It’s the Quatorze Juillet back in France. A good day to write about cheese, no?

I haven’t been in Oxford very long, but I’ve already noticed quite an admiration for France – in culinary terms at any rate. Walk down the streets in the city center and you’ll come across many French-style bakeries selling croissants, crepes, baguettes…. Since I’m only in England for two weeks, I’m trying to avoid anything that I can find back home (except Dijon mustard – just couldn’t convince myself otherwise when it came to making salad dressing). This friendly “boycott” goes for cheese, too.

Thus, I headed to the Oxford Cheese Company (located in the Covered Market) to pick up some local cheeses. They have a wonderful selection and the young woman behind the counter was more than happy to point out her favorites. I ended up with five different types, and these two stood out as being especially worth trying:

Oxford Blue

This is an award winning blue cheese made from cow’s milk – and not nearly as strong as French Roquefort. It’s soft, creamy and has a salty tang. This is a fairly new cheese, created in 1993 as an alternative to stilton – and still made in a Stilton dairy.

Marksbury Cheddar

The first cheddar originated in Cheddar Village in the county of Somerset, England. There is record that it was being made (and purchased by the King) back in the 12^th century. Check out the British Cheese website for some interesting history – including the fact that Henry II once purchased 10,240 lbs. of it!

Marksbury Cheddar (from Somerset) is among the best cheddars I’ve ever tasted. It’s fairly strong and sharp. Although it’s a hard cheese, it seems to melt in your mouth. It really tastes like it came directly off a farm in England!

The cheddar was especially nice with the malt bread I picked up (a common find here in England).

Address:

Oxford Cheese Company

17 The Market
Oxford OX1 3DU
Tel: 01865 721 420

Today’s my blog’s first birthday! In honor, I made a cake.

This was an adventure, considering I had never made a savory cake before. On my way home last Friday I was imagining exactly how I wanted it to turn out- and trying to figure out which ingredients (and in which proportions) would make it work best.

I didn’t want a dry cake- that was sure. I wanted it to be light, smooth and moist (while being cooked all the way through). I knew what I was up against and all the pitfalls I was likely to fall into. Moist. How can I make it moist? I wanted it to be like a yogurt cake- et voilà- there, in the late afternoon sunlight, I decided what I’d make- more or less a yogurt cake without the sugar.

I also knew I wanted it to be light- well, as light at a cake packed with creamy Roquefort cheese can be. So, I decided (for, I think, the first time ever) not to use butter because, with the cheese, it would just be too much. Instead, I opted for canola oil, which doesn’t have an overpowering flavor.

In the end, I was very satisfied with my blog’s birthday cake!

Shopping List

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup yogurt

1/2 cup grated gruyère cheese

3/4 cup Roquefort

2/3 cup walnuts

1 pear (cut into small pieces)

Recipe:

1. Mixed dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar).

2. Beat eggs and mix in wet ingredients (oil, yogurt), in a separate bowl.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix as little as possible so the cake will be light and airy!

4. Add the remaining ingredients. Still mixing as little as possible.

5. Bake in the oven at 350° F for about 35 minutes. The top should be slightly browned and the cake fully cooked (difficult to tell since the cheese will be melted).

Happy Birthday!

Amboise, a small town in the Loire Valley, is known primarily for its overbearing medieval castle- once home to some of France’s most famous rulers, as well as to Catherine of Medici’s ten children!

Amboise is also renowned for Clos-Lucé, the stately home where Leonardo da Vinci (invited by the French King Francois I) spent the last years of his life.  We recently discovered that Amboise is also noted for it’s Sunday morning open-air market- for us, this meant the discovery of some new cheeses and cheese desserts.

At first I thought it was a mistake- that the unidentified food item sitting on the vendor’s booth was burnt, really burnt. Turns out, that’s the way a tourteau au fromage is supposed to be. Made from thick, creamy fromage blanc this cake is originally from the Poitou-Charentes region of France. Outside, it’s round and looks like a turtle shell, or rather a crab shell (in French, a tourteau is a large crab). Did I mention it looks like a burnt crab shell? Inside, it’s light, airy and slightly sweet. We were told we could eat this delight either with an aperitif or for breakfast- it didn’t actually make it that far.

The next foodie adventure was camembert au Calvados- basically soft cheese soaked in alcohol and then covered in bread crumbs. Calvados is a brandy made of distilled apple or pear from Normandy. I had trouble deciding if I actually liked this cheese or not- it was smooth and creamy like ordinary camembert, yet had a very strong kick, thanks to the Calvados. We ended up saying, “It’s different.” Definitely worth trying, but might not make regular appearances on the cheese platter.

Next post: Still in the Loire, but this time…chocolate in Bracieux.

In this post, I’ll be talking about Greens, an upscale vegetarian restaurant, Pauline’s Pizza and Dragon Well, a hip Chinese spot.

Greens

My new favorite restaurant (in the world, I think) is Greens at Fort Mason. It’s located in an old warehouse overlooking San Francisco Bay. According to their website, they were one of the pioneers in establishing vegetarian gastronomy in the United States. Today, this is a fine-dining restaurant that serves only the highest quality vegetarian cuisine.

On Saturday nights Greens proposes a four-course set menu ($49, not including drinks). It may be a splurge, but is well worth it. Vegetarian or not, I’m convinced the pickiest of diners will leave feeling quite satisfied. You may choose from a variety of appealing (and wholesome) appetizers, main courses and desserts. You may also opt for a selection of wines, most of which are organic and are paired with your meal choice ($28 for 2 glasses of wine, plus an aperitif).

I was at Greens celebrating a group birthday party (that’s how you do it when you, your family, and friends are scattered all over the world). Our toast to turning 30 (we were 3 college friends in the lot) started off with Alsatian crément rosé (Lucien Albrecht)- essentially rose-colored champagne. We enjoyed this with goat cheese, olives and a fennel-Satsuma salad.

Next on the list was the appetizer (and the beginning of my new-found love for Italian butter beans). I chose: grilled asparagus, artichokes and radicchio, over the aforementioned beans and topped with shavings of Andante Dairy’s Etude goat cheese. (Andante, by the way, is a California-based, single-woman-run dairy farm, that produces numerous specialty cheeses. You can find them, for example, at the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market that I mentioned in my last post).

My main dish: wild mushroom ravioli- so decadent it made me wish I was actually one of the mushrooms I was eating. Really. The homemade ravioli and mushrooms melted in my mouth just as much as the herbed butter that accompanied them.

And for dessert: a cheerful almond, honey tart.

No matter how much I rave about the quality of Greens’ cuisine, it won’t do it justice.

What I remember most: every single bite, the wine pairings and the view overlooking the bay.

Pauline’s Pizza

Pauline’s isn’t just any pizza restaurant: partly because they have their own organic vegetable gardens- which provide for many of the toppings on their pizzas. They also have their own vineyards. The house red, a 2006 Mourvedre, (an earthy, kind of leathery wine), accompanied the special house pizza (pesto) and the special house salad (a flirtatious combination of organic produce), quite well.

What I remember most: the noisy bustle, the crayon jar on the table, and the friendly wait staff.

Dragon Well

You can never forget a restaurant that introduces you to something new. At Dragon Well, a rather refined Chinese restaurant on Chestnut Street, it was stir-fried peas shoots. I had eyed them earlier in the week at the farmer’s market, but had never actually eaten them. I let the fact that I’m actually writing about them speak for itself. In addition to the pea shoots (a side dish), I’d recommend the Steamed Black Bean Salmon (cooked in rice wine and garnished with spinach) and the Stir-fried Curry Mi Fun (with five-spiced tofu and vermicelli noodles). At the end of your meal, you get to choose from either a traditional, or chocolate, fortune cookie.

What I remember most: the inviting smell of spices coming from the kitchen.

Addresses (all in San Francisco):

Greens

Fort Mason, Building A / Tel: (415) 771-6222 (Accept online reservations.)

Pauline’s Pizza

260 Valencia / Tel: (415) 552-2050

Dragon Well

2142 Chestnut Street / Tel: (415) 474-6888

Back from San Francisco- with lots of foodie stories to share!

When I travel, it’s all about food- well, at least 85%. It’s about trying new fare and seeing what’s in, what’s local. It’s about color and spice and just plain satisfying the palate.

Food-wise, San Francisco is a beautiful fusion of culture. I felt like I traveled the world in only a couple weeks. Sometimes I almost felt like I was back in France (French-inspired cafés and bakeries run rampant, as do fine red wines and decadent cheeses). Other times I was transported to far-off places like China, Italy, and Thailand. San Francisco is definitely the place if you like variety- high quality, healthy variety that is. What struck me most about the city is its abundance of fresh, organic produce and gourmet-style vegetarian cuisine.

You can’t write just one post on an entire trip, so I’ll be spreading my San Francisco food adventures over several days. I’ll talk about a few excellent restaurants, including my new all-time favorite, Green’s. I’ll also fill you in on tea, coffee, fortune cookies and cupcakes. Let’s start with farmers’ markets, though- essential when visiting this vibrant , farmer-friendly city.

I made it to two a couple open-air markets, but the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market was my favorite: a definite must if you’re in San Francisco on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. Overtaking the Ferry Building Market Place in the Embarcadero neighborhood, this market has a great community vibe. It’s happy. It’s bustling. It’s full of mouth-watering samples.

My mom and I started our morning out at Frog Hollow Farm’s café just inside the Ferry Building back doors. Actually, we ended up spending more than just one morning here- thanks to the cherry almond scones and well-made coffee drinks.

Revved up and ready to go, we headed to the clock tower to meet up with a good college friend of mine and take in the humming sights, sounds and tastes of the market.

Meyer lemons were everywhere, from Frog Hollow Farm’s zest-filled lemon marmalade to lemon-flavored quark cheese. These sweet, fragrant lemons are originally from China, but are the craze in California today.

Quark cheese, originally made in Eastern Europe, proved to be a special, and addictive, find. It’s a soft cheese, kind of a cross between ricotta and cream cheese. While the garlic, lemon and vanilla flavors were all fun, we all ended up favoring the latter. The cheese naturally has a slight tang which gives a subtle kick to the vanilla. Such quark is great at breakfast, spread over warm toast or homemade scones.

We eagerly wandered from stand to stand in awe at all the edible originality for sale. Tangled kiwi vines- well, those aren’t actually edible, just a sight for the eyes. Stinging nettles- yes, those are edible, when cooked. Cap’n Mike’s Indian Smoked Salmon, (basted in honey). Herbal sugars- such as lemon (there it is again!) verbena and rose petal- and dried Thai basil at the Allstar Organics booth. Crispy, juicy Asian pears (which had a slight lemon flavor by the way).

I could go on and on, but I’ll just mention a few more finds…

On more of a French note, we encountered huge bundles of fragrant, organic lavender; some not-so-ordinary mushrooms; rich, creamy cheeses; fine red wines; and excellent renditions of real French bread. Just inside the Ferry Building doors, for example, lies Far West Fungi, a small shop that offers all sorts of intriguing mushrooms I’d never heard of before (like Nameko and Pioppini). Also inside the building is the Cowgirl Creamery, the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant and the Acme Bread Company. The best way to combine it all (and feel a little French) is to sit down for wine, cheese, marinated mushrooms and baguette at the wine bar.

We ended up going back to the Ferry Building several times. On one such occasion, we enjoyed two 2007 Californian reds: a Scribe Pinot Noir, Carnezos-Sonoma and a Nalle Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley. The cheese: a ½ round of Mt. Tam. The bread: an entire, fresh épi baguette.

Whether you start the day or finish it at the Ferry Plaza Market and Ferry Building merchants, you can’t go wrong. The market itself gets my “kudos for sustainability” for it’s support of local farmers and various other environmentally-friendly initiatives. The vendors, for example, only dispense bags that are compostable or recyclable- important since, as I learned, the City program doesn’t recycle just any old plastic bag!

All the market excitement almost made me wish we didn’t have dinner reservations that evening. I wanted to shop and cook, shop and cook- especially some of the stranger looking mushrooms. Fortunately, Green’s restaurant, and their mushrooms, was well worth the sacrifice.

Next post: favorite San Francisco restaurants…

Though I was hopeful for spring with my last post, this week’s on-and-off flurries of snow have officially confirmed that winter is not yet over.

In fact, this has been the strangest, coldest winter I’ve experienced in Paris so far.  Today, alone, has been proof of divine indecision: one minute, unbelievably large snowflakes are floating in the air; the next, the sky is clear and blue; and, then, it’s masked in grey, bone-chilling cold.

Whether you’re just visiting or actually living in Paris, one of the coziest escapes from the weather is shelter in one of the capital’s endless array of wine bars. Just recently, we discovered one that was especially inviting- and hidden away from any tourist crowd.

Le Rouge et le Verre is located in Paris’ 9^th arrondissement, not too far north of the Palais Garnier opera house and right near the church Notre Dame de Lorette.  This area may not get the same attention as the neighboring 1^st and 2^nd arrondissements (home, for example, to the Bibliothèque Nationale, Place Vendôme and the Louvre), but I enjoy walking around its somber streets and stepping into its cafés/bars for the unexplored, authentic atmosphere I always feel.

Soon as you walk in this cave à vin, your eyes roam the rows of wine bottles lining the walls (arranged by region and identified with rustic wooden signs, of course).  The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly- with most customers coming in to ask for pairing advice and purchase a few bottles.  In the evenings between 5pm and 8pm, however, you may enjoy a glass of wine and a plate of cheeses or charcuteries.  This is where I was introduced to a monastic cheese from Brittany called “Timanoix.”  A semi-hard cow’s milk cheese, it’s made with nut liqueur which gives it a pleasant, almost smoked and nutty flavor.        

As for the wine, Sébastien and I each ended up with a glass we’d now recommend.  With my cheese, I took a 2005 Margaux, Les Gondats de Marquis de Terme (the young man helping us said this hearty red wine would go well with the meat plate as well).  Sébastien opted for a 2007 Irancy, Domaine Heimbourger, a light and refreshing white wine.

For anyone who likes oysters, it’s the season to enjoy these, too.  You can either take them to go (sold out front) or sit and eat them with a glass of wine.

Address: 8, rue Maubeuge (9^th)

Telephone: 01 48 78 68 43

Metro: Notre Dame de Lorette

It’s snowing again, by the way…

What did I do with my first ever homemade spelt quiche crust?

I made it into one of my favorite recipes to date.

Like I said in my last post, living in France has made me want to learn how to make quiche. Unlike the crust, I’ve been practicing on the filling for about a year now. First, I tried other peoples’ recipes (I’m a fan of this one on Clotilde’s blog Chocolate & Zucchini). Then, I started experimenting with some of my own.

My roasted red pepper and goat cheese quiche was quite a project, and, including the crust, I’ve broken it down into 7 steps. Don’t worry, they’re little steps.

What I liked best about this quiche was that it tasted wholesome, thanks mainly to the crackly texture and nutty flavor of the spelt flour (and the sesame seeds decorating the edges of the crust). It also tasted gourmet, thanks to the freshly roasted red peppers and melted chèvre. Like my squash blossom recipe, you need to have the right goat cheese. I asked my local fromager for advice and she recommended a fresh goat cheese from Charente (Domaine de Sansac). Of the selection she proposed, she said most people chose this one for cooking. It was good advice. Now for the recipe:

Shopping List:
Spelt pie crust
2 red bell peppers
1/2 large red onion
A handful of pine nuts
3 eggs
1/4 cup crème fraîche (or other cream or milk)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Fresh goat cheese (about 1/3 cup, cut or broken into small, half-inch pieces)
Brown sesame seeds (toasted)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Dried herbs, such as thyme

Step 1: Roast the peppers

1. Clean and cut peppers into 6 pieces each.
2. Place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until roasted. Turn over from time to time, at least halfway through baking. They will be soft and blackening when finished. Set aside when done.

Step 2: Sauté the onion (while the peppers are baking)

1. Dice onion and sauté in a little olive oil until slightly transparent and browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Step 3: Toast the pine nuts (at the same time as the onions)

1. Simply place un-toasted nuts in a frying pan and toast over medium heat. They toast really quickly, so be careful and don’t let them burn! Set aside

Step 4: Prepare the filling (when the peppers are about done)

1. Beat eggs, crème fraâche, mustard and a bit of salt and pepper in a small bowl. Set aside.

Step 5: Make the crust

Click here for the recipe.

Step 6: Put it all together

First layer over crust: onions
Second layer: goat cheese
Third layer: 3/4 of the egg mixture
Fourth layer: peppers (arrange like a flower, coming out from the middle)
Fifth layer: the rest of the egg mixture
Sixth layer: pine nuts
Finishing touches: Decorate the edges of the crust with sesame seeds (they stick better over a bit of the left-over egg mixture). Finish off with a few sprinkles of dried herbs and a dash of freshly ground pepper.

Step 7: Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 25-30 minutes.

The top will be golden brown when finished.

We ate our quiche with a simple salad of lettuce, endive and vinaigrette. Perfect!

]]> http://thetomatoknife.com/2009/08/roasted-red-pepper-and-goat-cheese-quiche-recipe/feed/ 1 http://thetomatoknife.com/2009/08/baked-squash-blossoms-goat-cheese/ http://thetomatoknife.com/2009/08/baked-squash-blossoms-goat-cheese/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:41:31 +0000 Joy Anna Becvarik http://thetomatoknife.com/?p=410 What did I do with the bouquet of yellow squash blossoms I bought from Joel Thiebault’s vegetable stand last week?

Simple: I filled them with fresh goat cheese, drizzled them in olive oil and a smidgen of salt, and baked them in the oven until they were slightly brown and crispy.  Result: They tasted like summer and I want to make them again and again and again…

What about the squash? These particular squash blossoms were unique because they were attached not to stems, but to tiny, baby yellow and green squash.  I left these on, of course, and together the blossoms, squash and cheese melted in my mouth.

What kind of chèvre should you use? When using goat cheese for cooking, I like it to be fresh (chèvre frais in French).  I first tried using a more mature cheese and found it didn’t come out smooth and creamy like I wanted.  The right texture is important for this recipe!  For more info on different types of goat cheese, check out this great website.  It helps understand which cheeses to use for which recipes, and answers many goat cheese related questions; I like the FAQ page.  Of course, I also always like asking my local fromager for advice.

Nothing else? I did experiment with adding different ingredients to the chèvre (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, shallots, ground pepper…), but found that the best combination was simply a nice, quality goat cheese.  Otherwise, you take away from the delicate taste of the blossoms.

Other advice? Be careful when preparing the blossoms, as they are very fragile.  I baked at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 20-25 minutes.  Serve warm and savor the crispy, yet soft sensation in your mouth.

One of my favorite terms in French is amuse-bouche.

The verb amuser means to entertain or amuse and the word bouche means mouth. An amuse-bouche is a small hors d’oeuvre served with an apéritif. The term makes me laugh because I imagine sleepy taste buds being teased and woken up in preparation of the meal to come. An amuse-bouche can be any number of munchies, from peanuts and bite-sized crackers, to olives and tiny decorated toasts called canapés.

You can make canapés with many different kinds of bread. French grocery stores sell packages of miniature (about one square inch) pain de mie made specifically for this purpose. Pain de mie is the equivalent of sliced sandwich bread, soft and without a crispy crust. These slices come in a variety of different flours- white, whole wheat, rye, multi-grain… Or, you can do like Sébastien to get the same effect: take a traditional-sized piece of toast and cut it into quarters. Not everyone toasts their canapé bread, but we usually prefer it that way. If you want to be a little untraditional, do like me and cut a thin slice of your favorite freshly-baked loaf (for example, walnut or olive) and decorate that. If it’s still warm from the oven (which often happens when you live over a boulangerie) you may not even want to toast it.

We’ve topped our toasts with all sorts of tantalizing toppings, such as herbed cheese with sliced cucumber, green olive tapenade and fresh garlic with olive oil and rosemary. Our all-time favorite, however, is smoked salmon over a smear of butter or soft cheese.

Sébastien’s version
This one’s for the traditionalists. My mouth always starts watering when I smell the toasting bread and slightly melted butter.

- White pain de mie, slightly toasted and cut into quarters
- Unsalted butter
- Slices of smoked salmon
- Fresh lemon juice
- Ciboulette (Chives)

Joy’s version
This one’s reminiscent of bagels and lox. Since cream cheese isn’t so easy to find in France, I went in search of a close replacement. I discovered a soft, fresh cheese called Saint-Moret which works perfectly. On a recent visit to the States, I made these canapés, excited to use real cream cheese, and found that I actually preferred my French version. While cream cheese is still my favorite on bagels, Saint-Moret is lighter and a smidgen sweeter- perfect for this “mouth teaser.”

- Your favorite bread, sliced and toasted
- Saint-Moret cheese
- Slices of smoked salmon
- Fresh lemon juice
- Ciboulette

I won’t give you quantities or directions on how to put this together- it’s an easy one- just remember to let the toasts cool down a bit if you’re using cheese.

Enjoy with your favorite apéritif!

The result: a unique combination of strong, slightly salty cheese and light, aromatic wine.

I didn’t think I would be a fan of sweet wine, but am always open to trying something new, especially if it’s a little out of the ordinary. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Jurancon moelleux (Domaine de Cauhapé, Ballet d’Octobre 2007) we brought home was different than I had expected. Since I’m still learning about wine, I try to pay attention to everything when I taste a new one: the oeil (literally, the eye), the nez (the nose) and the bouche (the mouth). In not-so-literal English: the color, the smell and the taste. While I’ll let you discover the hues and bouquet on your own, I must say I appreciated the nice balance between the sweetness and acidity of this wine. At first, I noticed a tropical taste, reminding me of pineapples and mangoes. Then the intense sweetness faded away and the final seconds before swallowing were reminiscent of the dry white wine we had previously tried from the same vineyard. Like the wine merchant, I’d definitely recommend pairing this vin with a blue cheese, such as Roquefort, for the lively contrasts they create.

For those who are curious, Roquefort is made of raw ewe’s milk and there are several different kinds. We happen to enjoy the rich, creamy taste of Roquefort Papillon Rouge. There is a village in southern France called Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (in the Midi-Pyrénées region) and, yes, this is where they produce the cheese. I haven’t been there (yet), but would definitely be tempted to visit the caves where they ripen it. In other words, I’d like to see where Roquefort gets moldy.

Apparently, Obama didn’t drink any wine at dinner last Saturday night during his visit to Paris (so I heard on the local news). I wonder if he had any Roquefort?