Photo du Jour - Fromagerie

A little gem in the center of Saumur, la Fromagerie du Puits Neuf.
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Our Trip to the Loire Valley

Our trip to the Loire in October (which now seems like a lifetime ago) was really amazing...and wonderful...and well, interesting...
We encountered a few minor hiccups along the way, but were determined not to let them ruin our trip.

To start things off, I spent most of the night before our departure curled up on the bathroom floor with what I think was food poisoning.  By the time I was able to crawl my sorry butt out of bed that Saturday morning, the mere thought of spending 8 hours in a car was so horrific we decided to postpone the trip by one day.  No big deal.  We had the entire week to enjoy our holiday and explore the Loire.   
Or so we thought....

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Creamy Cheesy Orzo With Swiss Chard

It can be baked in the oven or stirred to creamy perfection on the stove. It can be made into a hearty, cheese topped gratin or infused with different kinds of wine, even sparking Saumur. It can even be made with pasta.
Or can it?
I'm talking about risotto.

I have to ask...is it really risotto if it isn't made with rice?
As you know, I have issues with slow cooked vegetarian bean dishes being called Cassoulet and am really perplexed by vegan, dairy-free food products being referred to as cheese.
So what is risotto exactly? Is it the ingredients, i.e. the arborio rice, or the cooking method that makes it risotto?
Any thoughts?

To be honest though, after tasting this rich, cheesy pasta dish, I could care less! Call it risotto, call it pasta by absorption method, call it what you will.
I call it simply delicious.


A note on the cheese. Fontina is impossible to find where we live so I have replaced it with Raclette, a French (or Swiss) cheese from the Alps that is used to make a cold weather, stick-to-your-ribs dish of the same name. The cheese has a fruity and slightly smoky flavor that I love.


Cheesy Orzo "Risotto" with Swiss Chard
Serves 4

• 2 ½ cups chicken or vegetable stock or canned low-sodium broth
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 ¾ cups orzo (¾ pound)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 pound red Swiss chard, stems trimmed and finely chopped, leaves coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 5 ounces imported Fontina (or Raclette) cheese, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (3 ounces)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Bring the chicken stock and water to a simmer in a saucepan; keep warm over low heat. Melt the butter in a medium nonstick saucepan. Add the orzo to the butter and cook over moderately high heat, stirring often, until the orzo is golden, about 8 minutes. Add 1 cup of the hot stock mixture and cook, stirring gently, until all of the stock is absorbed. Gradually add more of the stock mixture, 1 cup at a time, and cook, stirring frequently, until the orzo is al dente and creamy but not soupy, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add the shallot and Swiss chard stems and cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the stems are tender and lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add the chard leaves and cook over moderately high heat, tossing, until the leaves are wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the vinegar. Stir the chard and the Fontina and Parmesan cheeses into the risotto, season with salt and pepper and serve.

The recipe was slightly adapted from this one from Food and Wine magazine. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Pigouille des Charentes

Pigouille des Charentes. What an intriguing name.

I'm familiar with the "des Charentes" part, meaning from the idyllic Charentes region of central France.
It was that first word - pig ou, huh? - that I'd never seen before. So of course I had to try it for la Fête du Fromage!
When I pointed at the cheese and read the name out loud to the fromagère, she had to correct my pronunciation. Twice. (I hate it when my French accent fails me)

Just so everyone is clear, it is pronounced:
Pig - ew - wee Day Shar -ont

Now that you know how to say it, you might want to know the origin of the name. A pigouille is the long paddle that a boatman uses to navigate a small canal barge - a yole - along the narrow canals of the Marais Poitevin, also called the "Green Venice" of western France.


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Tuesday's Tastings

This week I finally tasted a cheese that I've wanted to try for years, Banon à la Feuille. I've read and heard so much about this little cheese that I had very high expectations. Suffice to say, it was out of this world!
We also tasted a wonderful Tomme de Chèvre and a lovely, rich Maroilles.


Banon has to be one of the most alluring, heady and luscious things I've ever tasted.
It is a raw goat's milk cheese that is wrapped in chestnut leaves, dipped in marc de Provence or eau de vie, tied up with raffia and left to mature for a few weeks. It can be eaten young, while the leaves are still green and the cheese is crumbly and tart or aged, like the one I bought, which was ultra ripe and runny and the leaves had turned brown, causing the crust to darken a bit. The flavor was winey, fruity, woodsy and amazing! Banon has been produced in Provence near the village of Banon since the Roman times and it was granted AOC status in 2003.
Good wine pairing would be a Chenin Blanc or a big red from Bordeaux.

before unwrapping


Banon oozing all over the place


The Tomme de Chèvre was made locally, about an hour away in the Pyrénées mountains. It is made from either pasteurized or unpasteurized goat's milk and the flavor was rich and nutty with a firm but creamy texture. Compared to the other two, the Tomme didn't really stand out, but it is a delicious cheese.
A good wine pairing would be a Minervois or a Saumur.

A trip to Les Halles in Narbonne yielded a nice chunk of Maroilles, a cheese from the north of France that our friends Jean-Pierre and Agnès said we must try. It gained AOC status in 1976 and was first produced by monks in the Abbey of Maroilles over 1000 years ago.
I bought the unpasteurized cow's milk Maroilles, but it is also made from pasteurized milk. The rind is bright orange color, the taste is slightly salty and tangy and the odor really makes an impression. You should have smelled our fridge!
Châteauneuf du Pape is the recommended wine to drink with Maroilles.


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Saumur Spring

Spring, beautiful spring.
The almond trees are in bloom, the vines are waking up and strawberries and asparagus are in season.



Asparagus Risotto time. I look forward to this every year.
I picked up a fat bunch of asparagus and a basket of deep, red strawberries at the market on Tuesday morning. The cupboards were pretty bare when I returned from the States, so I had to make do with what I could find.
Asparagus risotto usually calls for white wine but I didn't have any. I did, however, have Saumur, a sparkling white wine from the Loire Valley. A quick look in the Internet and voilà, a recipe for Champagne and Asparagus Risotto.



This is my adapted version. I didn't even have cheese for the recipe! Fortunately, the flavor was great without it.

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
  
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken broth
  
• 2 cups Champagne
• 1 lb medium sized asparagus, trimmed
  
• black pepper, freshly ground
• salt
• 1 Tbs butter
• 2 Tbs Pecorino-Romano cheese, freshly grated

Directions

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until the onion is translucent.
3. While onion is cooking, blanch asparagus for 2-3 minutes, plunge into ice water and cut into 1 inch pieces.
   
4. Add rice, stirring to coat all the grains. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes.
5. Add 1 cup stock. Cook, stirring, until stock is absorbed.
6. Add 1 cup Champagne or Saumur. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently.
7. When almost absorbed, add the rest of the Champagne.
8. After the Champagne is absorbed, add 1/2 cup of the stock. Cook, stirring, until the liquid is almost absorbed.
9. Add the rest of the stock in small amounts until rice is tender, about 30 to 40 minutes from when you put in the first cup of stock. I always find that the liquid to rice ratio is relative to the quality of the rice. You may need more than 4 cups liquid, you may need less.
10. Just before the last of the stock is added, add the asparagus to the rice.
    
11. Stir in freshly ground pepper, to taste.
12. Add the butter and cheese.
13. Stir well, taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary.
14. Enjoy!
    

The risotto had a really lovely, balanced flavor from the sparkling wine. It was creamy and delicious! I plan to do more experimenting with replacing regular white wine with the fizzy stuff in recipes.

For dessert: strawberries and the rest of the Saumur.

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