Photo du Jour - Trois Fromages

Three of my husband's favorite French cheeses, le Crémeux du Mont-St-Michel, Pouligny Saint-Pierre and Roquefort.
He has very good taste. Pin It

Languedoc Cheese Course

Sometimes you just have one of those perfect days... Pin It

Belgian Endive, Roquefort, Apple and Walnut Salad

Greens, cheese, fruit and nuts. Mix them together and you've created the kind of winter salad that I love! In this case, a salad of Belgian Endive, Roquefort, Apples and Walnuts.

Roquefort, as I've said before, is not one of my favorite cheeses. It's a shame really, as we live just next door to Roquefort country.
I do however, love it cooked into tarts and added (with a light hand) to salads.

Belgian endive has an earthy, invigorating flavor and crisp texture that lends itself perfectly to salads. Especially hearty, composed salads that include apples for a hit of sweet, Roquefort or blue cheese for a nice, creamy, tangy flavor and chopped walnuts for richness.
This combination is heavenly!


Belgian Endive, Roquefort, Apple and Walnut Salad
serves 6

• 6 medium Belgian endive
• 6 ounces Roquefort cheese at room temperature, crumbled
  
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 tart apple (I use Granny Smith), peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the vinaigrette: Mix the salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar together in a bowl until the salt is dissolved. Slowly add the oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly until the mixture has emulsified. Add the garlic and whisk again.

For the salad: Just before serving, otherwise they will discolor on the edges, remove the outer leaves from the endive and separate the other leaves from the core. Wash and dry them, then cut into thin, crosswise slices.
Place the sliced endive, crumbled Roquefort, chopped walnuts and chopped apple in a bowl.
Pour the vinaigrette over everything and mix well.
Serve immediately.

Belgian endive is made up of 90% water and is rich in potassium, calcium, folate and vitamins A and K. When choosing, look for leaves should are white with pale green edges, firm and closed into a tight cylinder.

.
Pin It

Hitting the Road

the destination - Rodez
the reason - Betty

I'm off to the Aveyron!
I'll be crossing that really big bridge and driving though Roquefort, Laguiole, Cabécou and Bleu des Causses country.



A reminder: Only a few days until La Fête du Fromage World Cheese Tasting Event!
Please have your entries to me by November 13. The entire round-up will be posted on November 15.

• Photos are wonderful, but not necessary
• Entries must contain the words La Fête du Fromage and contain a link to Chez Loulou
• Posts should be written specifically for La Fête du Fromage and not entered in any other food blog event
• Please send the link to your post to louloufrance (at) gmail (dot) com with the words Fête du Fromage in the subject line

Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Le Petit Risso

The Lozère is a wild and isolated department of the Languedoc-Roussillon which encompasses rugged mountains, vast meadows, deep gorges and limestone caves. Its human population is the lowest in France, leaving plenty of wide open spaces for the cows and sheep to graze.

It is home to several well known French cheeses such as Laguiole, Tomme de Lozère, Pélardon, and blue cheeses such as Bleu des Causses, Bleu d'Auvergne and Roquefort.



My most recent cheese discovery from the Lozère is another blue veined cheese called le Petit Risso. It is produced at the farm, La laiterie Rissoan, a small scale producer of cow's milk and sheep's milk cheeses since 1948.

Don't let that blue veining fool you. This is not Roquefort!
Le Petit Risso is soft and mild with slightly salty, grassy and tangy flavors. Its texture is dense, rich, quite buttery and chewy, and the rind is hard, but totally edible.

The cow's milk used to make this cheese is lait thermisé - heated at a lower temperature than pasteurized milk so that harmful bacteria are killed but flavorful enzymes remain.
Lait cru - never heated above 40°C
Lait thermisé - heated at 45°C for 30 minutes or 72°C for 1 second
Lait pasteurisé - heated at 63°C for 30 minutes or 72°C for at least 15 seconds



While I didn't fall head over heels in love with le Petit Risso, I would absolutely recommend it if you like mild blue cheeses.

It pairs best with some dry, fruity white wine or a dry rosé. Pin It

Cleaning-Out-The-Fridge Cake

By cake, I mean a savory cake that is baked in a long, narrow loaf pan.

I've come up with a savory cake batter that allows me to throw in whatever needs to be used up in the fridge. I always have bits of cheese lying about and often have bacon, ham or even leftover roasted chicken. Add some sautéed vegetables for texture and flavor, mix it up, bake it and voilà! Dinner is served!

I call it Cleaning Out The Fridge Cake.

The basic batter recipe:
3 large eggs
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk - whole or 2%
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together in a big bowl.

Then you fold in:
4 ounces grated cheese such as Gruyère, Comté or Swiss
4 - 8 ounces sautéed vegetables such as zucchini, peppers, fennel, onions, jarred roasted red peppers or roasted tomatoes
8 ounces soft cheese such as chèvre or feta
1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs or 1 teaspoon dried
freshly ground black pepper
optional: 1/4 - 1/2 cup of diced ham or diced, cooked chicken, smoked salmon, dried fruit, pitted olives

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Serve warm or cold.

Create the ultimate combination to suit your taste!
Some great ones are smoked salmon and sautéed fennel, ham and olives. Chèvre, plumped up golden raisins and mint. Mozzarella, sun dried tomato and rosemary.

The amount of additional salt and freshly ground pepper will depend upon what ingredients you're using.

Yesterdays bread with roasted red peppers, fresh goat cheese, herbes de provence and grated Comté cheese.

Here are a few more savory cake recipes with slightly different batter recipes.
Roquefort and Pear Cake
Savory Cheddar-Chive Bread
Roquefort Walnut Savory Loaf Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Roquefort

Voilà Roquefort

Who hasn't heard of it? This very strong cheese seems to garner very strong opinions. People either love it or hate it. Personally, I'm not a huge fan, but I do love to cook with it.

A blue veined cheese from the Causse du Larzac has been enjoyed since the Roman times but it was during the Middle Ages that Charles VI granted a small village in the south of France a monopoly on aging Roquefort in the local caves. It is made from the unpasteurized milk of the Lacaune ewe and matured in the Combalou caves that surround the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in the Aveyron département. The blue veining develops after the rind is pierced forty times and the cheese is left to mature in the caves where the penicillium roqueforti bacteria go to work.

At least three months of aging is necessary under the AOC guidelines, but it is usually allowed to mature for four months. Roquefort is an intensely flavored, distinctively salty and complex cheese. It is crumbly and damp, yet buttery, and melts beautifully on the tongue. The interior is creamy white with blue grey veins and has no rind.
All genuine Roquefort bears a little red sheep on it's label.

Enjoy with a glass of Sauternes or Banyuls.


Caramelized Onion, Roquefort and Parmesan Tartserves 6

For the Pâte Brisée

• 18 ounces all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cup, plus 1 tablespoon chilled butter
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon cider vinegar
• 2 large eggs

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, add the flour, butter, and salt.
2. Pulse several times to form pea-sized lumps.
3. Add the vinegar and eggs and pulse to form a moist, crumbly mixture. Do not over process.
4. Turn out the dough onto a work surface and knead a few times by hand.
5. Form the dough into a disk, wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Will keep refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 1 month.

For the Tart

• 1 recipe pâte brisée (or store bought puff pastry--follow instructions for pre-baking)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 large yellow onions, halved and cut into julienne strips (about 7 cups)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup crème fraîche
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• ¾ cup crumbled Roquefort cheese
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Make the tart

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C).
2. Remove the pâte brisée from the refrigerator and when warm enough to be pliable, roll out to about 1/8 inch thick.
3. Place the brisée into a 10 inch tart mold, fitting it around the bottom and the sides
4. Bake the shell for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool.
5. In a sauté pan over low heat, melt the butter.
6. When bubbly, add the onions and cook down for 45 minutes, or until the onions are very brown and sweet, stirring from time to time to prevent the onions from sticking. Let cool.
7. In a bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, crème fraîche, egg and egg yolk to make a custard.
8. Stir in the salt and pepper and set aside. (You may want to use less salt, depending on the saltiness of the Roquefort.)
9. Increase the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C).
10. Spread the cooked onions on the bottom of the tart shell.
11. Sprinkle crumbled Roquefort over the onions.
12. Pour the custard mixture over.
13. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top of the custard
14. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
15. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pin It

Fromage...continued

I finally have the chance to add to the post I started the other day about last week's delectable cheese tasting with my sister.

For someone who finds Roquefort cheese a bit too...well...fort, the Bleu des Basques was a breath of fresh air. It had all the qualities I appreciate in a bleu cheese, without being too salty or overwhelming. It was sophisticated, smooth and very, very tasty.

The little Picodon had a dense, chalky interior with an earthy flavor and a blue-grey rind from aging. It is made from raw goat's milk in the mountains of the Rhone-Alps, specifically the Ardèche and the Drôme. It was granted AOC status in 1991 and has its own festival every summer.



A final taste of Brie de Meaux was supposedly the last wish of Louis XVI before he was sent to the guillotine and it was also declared the "King of Cheese" at the Congress in Vienna in 1814. Creamy and rich with hints of hazelnut and fruit, Brie de Meaux has been made for over 1000 years and was a favorite of Charlemagne's. It is made from unpasteurized cow's milk and was granted AOC status in 1980.

Beaufort, delicious Beaufort! Made in the French Alps and aged for four to twelve months, it has a lovely, buttery scent and is best when served with white wine. It's flavor is smooth and fruity. The best is Beaufort d'Alpage which is made exclusively from the milk of free roaming Tarentaise cows that graze on the alpine grasses and flowers. Pin It