When the recent cream cheese shortage sent me scrambling for alternatives, I discovered a dreamy spreadable goat cheese from Norway. Maybe you’re already a fan of Snøfrisk. Or maybe, like me, you’ve noticed its wedge-shaped package next to other fresh cheeses but never bothered to give it a try. I’m making up for lost time now. I love this stuff. It’s perfect for tarte flambée, the paper-thin Alsatian pizza, which is getting to be a New Year’s Eve tradition at my house.
Read moreChange It Up with Cheesy Bread Pudding
Of course I like cornbread dressing with roast turkey. What native Texan doesn’t? But I like this focaccia bread pudding more. The focaccia soaks up most of the custard, so it’s soft in the center but crunchy on top. I add sauteed leeks and wild mushrooms (crimini work fine) and a generous sprinkle of herbes de Provence. Creamy nuggets of goat cheese fill in the gaps. If you’re open to a newcomer on your Thanksgiving table, I hope you’ll give this luscious side dish a try.
Read moreLet’s Do Lunch
Thank goodness my garden is churning out tomatoes because all I want for lunch these days is dakos. That’s the Cretan rendition of what Italians call bruschetta. In Crete they use rock-hard rusks, first softening them in water, then drenching them in olive oil and heaping them with grated tomato and feta. No wonder the Cretans live forever. In my view, this is just about the tastiest and most wholesome quick lunch you can make.
Read moreWandering the Backroads
My dream job—and maybe yours, too—would be traveling the backroads of Europe as a Cheese Explorer, hunting for undiscovered cheeses at local farmers’ markets and in off-the-beaten-path bistros. I don’t get to do this but, fortunately, others do. That’s how American distributors keep receiving exquisite, unusual wheels from Europe that are hardly known there. This goat’s milk beauty comes from a scenic part of western France called Venise Verte (“Green Venice”). Did you even know this lush, canal-laced region existed? I didn’t, but I intend to go at the first opportunity. Maybe I’ll stumble on more goat cheeses as fabulous as this one.
Read moreStar Power
This little French beauty has a charming name and a touching back story. But more important, it’s delightful and just right for warm-weather cheese boards. Add a leafy green salad with lots of chopped fresh chives, a baguette and a bottle of Sancerre. Acclaimed affineur Hervé Mons had a hand in this cheese’s creation, so you know it’s sublime.
Read moreYou’re Grilling What??
Whatever else you’re planning to grill on Memorial Day, make room for cheese. Yes, you can grill it, and any non-meat eaters at your table will thank you. Halloumi, the sheep and goat cheese from Cyprus that doesn’t want to melt, has little personality until you warm it in a frying pan or on the grill. Then it blossoms. Serve it on toast (or lemon leaves, if you have them) with chopped fresh thyme and a drizzle of honey. A squeeze of lemon brightens it.
Read moreHello Gorgeous!
Could cheese get any prettier? This new beauty from Jasper Hill Farm gets top marks for appearance (from me, at least) and extra credit for being made with raw milk. Plus, it’s a mixed-milk blue—half cow, half goat—a rare taste experience. Jasper Hill has already proven its blue expertise with the exquisite Bayley Hazen. Has this Vermont creamery nailed yet another one?
Read moreTop Cheese Merchant Looks Ahead
Anne Saxelby/Photo: Christine Han
She’s a superstar of American cheese, sourcing the best from around the country for her acclaimed Manhattan shop and wholesale business. Pre-pandemic, Anne Saxelby supplied cheese to almost every New York City restaurant that cared about serving the best. But what a year. “Our two biggest revenue streams just disappeared overnight,” says Saxelby, the founder of Saxelby Cheesemongers. Given that May is American Cheese Month, I wanted to hear her views on how the pandemic has changed the cheese landscape. And, of course, I asked her to curate a cheese board featuring three American cheeses she’s loving right now.
Read moreFeta Dresses for Spring
Nobody’s a bigger feta fan than I am, but I’m getting a little tired of that baked pasta/tomato/feta recipe that won’t go away. Especially because it’s not tomato season. Now’s the time to be pairing feta with artichokes, asparagus, leeks, beets, radishes, green garlic…all the tender spring crops that are at their peak right now. Although I can’t go back to my favorite Greek restaurant quite yet, I can make the restaurant’s sublime roasted asparagus with feta. And so can you.
Read morePass the Goat Cheese, Please
It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but I still get people telling me they don’t like goat cheese. Really? You’re writing off the whole vast category? I’m pretty sure these folks mean they don’t like tangy, chalky fresh chèvre that smells like a goat barn. I don’t either. But who wouldn’t fall for the two lovelies pictured here? Both are French, nutty, mellow, marvelous and made from goat’s milk, and we’ll be tasting one of them at Cheese O’Clock on February 18.
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