Jun
25
I always think of the fall as an inspirational time to whip up renewed energy and ideas….but sometimes things happen when you least expect them. It’s time to live the cheese dream. With a wealth of experience under my belt from working at Ottavio, it’s time to move on. Look out city of Victoria….a cheese explosion is on its way.
So thanks to everyone for reading my silly rants and raves and I wish you many great meals and exciting food adventures.
Best,
jennifer
“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” ~George Bernard Shaw, “The Revolutionist’s Handbook,” Man and Superman
Apr
17
Apparently I’m a great big “turophile”…..sounds odd, but it’s the name for someone who adores cheese. Discovered this little gem over my coffee/paper ritual this morning. I always read the “social studies” part of the Globe&Mail as a finisher….and of course this caught my eye:
World o’ cheese
“The moon isn’t made of it, and it doesn’t give you nightmares, but cheese is as old as civilization itself and probably comes in more varieties than any other food,” Britain’s Mail on Sunday reported last year. “There are 400 different types of French cheese alone. In fact, cheese is such an integral part of the Western diet that there’s even a name for someone who passionately loves cheese – turophile … Conversely, someone who fears cheese is said to have turophobia.”
MICHAEL KESTERTON
Now that I’m back home, I’m catching up on old news…. a pile of newspaper clippings lovingly clipped from family and friends highlighting all the food news. Top of the list was an article by Sasha Chapman about Ruth Klahsen – an artisanal cheese maker in Ontario.
I met Ruth many years ago when she was first making her wonderful cheeses. Steve and I went up to her dairy one long weekend in July to get a glimpse of her life and discover the secret art of turning milk into silky smooth curds. After that, she very kindly let me come up to the dairy once a week (for a few weeks) and taught me the rudimentary basics of making and how to age cheese.
Anyways….that’s a whole other story. Sasha’s article describes Ruth’s plight to build a new dairy. To help fund this incredibly expensive (and what I think must be a very frustrating, red-taped bureaucratic process) adventure she is selling “cheese subscriptions”:
“Ms. Klahsen says the subscriptions, which average about $500 per customer, will yield vouchers for $750 worth of curds once the new dairy is up and running next year.”
Sounds better than the pitiful interest rates at the bank – cheese vs money? I’ll bank on a good piece of cheese any day!
For anyone that would like help Ruth or read the full article, go to Cheese Dreams – Ruth Klahsen
Nov
23
It’s odd how a topic of conversation suddenly pops into your life – at work, home, something you’ve overheard on the street. whatever. It’s suddenly there. That’s how munster came into my life. A few customers at Ottavio had been asking for it recently. Reading a magazine, a recipe called for it. Researching food/wine matches I came across it when I delved into Alsatian wines. It’s on my radar and I’ve never even tried it. Until last night that is.
s
I’m supposed to be on a bit of a cheese lock-down, but for the sake of research I bought some. Steve swears I’ve tasted it before, but surely I’d remember. Anyways, we tried a pasteurized petit munster. It was a small round with a tacky, soft orange-coloured skin (washed rind). Flavour-wise, a sharp taste without being overwhelming – and definitely some ammonia there. But not really a distinctive taste. And according to my fave cheese resource, that being Murray’s Cheese Handbook, that’s probably because it wasn’t a farmhouse munster – but a factory, pasteurized (oh, the horror) one. He accurately describes it as “…their (the pasteurized ones) gummy, acrid, unpleasant tang bears little resemblance to the great raw milk versions.”
Didn’t stop us from eating the little thing, but I did think carefully as I ate it. A great cheese has depth of flavour and nuances that make your brain work through all the different flavours that pass over your tongue, textures that amaze you and of course, smells. This one fell short of the mark. But it’s heightened my curiosity. Must find real munster!
Nov
17
Other peoples birthdays, that is. And yesterday was Steve’s. I had a field day. I spent the last week mentally preparing menus and choosing the right wines. Not to mention the delightful satisfaction of choosing and finding the right gift. I enjoy his birthday way more than he does. But he did pay me a great compliment – he said this was the best birthday ever. Of course it’s all about the food. The day started with freshly squeezed orange juice followed by pink bubbles (Prosecco Marzemino Roasato) and a bang-up breakie of bacon, fried eggs & potato/roasted red onion hash. Next a walk on the beach (yesterday was remarkably warm and clear – you could see every detail of the Olympic mountains across the Juan de Fuca) followed by a matinee of the new James Bond. A stroll downtown lead us to the Bengal Lounge in the Empress where we sipped Manhattan’s (I like bourbon ones) and watched dusk settle over Victoria harbour.
Now for the fun……home to dinner. Bear with me, there are lots of photos…..
I printed the menu and gave it a border of pretty wrapping paper.
In case that’s too difficult to read – here it is:
Stephen’s 42nd Birthday Dinner
November 16, 2008
Chestnut & Chanterelle Soup
**
Clos de Capuncins Riesling Schlossberg 2006
*******
Braised Rabbit with Polenta
**
Clos de L’Oratoire des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005
*******
Radicchio & Red Leaf Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts and Lemon Vinaigrette
*******
Blue de Laqueuille
Dutch Beemster
Tomme Haute Richlieu
Black Mission figs
**
Passito de Pantelleria
First course is a chestnut & chanterelle soup with thyme cream…..I love the rustic fall look of roasted chestnuts. To roast them, first score flat sides with a knife, then roast in 375F oven until they pop open…about 15 to 20 minutes. They add a velvety texture to the soup, once it’s pureed.
Poor rabbit…not looking so good right here…. a little too naked. But have hope. I braised it in red wine with celeriac, orange peel, rosemary and lots of garlic.
Oh my, look at these beauties! Cooking for a sommelier can bit a little daunting. But I think I matched my wines well.
This is the finished soup. It was divine….the mushrooms are so incredibly rich. On any given day I would’ve been satisfied with just this – a little bread and a hunk of good cheddar (the raw milk seven year aged cheddar from Quebec), but there was more, much more to come.
The rabbit was surprisingly good. I still think it tastes like chicken but Steve thought it much gamier. The polenta was a good choice to soak up the sauce -and this was a saucy rabbit – the corn added another deep layer of flavour and the texture is so comforting. I forgot how good it is. There will be more polenta in my life from now on!
By the time the salad course rolled around I was more sauced than the rabbit. I needed a cheese fix so I added a crouton with blue cheese to the salad. Wrong, wrong, wrong. All we needed at that point was a tart salad to cleanse the pallatte. Radicchio and read leaf lettuce with a tangy lemon dressing and a few crushed pine nuts was quite enough. Blue cheese – overboard! My bad. So I ate Steve’s crouton. Hee hee.
And finally, what I had been waiting for all day…..the birthday cheese. Starting with the orange hunk and moving clockwise: Beemster, Blue de Laqueuille (from the Auverne in France) and Tomme Haute Richlieu (Quebec). A few dried figs and some dates for good measure.
We finished just before midnight….as all good things must come to an end. If anyone wants any of the recipes let me know. I should probably write them down in the next or day so I don’t forget them.
Cheers,
jennifer
