5 Things

1) Our neighborhood

2) Enzo really needs to learn to chill out

3) Drinks on the terrace at Treize au Jardin


4) Evening light in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

5) Goat cheese - ash covered and sprinkled with sarriette


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5 (Fromage) Things

1) Oozy grilled cheese at Paroles de Fromagers




2) goat and goat and goat




3) Emballage




4) Merci to the monks for making such delicious cheese!




5) Garrigue





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Montrachet

I've always loved the subtle flavors that leaves, bark, ash and herbs lend to cheese. Montrachet is no exception.
It is wrapped in a chestnut leaf and is one of a handful of goat cheeses produced in Burgundy, a region that is famous for its wine, bien sûr, but also for its cow's milk cheeses, especially of the washed rind variety. Cheeses like Époisses, Abbaye de Cîteaux, Soumaintrain and Ami du Chambertin.
But the popularity of cows in Burgundy doesn't mean you should disregard the wonderful goat cheeses from this region, such as Mâconnais and Charolais, both of which can be made entirely from goat's milk, and sometimes from a blend of cow and goat's milk.

Montrachet is made by a sole producer located in Saint-Gengoux-le-National, a tiny town about an hour north of Mâcon. It is a semi-firm, unpasteurized goat cheese shaped like a squat little barrel. The chestnut leaf keeps it moist and adds a slight note of earthiness. It is tied with a strip of raffia, that when unwrapped reveals a crinkly rind dotted with blue mold that contrasts nicely with a pale, fluffy, natural rind.

The flavor is a little heady at first, then mellows out to sweet, tangy, slightly salty and milky notes. Overall it is a relatively mild cheese, but at the same time offers a richness and a long, satisfying finish. The texture is quite dense and clay like.
It is a delicious cheese that packs a lot of flavor into a nice little package.

Enjoy with a glass of white Burgundy.

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Le Sauvaget

Let's talk about mold.

When it comes to food, mold is a major turn off. But when it comes to cheese, it has a purpose. Mold* imparts flavor and gives cheese its texture, its tang, its aroma and its ability to ooze across a plate, among other things.

Roquefort is the example that immediately springs to mind. Mold, specifically the penicillium roqueforti strain that makes up those delicious veins of blue, is what gives Roquefort its raison d'être.

On that note, I would like to introduce you to a delightful little moldy goat's cheese from the Deux-Sèvres department called le Sauvaget.



There is the obvious appearance of a bluish-gray mold on its surface, which is a wonderful thing. This mold means flavor!
Le Sauvaget is earthy, grassy, somewhat sour, salty and lactic. Its texture is dense, crumbly and coats your mouth with rich, fromage de chèvre deliciousness.
Goat cheese season is upon us, so enjoy this one while you can!

A crisp, mineral white wine such as a Sancerre would be a wonderful match with this cheese.

*If it's a soft cheese like brocciu or ricotta and you discover that a fuzzy alien has dropped in and set up home among those soft, white curds, then I would definitely recommend tossing it in the trash. Those are not the molds you want to know!



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5 Things

1) Le drapeau tricolore. A version of it, anyway.




2) A warm spring night on the Seine. With a view.




3) The macaron of the month at Pierre Hermé.
(normally I wouldn't share photos of macarons because I really don't find them interesting, but these wildly delicious honey and meadow flower flavored ones warranted a mention!)




4) Golden light




5) Did I happen to mention that it was goat cheese season?




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5 Things

1) Lunch in le jardin




2) noire et blanche




3) Saying au revoir to chèvre until next spring

4) Painted by mother nature




5) Coffee drinking and people watching



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Photo du Jour - Spotted At La Fromagerie

Mothais sur Feuille - unpasteurized fromage de chèvre wrapped in a chestnut leaf.
Good things come in small packages.



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Le Cabri de Touraine

This was all that remained of le Cabri de Touraine by the time I remembered to grab my camera and take a photo for la Fête du Fromage. I'm afraid that enthusiasm and hunger got the best of us that evening.

My fellow tasters were Katia, the brilliant and ebullient voice behind The France Project, her delightful husband, The Muffin Man, and my wonderful husband, who has been a patient and supportive participant in this cheese tasting project since the beginning.

So what did we think?
Well, there's cheese and then there's cheese, and this time the decision was unanimous...le Cabri de Touraine has to be one of the most perfect fromages de chèvre. Ever.
There were two other cheeses on the board that evening, but this was the one we couldn't get enough of.

Its flavor is both sweet and salty, slightly goaty and there's a mild amount of acidity on the finish. And the texture! It's like a pillow of soft, luxurious velvet. It's hard to put into words just how delicious it is, so please trust the four of us and give it a try.

Le Cabri is produced by a small cheesemaker in the Loire Valley, La Cloche d'Or, who have a herd of 80 goats and offer an array of unpasteurized cheeses, including Sainte-Maure de Touraine and Valençay.

A crisp white wine from the Loire Valley would be a perfect pairing.



While they were visiting Normandy, I was honored to be interviewed by Katia for the cheese episode of The France Project, which went live today. Go and have a listen!




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Le Mellois

Sometimes love comes at a price, and that is definitely the case with le Mellois.

But it's a price I'm willing to pay.



Every time I'm craving another little square of this delicious chèvre, I have to brave an encounter with the unpleasant (to put it mildly) cheese lady* at the Bayeux market.

Since discovering her wonderful cheese truck last winter I've tried my best to charm her, but with no success.
Maybe it's my accent? Maybe it's my smile? Maybe she's just in a bad mood all the time?
Who knows.

When the cheese is this good, who cares.



Le Mellois doesn't hide the fact that it's a goat cheese, in flavor or in fragrance - it's all around very rich and goaty. The texture is meltingly soft and smooth, and also very creamy and buttery.
In a word - luscious. And highly addictive.

This unpasteurized fromage de chèvre is produced on farms in le Mellois region of the Poitou-Charentes.
It can be eaten quite young, slightly mature or very mature - frais, demi-sec or sec.  I've tasted both the demi-sec and sec versions, and they're equally delicious.

Enjoy with white wine such as Sancerre.



*She also sells the most amazing Normandy salt butter.
But every time I ask for some, she tries to sell me a piece that is already past its expiration date, and every time I smile, hand it back to her and ask for a fresher piece. 
As I said, it's a price I'm willing to pay.




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Briquette des Gors

If you can, try to imagine a goat's cheese that is so light and fluffy, each bite is like a whisper-soft cloud of melt in your mouth chantilly de chèvre. 

No, I couldn't believe it either.
 
But I promise you, Briquette des Gors is pure cheese heaven.



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28 Reasons to Love Fromage de Chèvre

Homemade
In an asparagus omelet 
Custard with strawberries in red wine syrup 
Tartlets with walnuts
Stuffed into roasted tomatoes
Drizzled with acacia honey



Smoked salmon and pea pasta
Stuffed into chicken breasts 
Spread on grilled toasts, sprinkled with fresh thyme and sea salt
Chilled peach soup
"Un cake"
Warm lentil salad
Fava bean and garlic dip
Stuffed into fresh figs and run under the broiler
Cheesecake
With linguine, garlic and herbs
Salad with smoked salmon and hazelnuts
Soufflés
Lemon cakes



Quesadillas
Pizza topping
Mixed with pesto as a topping/sauce
Risotto with peas 
"Truffles"
Potato and onion tart
Stuffed mushrooms
Warmed up and added to a salad 
Marinated with lavender
 

What is your favorite recipe using fromage de chèvre?



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Le Grand Vielleux

For a goat cheese with a bit of age on it, Le Grand Vielleux is surprisingly mild.

Its has almost no aroma and all around, its flavor is light and mellow - a tiny bit of citrus, hints of salt, mushrooms and yeast, and only a slight whisper of goaty-ness.

This particular cheese had been matured for several weeks. Texture wise it was a somewhat dry and crumbly in the middle, and soft and oozing just under the croûte.

Now I am someone who loves a cheese to pack a punch, but I found this fromage de chèvre to be simply delightful.

Le Grand Vielleux is produced and matured by a small fromagerie in the Loire Valley. Enjoy with a glass of Sancerre.



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Normandy Fromage de Chèvre?

It's no secret that Normandy is considered the dairy heartland of France. Everywhere you look there are pastures filled with cows, either quietly grazing, chewing their cud or watching the traffic roll by.

On average the French eat 24 kilos of cheese a year and by the time we celebrate our one year anniversary in Normandy, I wouldn't be surprised if we have surpassed that figure. The abundance of Camembert producers alone has me excited!
I plan to try them all.

Not to mention the fact that it is now considered a mini crisis in our house when we're running low on Normandy salt butter.

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For All You Cheese Lovers Out There

Paris By Mouth now has an informative Tour de Fromage that offers cheese tastings at several fromageries around town and will introduce you to a wide variety of the more than 500 cheeses produced in France.

Notes on Cheese, The Murray's Cheese Notebook is just the kind of thing I needed a few years ago when I started keeping tasting notebooks.

Did you know that French goat's cheese had it's own ambassador? 
 
Formaticum and the Brooklyn Slate Co. have created the Cheese Survival Kit.
The only thing missing from that bag is a nice, big wedge of cheese!



When I'm researching a new cheese, I turn to these three books;  Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager by Max McCalman, The Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins and French Cheese (Eyewitness Series).

I love these downloadable Cheese Tasting Note Cards from Culture magazine.
So practical!

Pike Place Market hosts the Seattle Cheese Festival the weekend of May 19-20, 2012. Or if you happen to be in Provence that weekend, check out the Fête du Fromage à Banon, celebrating the village's namesake fromage de chèvre.


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La Fête du Fromage - La Chèvrine

This frumpy cheese may look a mess, but behind that rustic, naturally moldy exterior (the cracks in the rind are from poor handling on my part - it got jostled around in my market bag), lies an even textured, rich and refined fromage de chèvre.

La Chèvrine is no shrinking violet and it stole my heart from the first bite.


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La Fête du Fromage - Le Treillou

There was a dearth of cheese chez nous this July and August.

Other than driving back and forth to work and making short trips to town to buy groceries, I didn't leave the village. Not even to go to the market!

Last week I was forced to leave my little Minevois bubble and head to Béziers (for reasons I'd rather not discuss for the time being), however, it did offer me the chance to stop by les Halles in the hopes that there would be something new at the Fromagerie. Success!
And on the way home I stopped at une épicerie fine that recently opened in the area to buy some olives and, lo and behold, I discovered that they also sell cheese!

So, not such a terrible day after all.


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La Fête du Fromage - le Chardin

Le Chardin is a melt-in-your-mouth, smooth, dense, buttery-rich dreamboat.

Need I say more?



Le Chardin facts:

• an unpasteurized fromage de chèvre from la Fromagerie Jousseaume (no these people are not paying me to wax lyrical about their cheese...I just think they're fabulous)
• produced in the Poitou-Charentes
• rich enough to stand up to our local Minervois red

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La Fête du Fromage - Le Braîsot Charentais

At first bite, this demi-sec version of Le Braîsot Charentais tastes soft and mild. A minute later the flavor starts to intensify and you think, "ah...not so mellow after all."

Then suddenly, wham! Your taste buds are hit by the rich, intense flavors of this cheese. Le Braîsot Charentais is surprisingly strong.
And totally delicious.

Its aroma is strong too - that typical, earthy, barnyard fragrance that often accompanies a serious goat's cheese. It has a dense, chewy texture and its flavor has hints of citrus and spice and is very, very goaty.

Le Braîsot Charentais is a chève lovers dream.

It paired well with our local Minervois red, though next time I would like to try it with some white wine from the Loire.

We have the Fromagerie Jousseaume in the Poitou-Charentes to thank for this fabulous fromage de chèvre. Two more of their creations:  la Taupinière and Briquette de l'Angoumois.


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La Fête du Fromage - La Couronne des 3 Seigneurs

The sweet, fresh flavor of La Couronne des 3 Seigneurs perfectly embodies the mountains of the Ariège Pyrénées, where this goat's cheese is produced.

There is nothing complex about about this delicate fromage férmier, all around it is very easy on the senses. There is almost no aroma, the texture is soft and fine and it has pleasant flavors of fresh milk, mellow citrus and a hint of salt. Yet for such a mild cheese, we thought it was fantastic!

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La Fête du Fromage - Lou Sotch and Demi-Lune de Chèvre

This week I'm sharing not just one, but two disappointing cheeses from the highly respected fromagerie in Paris, Androuët.
sigh

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