on food: geeky cheese joy

[lagilman]

My job for Thanksgiving (knowing that I'm on multiple deadlines) is to bring cheeses and wines. I can do that.

So today I walked over to the local Whole Foods, and spent a nice long time wandering their cheese section. There is a certain irony that makes me such a cheese-freak, since I'm also lactose intolerant, but I try to get past that.

So, came home with a year-old sharp local cheddar, a fontina, a talleggio, and a Bastiansaan goat blue, which is new to me, but since goat milk doesn't bother my digestive system, new ones are always welcome.

That was the easy part. The hard part will be actually letting other people have some on Thursday.



and, in that theme:

You Are the Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Comments

[liuseth.livejournal.com]

Cheese, i love cheese! Is that hard having an intolerance for a thing you love? You can eat chocolate at least, right?

My husband, Bruce and I tried some fontina for the first time this weekend and loved it. Talleggio is also a new one for me, what does it look like?
Oh and i'd love to know how the goat's blue taste, please let me know.

Have you ever had Ridder before?

Kada - dropping by to say HI!

[lagilman]

Fontina is one of my favorite cheeses for snacking. It also is great in sandwiches.

Taleggio is a semi-soft. Very creamy, especially with a little age on it.

And no, I don't think I've ever had Ridder before -- what is it?

(and hey! back atcha. Welcome to the party!)

[liuseth.livejournal.com]

Taleggio i'll definitely have to try, the Fontina we had in toasted sandwiches. Fabulous. :)

http://www.tine.no/intprod/4814/ is a description of Ridder, I've mostly seen it called Ridderost here in America. It's creamy, buttery rich and piquant, it's gorgeous for snacking.

Here's a recipe i think you might enjoy. The cheeses don't have to be these exact ones, just four different kinds that you like. This is also a great quick meal when in the midst of writerly stuff and the tastebuds revolt as you've said they can do.

Quattro Formaggi a la Kada.

Serves two.

Ingredients:
1 Tbs olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic - sliced thin. (or more if you prefer)
1 Tbs finely chopped onion
good splash of dry white wine
1/3 c mozzarella
1/3 c brie
1/3 c parmesan
1/3 c blue cheese
1 pint cream
9 oz of your choice of pasta (fettucine, farfalle, penne or spirelli work well)
salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Cook pasta.
2. While pasta is cooking chop up all cheeses into small chunks.
3. IF confident enough you can lightly saute the garlic and onion in olive oil, add the white wine to flambe, then add the cream. If not confident, add the cream in first and then the wine to prevent flambe occuring.
4. Remove pasta from water and set in large serving bowl (or a mixing bowl.)
5. Heat the cream to a gently simmer and add the cheeses. Stir continuosly until the cheese melts and the sauce begins to bubble again.
6. Pour sauce over pasta and stir to combine.
7. serve in big bowl(italian style) or in individual pasta bowls, with nice crusty white bread and a garden salad, and of course a nice glass of white wine. Alternatively, just pig out on the pasta ;)

It was funny the first time i made that for Bruce, i believe i managed to take quite a few years off his life.
I'd cut up all the cheeses and sliced the garlic and onion, cooked the pasta and was beginning the sauce.
I lightly sauteed the garlic and onion then splashed in the wine.
The next thing i knew, Bruce had leapt out of his chair and was looking at me with an expression of horrified disbelief.
I looked back to the pan, casually shook the pan a little to move the onion around, looked back at him and said "what?"
Bruce said, "You scared the shit out of me, you could have warned me!"
I looked back at the pan, and the three foot flames i had created and exclaimed, "But this is normal!"

Yes that's right, poor Bruce had never been that close to a flambe before, PLUS he hadn't realised i had positioned the pan to avoid the wooden cupboards and overhang next to the stove.
From his position at the table it must have looked like i was trying to burn down the kitchen. LOL

[lagilman]

Is that hard having an intolerance for a thing you love?

I'm thankful for Lactaid, for certain. Lactose intolerace seems to be as much a matter of how much as what, so I think of it as having a points system. And you learn your limits pretty quickly -- I know, for example, that ice cream is worse for me than cheese, and a glass of milk is worst of all. So I eat sorbet, and learned to drink my coffee black, and save all my points for the cheese.

You can eat chocolate at least, right?

Hoo yeah. :-)

hello from far away

[megdalen.livejournal.com]

Hello! Stumbled across your LJ via a Firefly thread and thought, "I bet that's the same (Suricata) from NECON!" I was your roommate at NECON 2002, I think? In any event, I just wanted to say hello and am glad to see things are going well for you in the world of books! I got married and am now a librarian (with one publishing credit, yay!). Take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Meg (Bibeau) Ebba
LJ Megdalen