Eggs Tarentaise in Butternut Squash

I'm crazy about soft-boiled eggs. I eat one just about every morning, which is how I got the idea to bake an egg inside the cavity of a butternut squash with a little bit of Tarentaise. Tarentaise is a sweet, nutty cheese from Spring Brook Hill Farm in Vermont, made by the same folks who produce Redding Raclette. 

Today on the Di Bruno Bros. blog, I write about this cheese and offer a recipe for Eggs Tarentaise. It involves a few steps, but it's a fairly easy and very eye-catching dish. Here are a few photos of the process. To see the recipe, click here.

Ubriaco To Chase Away Doldrums

Now that the holiday parties are over and more sleet is in store, a person can easily turn gloomy. If you find yourself prone to despair, I suggest a nice wedge of Ubriaco as a cure-all.

Ubriaco, which means “drunken,” is a cheese that understands darkness. It spends months in a wine barrel before it comes to market. Originally, Italian cheesemakers hid wheels from tax collectors this way in order to avoid their fees. Eventually, these drunken cheeses became popular. Lucky for us!   To read on, please click here.

Full disclosure: I freelance for Di Bruno Bros. Twice a month, I pick a wedge of my dreams and develop a post for their blog. This is how I cover the cost of my dairy habit.

Scenes From The Cheese Ball

                                                        Yours Truly with Sue Miller of Birchrun Hills Farm

You may have heard. On Saturday, I held a Cheese Ball in Philadelphia. It was everything I hoped it would be. And more. There were cheeses from Holland, London, and New York. We had guests from Spain, France, Norway, and Green Bay. Admission? A wedge of cheese. By the end of the night, I counted over 100 cheese tags left on the table. Amazing. Here is a glimpse into our wonderful feast.

THE CHEESE BOARD

The Cheese Board at 8 p.m.

The Cheese Board at 9 p.m.

The Cheese Board at Midnight

THE GUESTS

There were friends. And there were strangers. Cheesemongers brought dates and wedges. Couples came in gowns and tuxes. A king and queen were crowned at the end of the night. Here are a few outtakes. There are lots more on flickr.

A Beautiful Pair from Di Bruno Bros.

A Jesuit Digs In

Blog Readers from New York City (Columbia Students)

THE CHEESE DELUGE

The night was truly an Alice in Wonderland of Cheese. Everyone brought beautiful wheels and wedges. Not a single block of Velveeta. Many thanks to the following cheeses houses for donating wheels and for sending emissaries: Di Bruno Bros., Quince, Fair Food, Wedge and Fig, Greensgrow, and Downtown Cheese. And many thanks to all of you who contributed so much!

THE VENUE

Many thanks to the staff at RUBA, the Russian Social Club of Northern Liberties, for hosting us. The bartenders were quick'n dirty. The taxidermy was perfect. The kitsch behind the bar was spot on. I can't think of a better place to host a cheese ball in 2013!

Rogue River Smokey Blue

Lately, people have been asking me about smoked cheeses, so this week on the Di Bruno blog, I devoted my column to Rogue River Smokey Blue from Oregon state. It's one of the best smoked cheeses on the market -- not that competition is stiff. Most "smoked" cheeses are loaded with Liquid Smoke, a chemical additive. For the 411 on why Rogue River Smokey Blue stands out, please check out my column. 

Full disclosure: I am a freelancer for Di Bruno Bros. Twice a month, I select a cheese and develop a post for their blog. This is how I cover the cost of my dairy habit.

A Mushroom Lover's Cheese Board

Ever since I read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, I’ve had a yen to forage for mushrooms. In gritty Philadelphia, it’s a lot easier to pop down to a farmers’ market and simply buy them from a local grower since nearby Kennett Square is a fungi hub. 

Recently, I did some mushroom sleuthing at Di Bruno Bros. in order to build a Thanksgiving tribute to my two favorite foods: fromage et champignons. My dream: a cheese board that would remind me of walking in a forest.  To continue reading, please click here. 

Full disclosure: This is part of a paid series I write for Di Bruno Bros. Twice a month, I select a cheese and develop a post for their blog. This is how I cover the cost of my dairy habit.

Meet Garrotxa

I have a tendency to look past small, hard cheeses in favor of washed rinds, blues, and anything wrapped in lace or bark. On a recent cheese plate, however, Garrotxa – a vibrant Spanish goat cheese – caught my eye. It’s my new little velvetine rabbit.

Garrotxa (guh-ROACH-uh) is distinguished by a fine layer of gray-brown surface mold that looks like woven cloth. It smells -- dare I say this? -- like a stuffed animal that was propped under the cheek of a sleeping child. Imagine acorns, soft bedding, sweet milk. To continue reading, click here. 

Full disclosure: This is part of a paid series I write for Di Bruno Bros. Twice a month, I select a cheese and develop a post for their blog. This is how I cover the cost of my dairy habit.

New Pairings for Parmigiano

My post for Di Bruno Bros. this week is all about pairing Parmigiano. Until I was introduced to the authentic stuff -- the kind with tiny crystals and a gargantuan flavor spectrum -- I never found Parm that interesting. Click over to the Di Bruno blog to check out the 12 Parm pairings I put together. You'll never think of Parm as a "grating cheese" once you try some of these. 

Also, if you're curious about what's happening in the world of raw-milk legislation, listen to the program that Peter Crimmins put together for NewsWorks on WHYY in Philadelphia. Peter interviewed Al Renzi of Yellow Springs Farm, Emilio Mignucci of Di Bruno Bros., and yours truly. 

For the story, Peter actually came over to my house to sample two kinds of cheddar with me -- one pasteurized, the other unpasteurized. I chose two local cheddars (PA Noble and LeRaysville XXXX Sharp) that were aged approximately the same amount of time. Fascinating. You can hear his response here.

    

Manchego with Figs and Honey

Last week, I rekindled my interest in Manchego, thanks to some grilled figs and a jar of honey. 

A friend served this combination at a party, using fresh figs from her backyard tree. 

Manchego, a subtle Spanish sheep’s milk cheese, was just the right accent, draped over each fig half to form a tiny, briny duvet cover. 

Manchego is a salty lover. Think of seaside air, perspiring brows. This salinity makes Manchego a fine foil for traditional Spanish sides, like quince paste (also known as membrillo) and Marcona almonds, or cracked green olives plugged with lemon peel.

Grilled Figs with Manchego, photo by Amanda Riesman

To continue reading, please visit the Di Bruno Blog.

Full disclosure: This is part of a series I write for Di Bruno Bros. in Philadelphia. The deal is, I choose a cheese and write a post for their blog. This is how I cover the cost of my dairy habit.

Goes Well With Berries

It’s berry picking season, and that means one thing: cheese and fresh fruit for dinner. I love nothing more than loading up on cherries, strawberries, blueberries, or blackberries and setting out a cheese board to match. Add a plate of smoked fish, a light salad, some white wine, and you’ve got a glorious feast. No fuss. No hot oven.

Haystack’s Queso de Mano is one of my favorite summer cheeses for berries. It’s a raw milk goat cheese – very gentle but nutty and herbaceous – from Longmont, Colorado. To continue reading, please click here.

Full disclosure: This piece is part of a series I write for Di Bruno Bros. The deal is, I choose the cheese, and they pay me to develop a post. This is how I cover the cost of my habit

Rocco the Cheesemonger

This week on my post for Di Bruno Bros., I interview Rocco Rainone, a guy who is probably Philadelphia's most active cheesemonger on Twitter. He masquerades as TomaDellaRocco, which is funny if you traffic in cheese (there's a mixed-milk called Toma Della Rocca).

Surprisingly, Rocco doesn't tweet about dairy very often -- you'll find him chirping about about bacon, saison, darts, Pauly Shore sightings, and what he's cooking. When he's not behind the counter at the Di Bruno Bros. on Chestnut Street, he's often at McCrossen's Tavern, where he hosts monthly cheese tastings.

After our interview, I set off to try Rocco's favorite cheese, Ticklemore. He called this his "final wish" cheese when I asked him to plan a Last Supper cheese board. Ticklemore, a British goat triple-creme, was glorious -- I'd never tasted it before. After I tried it, I could see why this was his fave...but you should really hear him describe it. 

Check out Rocco's interview over at The Di Bruno Blog.

Piave: The Summer Snacker

Until I really got into cheese a few years ago, I never considered eating a hunk of the hard stuff, like Parm or Pecorino, unless it was grated. Now I know better. Some of the tastiest cheeses are relegated to “accents” in part because they have so much flavor. Eat them just as they are, without starches or sauces, and you’ll be surprised how delicious they are.

Take Piave, a veritable Mars Bar of a cheese. It smells like almonds and tastes like butterscotch nougat. To continue reading, please visit the Di Bruno Blog.


Full disclosure: I freelance for Di Bruno Bros. twice a month. They pay me to write about any cheese I like, and I run a hunk of the post here.

The Trouble with Burrata

Twice a month, I freelance for Di Bruno Bros., the largest cheese counter in Philadelphia -- I choose a cheese to write about, and the store posts my write-up on its blog. This week, I picked Burrata -- a delicious, hand-pulled mozzarella purse with a plush cream center. I chose it because Burrata is a wonderful summer cheese, and most people don't know it exists.

Once you try it, though, you'll never forget it. It's like discovering poached eggs.

You can read about serving ideas in the post, but I thought I'd show you a few outtakes from Burrata's photo shoot. I snapped these photos in my kitchen a few days after taking a food photography workshop with Julie Basello-Holt of Creative Genius. No matter what I did, it was tough to make this cheese look appealing. I wanted my Burrata to look sensual, not like a disemboweled gourd. That was a tough one. Burrata gets messy once you slip off its leek straps.

Below, you'll see what I came up with. Any input on how to make this look more delicious? In the meantime, I encourage you to seek out this little devil. It's glorious, a cooling centerpiece for dinner during a heat wave.

To read the full post about Burrata, please visit the Di Bruno Blog.

Lemony, Lovely Pantaleo

Back in April, a friend gave me a bag of lemons from her family tree in Florida, and their bright floral bite sent me on a citrus binge. That’s how I came to Pantaleo, a firm Sardinian goat cheese that smells like lemon yogurt and tastes – in its youth – as delicate as the Madaleines that sent Proust into literary reverie. Pantaleo even dissolves into crumbly bits on the tongue, like a cookie.

Italian cheeses, I have learned, are transformative. To keep reading, please click here to jump to the Di Bruno Bros. blog.

Full disclosure: I freelance for Di Bruno Bros. twice a month. They pay me to write about any cheese I like, and I run a nugget of the post here.

Di Bruno's Fermentation Dinner

I hope you have already eaten. If not, pull up a chair. Grab a napkin. You just might drool. This is the story of a fermentation dinner in celebration of two Philadelphia-area food artisans -- a cheesemaking pioneer named Sue, and a brewer savant named Jean. I want you to meet them.

Sue Miller, a.k.a. Lady Birchrun, makes some of the tastiest washed-rind cheese in the hills of nearby Chester County. She uses raw milk and salt brine to produce two fine specimen, Fat Cat and Red Cat. The first is bacony, the latter mushroomy. If you taste them, you will purr.

Jean Broillet IV is not the king of a small country, but he could be. He is a twenty-something saison superstar who started brewing beer as a high-schooler in his parents' garage (you know how those rural science projects get started). Brewer Broillet put himself through college by working at Weyerbacher and Iron Hill. Now, he plans to open his own brew cafe, Tired Hands, in the 'burb of Ardmore. Beer geeks, revv your engines.

Together, Miller and Broillet have made fermentation magic by washing Red Cat cheese with Tired Hands beer to create a lucky little star they call "Proto-Cat" -- soon to be christened "Tired Cat." Cat lovers, you may start yourrr motors.

Here's what happened when Chef Rob Sidor of Di Bruno's catering department decided to create a special pairing using local ingredients involved in this fermentation project. Hint: it involves crumbs of calf tongue.

You're looking at a wedge of Tired Cat with fried tomatillo ice cream, rolled in calf tongue crumbs and malt. Jean Broillet served this course with a glass of Vulpine, a "super saison" with hints of cedar, lemon, coconut, vanilla, and honey. I nearly wept. This might be the best saison and the best/weirdest/wildest cheese pairing I have ever eaten.

See aren't you glad I told you to get a napkin?

I love when cheese sparks creativity. I'm not talking about the invention of the Cheez-It. I'm talking about collaborations and pairings that make people experience flavors and textures that have never existed before. Here's another one. Ready?

You're looking at fava bean gazpacho, served with a raw clam and crumbled Birchrun Blue Cheese. "I like to subvert people's expecations," Chef Rob told me. "Most people expect blue cheese as a final course. That's why I served it first."

Chef Rob served the gazpacho in wee tuna cans -- they looked a little bit like, uhm, cat food cans, but then...this was a Fat Cat dinner, right?

For dessert: home-spun marshmallows made with D-2 syrup (it's used in brewing), alongside graham cakes, apple, and Equinox. The latter is Sue Miller's most approachable cheese, a baby Gruyere with a nutty halo.

Oh, Philadelphia, oh people of Pennsylavania, we are lucky to have so much culinary talent in our midst. Look for Birchun cheeses at local farmers' markets. Prepare yourself for a new microbrew king. Ready yourself the next time cheesemonger Rich Morillo brainstorms a pairing dinner.

This kind of culinary skill and appreciation for the land -- its plants and animals -- are rare. Chef Rob Sidor deserves a standing ovation. Thanks to everyone for a wonderful evening. May there be many more pairings to come.

Tasting Notes

Birchrun Hills Farm Cheeses

Proto Cat/Tired Cat: gutsy, robust, meaty, beautifully balanced

Fat Cat: big and bacony, creamy, great stuffed into a morel mushroom

Birchrun Blue: peppery, buttery, briny, with a hint of hops

Equinox: sweet, nutty, musical, like a Gruyere understudy

Tired Hands Brew

Farm Hands: a light, mellow Belgian with a golden glow

Hop Hands: a glorious American Pale Ale; a floral-citrus see-saw

Vulpine: a "super saison" w/ sublime honey roundness, vanilla-cedar-lemon afterglow

Guillemot: dark, chocolaty porter-purr

Full disclosure: I have a freelance relationship with Di Bruno Bros. and was invited to attend this meal as a blogger-in-residence.

Wild Cat Dinner, May 12

If you recognize this cheese, you probably know Sue Miller, one of Pennyslvania’s farmstead cheese pioneers. Sue has been making cheese at her home in Chester Springs for a long time, and she is rocking the washed-rind world with her spunky Red Cat and Fat Cat -- variations on the same cheese, but they're washed differently. Her Birchrun Blue is already a classic.

On Thursday, May 12, 2011 Di Bruno Bros. is hosting a special 5-course dinner that will incorporate Birchrun cheeses along with craft beer from up-and-comer Tired Hands Brewing. In fact, Birchrun and Tired Hands have collaborated on a new cheese, and I suspect a wheel of it just might make it to the table on Thursday night. Fingers crossed.

I’ll be there, along with cheesemonger emcee Rich Morillo and Di Bruno’s new king of the kitchen, Chef Rob Sidor. A few seats for Thursday's dinner are still left. Tickets are $45 now and $50 at the door. To reserve, just email catering@dibruno.com. The celebration starts at 6 p.m. on May 12 in the Upstairs Café at Di Bruno Bros., 1730 Chestnut Street.

Here are two sample courses…recently leaked from an unknown source:

• Guillemot-washed "Proto-cat," Fried Tomatillo Ice Cream
• Braised Birchrun Hills Veal Neck, Fresh Milk, Oatmeal, and Rhubarb

Note: I suspect that “Proto-cat” is the ghoulish micro kitten that Birchrun and Tired Hands created during a surly brawl of creative mind-melding. Sue Miller tells me this dream wheel is washed in Flemish Black. You can expect a full report later this week.

(Below, Sue Miller at the Head House Square Farmer's Market)

Ewephoria

Most people who enter into a relationship with sheep’s cheese expect a robust, salty hunk – think of your Pecorinos from Sardinia, your Manchegos from La Mancha. These hard, earthy cheeses can be addictive, but they often require a sweet sidekick, like honey or quince paste, to offset their briny temperaments.

Ewephoria doesn’t need a sweetheart. It’s all brown sugar on its own. In fact, this Gouda-style cheese from Holland is so sweet you can serve it for dessert, and if you tell your guests that they are eating pineapple upside-down cake pressed into cubes, they just might believe you. After all, Ewephoria smells like rum and tastes – I kid you not – faintly of pineapple. To continue reading, please visit the Di Bruno Blog.

Full disclosure: I freelance for Di Bruno Bros. twice a month. They pay me to write about cheese for their blog, and I run a nugget of the post here.

The Science of Cheese: A Tasting

Stichetlton Microbes, by Rachel Dutton

If you've ever wondered about the microscopic life of cheese, come to "The Artisanal Microbe," a cheese talk and tasting hosted by the Franklin Institute at Di Bruno Bros. (1730 Chestnut St.) next Wednesday, April 20 at 6:30 p.m.

I'll be there, along with scientist-turned-cheesemaker Al Renzi of Yellow Springs Farm. Al and his wife Catherine make award-winning goat cheese in Chester County, including Nutcracker and Red Leaf.

"The Artisanal Microbe" is a free event, but you'll need to grab a ticket. The Philadelphia Science Festival runs through April 28.