie in the courtyard. Reminds me of the time my dad told the neighbors the pony in our back yard was just a very big dog, and to mind their own business.

    Recently a neighbour complained and the rooster living on the balcony of our high rise apartment building removed. The hubby's sister, when they were teenagers kept a goat in the garden shed, claiming it was a rabbit, until their dad found out about it.

  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 460 Member
    Small splurge while shopping yesterday. I've never tried this one.
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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,620 Member
    @SuzanneC1l9zz , if you feel up to it, maybe give us a small description/review after you've had a chance to eat a fair sample of it? It sounds tasty!
  • SafariGalNYC
    SafariGalNYC Posts: 1,582 Member
    My MIL gifted me some Parmigiano Reggiano 😋
    These lil snack packs are perfect.

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  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    SafariGalNYC wrote: »
    My MIL gifted me some Parmigiano Reggiano 😋
    These lil snack packs are perfect.

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    Is that….Stuart Little?
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,386 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    SafariGalNYC wrote: »
    My MIL gifted me some Parmigiano Reggiano 😋
    These lil snack packs are perfect.

    t2xpd38uqc8f.jpeg
    fso7qgjafq0m.jpeg

    Is that….Stuart Little?

    Definitely NOT, but it's kind of creepy to have a mouse in a sport coat trying to encourage me to buy delicious aged cheese.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    We're in Siena Tuscany on vacation and my primo tonight was potato gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce and truffle shavings. Must try to reproduce this at home, though I will probably haveb to use truffle oil instead of the real thing. Hubby started with a parmigiano reggiano flan that was oozing liquid in the middle. Delicious if a little heavy.
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  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,620 Member
    Gosh, @acpgee, those look delicious . . . rich, but delicious!

    I made the mistake of grocery shopping while on the verge of hungry today. Humboldt Fog and aged gouda were on sale. Guess what came home with me? Yup, those, plus a small bit of white stilton with lemon from the Bits & Bites basket at WF.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,386 Member
    @AnnPT77

    If you were overcome and don't want all that stuff at your house, feel free to send me the Humboldt Fog.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,620 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @AnnPT77

    If you were overcome and don't want all that stuff at your house, feel free to send me the Humboldt Fog.

    If you were close enough to visit, I'd share . . . and that's saying something, because it wasn't that big a chunk given the price, despite the $5 off per pound (plus 10%).
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    We're in Siena on holiday and I just got into an argument with the hubby about what cheese to drag home on Saturday. I wanted to buy a hunk of pecorino as I have got girlfriends coming over for dinner on Sunday and was planning to do spaghetti cacio e pepe. Hubby thought it is a waste of luggage space seeing as pecorino is pretty easy to obtain in London.

    I remember when I was a skinny teenager modelling in Europe in the 80s when Italian food was not widely available internationally. My modelling buddy Lynda from NYC used to live off fresh mozarella, fresh ricotta and tomatoes whenever she was in Milan. Fresh mozarella balls were unheard of in the US at the time, and what was sold as mozarella in the US was a hard cheese that became extremely stringy when melted. Lynda was so thrilled to see fresh mozarella balls being sold at the exclusive deli shop Dean & De Luca in NYC after her sojourn in Europe. She was so disappointed to discover they were actually selling spoiled mozarella balls once she opened the packets at home.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    Pici cacio e pepe with truffles in Siena. I am going to try to make this on Sunday, as I have girlfriends coming round for dinner the night after we get home. It's a little tricky as the only ingredients besides optional truffle shavings are pecorino, ground pepper, and starchy pasta water so wants to split when you attempt to make the emulsion at the wrong temperature.
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  • SafariGalNYC
    SafariGalNYC Posts: 1,582 Member
    edited October 2023
    springlering62 wrote: »
    SafariGalNYC wrote: »
    My MIL gifted me some Parmigiano Reggiano 😋
    These lil snack packs are perfect.

    t2xpd38uqc8f.jpeg
    fso7qgjafq0m.jpeg

    Is that….Stuart Little?

    The brand has a few mice in commercials that sing about cheese. Lol. Unsure if they are related to Stuart or Stuart’s creator.

    https://youtu.be/mhGv7YQMeJw

    Parmareggio/Italian mice as ambassadors -commercial above. :) kinda cute.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    SafariGalNYC wrote: »
    springlering62 wrote: »
    SafariGalNYC wrote: »
    My MIL gifted me some Parmigiano Reggiano 😋
    These lil snack packs are perfect.

    t2xpd38uqc8f.jpeg
    fso7qgjafq0m.jpeg

    Is that….Stuart Little?

    The brand has a few mice in commercials that sing about cheese. Lol. Unsure if they are related to Stuart or Stuart’s creator.

    https://youtu.be/mhGv7YQMeJw

    Parmareggio/Italian mice as ambassadors -commercial above. :) kinda cute.

    10/10 on the cute scale!
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    Very modest cheese haul from Siena due to lack of time and luggage space. Two types of pecorino. The soft ones are less readily available internationally.
    or5uaglqpcgr.jpeg
  • SuzanneC1l9zz
    SuzanneC1l9zz Posts: 460 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    @SuzanneC1l9zz , if you feel up to it, maybe give us a small description/review after you've had a chance to eat a fair sample of it? It sounds tasty!

    It's really nice! The dairy it comes from describes it on their website as a blend of cheddar, Dutch gouda and Swiss raclette. Semi-soft. I've put it in several kinds of sandwiches (including making a grilled cheese with it on jalapeno/cheddar sourdough, OMG SO GOOD!!) as well as a few bits on its own. Will definitely buy again!
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    Last night I tried making a cacio e pepe type sauce but with additional ingredients which worked pretty well. I cheat by adding half a teaspoon of sodium citrate to a quarter cup of starchy pasta water in a small sauce pan and bring that to a simmer. The sodium citrate stabilizes the cheese, making the sauce less likely to split. Whisked in 50g of finely grated parmesan, then a few tablespoons of mushrooms the hubby sauteed earlier today. Finely stirred in a teaspoon of truffle artichoke pesto we dragged home from vacation in Siena last month. I wasn't sure if truffle pesto would lose it's flavour if heated. An easy way to make a cheese sauce base for other pasta sauces. I will try other pantry staples such as chopped sun dried tomatoes, olive tapenade for variations on a light cheese sauce.
    okn4q7f6f2le.jpeg

  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    Apologies for spelling and grammatical errors. Finally on finely.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Last night I tried making a cacio e pepe type sauce but with additional ingredients which worked pretty well. I cheat by adding half a teaspoon of sodium citrate to a quarter cup of starchy pasta water in a small sauce pan and bring that to a simmer. The sodium citrate stabilizes the cheese, making the sauce less likely to split. Whisked in 50g of finely grated parmesan, then a few tablespoons of mushrooms the hubby sauteed earlier today. Finely stirred in a teaspoon of truffle artichoke pesto we dragged home from vacation in Siena last month. I wasn't sure if truffle pesto would lose it's flavour if heated. An easy way to make a cheese sauce base for other pasta sauces. I will try other pantry staples such as chopped sun dried tomatoes, olive tapenade for variations on a light cheese sauce.
    okn4q7f6f2le.jpeg

    I’m eyeballing your side salad with unadulterated lust
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    That salad is cherry tomatoes, roast paprika, mozarella, and olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic. Every couple of weeks we buy 6 paprikas and blacken them in the air fryer to peel and store in the fridge covered in olive oil.

    Traditional recipes tell you to leave the whole blackened peppers to cool in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, but they are easier to peel if you cool them in a tupperware type air tight container. As they cool a layer of steam gets trapped between the skin and the flesh making the skins easy to rub off.

    You can buy peeled paprikas in jars from the supermarket, but they contain something acidic as a preservative that imparts a flavour I don't like.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    That salad is cherry tomatoes, roast paprika, mozarella, and olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic. Every couple of weeks we buy 6 paprikas and blacken them in the air fryer to peel and store in the fridge covered in olive oil.

    Traditional recipes tell you to leave the whole blackened peppers to cool in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, but they are easier to peel if you cool them in a tupperware type air tight container. As they cool a layer of steam gets trapped between the skin and the flesh making the skins easy to rub off.

    You can buy peeled paprikas in jars from the supermarket, but they contain something acidic as a preservative that imparts a flavour I don't like.

    I’ve tried googling paprika peppers, but am confused. Looks like can substitute a red bell pepper?
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 8,002 Member
    springlering62 wrote: »
    acpgee wrote: »
    That salad is cherry tomatoes, roast paprika, mozarella, and olives dressed with olive oil and balsamic. Every couple of weeks we buy 6 paprikas and blacken them in the air fryer to peel and store in the fridge covered in olive oil.

    Traditional recipes tell you to leave the whole blackened peppers to cool in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, but they are easier to peel if you cool them in a tupperware type air tight container. As they cool a layer of steam gets trapped between the skin and the flesh making the skins easy to rub off.

    You can buy peeled paprikas in jars from the supermarket, but they contain something acidic as a preservative that imparts a flavour I don't like.

    I’ve tried googling paprika peppers, but am confused. Looks like can substitute a red bell pepper?

    Sorry, that is a continental difference. Red bell pepper is the same thing. If you google for recipes you will get lots of variations, with halving, leaving whole, blackening them on the gas hob or oven. For me the easiest method is the air fryer, left whole.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 8,679 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    . For me the easiest method is the air fryer, left whole.

    That is sheer genius.

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