La Fête du Fromage - April Round Up

Well, it's a bit silly to call it a "Round Up," as I only received a single entry this month. However, the entry was a cheese that I've been excited about tasting for quite some time now.

Thanks to Camille for joining in April's La Fête du Fromage International Cheese Tasting Event and convincing me that the next time I come across Fribourg d’Alpage, I must buy a wedge. A big wedge.
She describes this cow's milk, Gruyère-style cheese from the Alps as complex and having "nutty, rich characteristics" and as "earthy, grassy, nutty, salty, with a hint of tang and a finish that leaves you salivating for more."
Wow! Sounds wonderful!

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My contribution is Cantal Vieux, or "aged Cantal." I wrote about it's younger incarnation, Cantal Entre-Deux, three years ago and must say that if given a choice between the two, Cantal Vieux wins hands down.
This version, aged anywhere from six to fourteen months, is a bit drier and crumblier, with rich hazelnut and grassy flavors. One of those perfectly balanced, lovely French cheeses that is very easy to fall head over heels with.

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I'm undecided whether to continue doing this monthly Cheese Tasting Event or not. Interest seems to have lagged, so this month might be the last. I'll decide in a few days if I should keep it going.
Of course, my weekly Fête du Fromage will continue. 167 cheeses tasted. Many, many left to go!

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Savory Chorizo and Onion Bread Pudding

Leftover French bread. There is never a shortage of it in our house.
We buy a baguette, gros pain, or campaillette almost every other day and usually don't finish the entire loaf.

So what do you do with it all?
There aren't any village dogs to carry it away since our neighbor's dog, Goomy, passed on. And the village cats don't want it.
There are only so many things you can do with croutons and breadcrumbs.
My New Orleans Bread Pudding is so decadent and rich, and I think should be saved for special occasions. (Husband might disagree. I think he would gladly eat it every day)
And I can't fathom just throwing it away.


My Greens Cookbook has a recipe for Savory Bread Pudding that I've glanced at over the years, and the other day, as I sat there looking at this big chunk of day old gros pain sitting on our kitchen counter and thinking that there was simply no more room in our freezer for more breadcrumbs, inspiration struck.

In the end I didn't use Deborah Madison's recipe. Kevin Weeks had a Savory Spanish Bread Pudding recipe on his blog, Seriously Good, that piqued my interest. I fiddled with it to work with what I had available, and the result was seriously good!


Savory Chorizo and Onion Bread Pudding
serves 4-6

• 6 thick slices French bread (not a skinny baguette - I used gros pain)
  
• 5 eggs
• 2 ½ cups whole milk
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon Spanish paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces dried Spanish chorizo, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tomato, seeded and diced
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 cup grated Cantal entre-deux* (white Cheddar would also be good)
  

Set oven to 200 degrees F. Cut bread into 1-inch cubes and dry them in the oven, being careful not to brown them. If your bread is day old, this will take less time than if not. Keep checking it.

Heat the olive oil in skillet over medium heat and add the cut up chorizo. Cook for a couple of minutes, then add onion and sauté until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic and cook 1 more minute. Set aside to cool.

Raise oven heat to 400 degrees F.

In a big bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the bread cubes, sautéed chorizo and vegetables, and tomato, and leave it to sit for about 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times so the bread absorbs all of the liquid.

Pour into a lightly buttered, 8x8-inch square baking dish.
Bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for another 20 minutes or until the pudding is puffed up and browned.

Serve immediately.

*I used Cantal Entre-Deux because I had a big chunk to use up. Parmesan or white Cheddar would also work.

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Weekend Goings On - Most Importantly, What's for Lunch

This morning I'm getting all sorts of little, last minute things done around the house before I run to la boulangerie and begin making lunch. We've got three family members arriving from America around two o'clock this afternoon, so we thought we'd have a glass of wine and lunch waiting for them.

On the menu today:
Lucques olive tapenade
An updated Coq au Vin that I make with some sparkling Saumur, which I started cooking with last spring. It makes a lovely sauce! I need to write the recipe down and share it.
Cheese course consisting of Maroilles, Cantal Entre-Deux and Chabichou de Poitou.
Tarte Tatin

Tomorrow, I'll let someone else be the chef! Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Salers Tradition and Langres

I finally came across some Langres, a cheese I've been trying to find for ages! We tasted it with a nice hunk of Salers Tradition for this week's Fête du Fromage.


The mountains of the Auvergne region of central France is home to a chestnut colored breed of cattle called Salers. After a summer of grazing on sweet mountain pastures, the raw milk from this special breed is used to make Salers Tradition cheese, an entirely fermier AOC cheese. It is similar to Cantal, the main difference is that Cantal can be made from milk produced all year long and Salers only from the summer milk. The cheese is made and aged in mountain burons (stone huts) just as it has been for the last two thousand years.
The piece I bought was aged for 18 months and was salty, tangy and strong tasting with hints of grass and flowers. I loved it's flavor, but my husband wasn't very excited about this one. (more for me!) It's aroma was meaty and heady and the texture was soft and crumbly.

Salers Tradition would be delicious served with fruit such as pears or grapes and fantastic with walnuts. Pour a glass of Touraine or a fruity Beaujolais to drink with this cheese.



Gooey, runny and utterly delectable, Langres (LAHNG-gruh) was truly worth it's hefty little price tag. (5 € for this 150 gram cheese in a basket)
The high plains of Langres in the Champagne-Ardenne region is home to the artisans who make this superb AOC awarded cheese. Difficult to see in this picture, but the there is a little well or fontaine on top into which you can pour Champagne, Chablis or marc de Champagne*. Then, when you cut into the cheese, it is bathed in spirits. But the flavor is so incredible it doesn't need to be bathed in anything! Just have a glass of Chablis or Champagne or marc with the Langres while you're eating it.
It has a smelly, barnyard aroma (for lack of a better description) and a wet, shiny looking crust. The cheese melts in your mouth as spicy, creamy and mildly salty flavors blend together and send waves of pleasure throughout your entire body. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a tiny bit, but this cheese is very special!



*marc de Champagne is a clear, colorless brandy made by distilling the residue of skins, seeds and stalks left after pressing the grapes in the first stage of making Champagne Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Valençay and Cantal Entre-Deux

I need to make a list.

While standing at the fromagerie counter last week and surveying the vast array of cheeses on offer I spent an astonishing amount of time thinking to myself, "have I tasted that one? I don't remember...how about that one?
Damn, I need to make a list!"
The poor woman behind the counter.

After much consideration (and reflection on the fact that I must have short term memory loss) two very different looking and tasting cheeses were chosen for this week's Fête du Fromage.

Cantal entre-deux and Valençay

Cantal entre-deux is one of the five AOC granted cheeses that come from the mountainous Auvergne region of central France. The "entre-deux" means "between" as there are three ages of Cantal; young, entre-deux and vieux. Young, mild Cantal is aged for 1-2 months, entre-deux is aged for 3-6 months and the strongest tasting, vieux more than 6 months. Cantal is considered one of the oldest cheeses, having been mentioned by Pliny the Elder around 2000 years ago. It is made from unpasteurized cow's milk and has a sweet, fruity flavor and creamy, smooth texture. It is extremely enjoyable, not too strong, but not too mild either.
Fruity, red wines such as Gaillac are a good match.

Valençay is another fetching little pyramid shaped cheese with a salted, ash covered, bumpy rind. Made in the Loire Valley from raw goat's milk, it was granted AOC status quite recently, in 1998. Its flavor was tangy, mild and nutty with subtle hints of citrus and the texture was supple and smooth. All around delicious!
Drink a white Valençay or Sancerre or a light red wine with this one.


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