Cauliflower cheese with brown butter and onion

One of my favourite pastimes when visiting foodie friends is rooting through their cookery books though I have to admit it's rare to find many I haven't got. But the other day I turned up one called English Country House Cooking by someone of the splendid name of Fortune Stanley. Turns out she - she is a she - wrote in the 70's and has an illustrious background according to this page on the Stanley family tree.

The recipe that caught my eye was a cauliflower cheese with onion which seemed an intriguing addition. I didn't have time to jot it down so made up this version when I got home.

Serves 3 as a light supper, 4 as a vegetable

1 onion
400ml milk
a sprig of thyme
1 medium cauliflower
40g butter
30g plain flour
150g of grated or crumbled cheese (I used half and half Gorwydd Caerphilly and Cheddar which is what I happened to have in the fridge)
Salt and white pepper

Peel and thickly slice the onion and put it in a pan with the milk and thyme. Bring to the boil and leave over a very low heat for the onion to cook but you don't want it to boil.

Meanwhile divide the cauliflower into florets and steam or boil until not quite cooked (about 7-8 minutes). Drain, saving some of the water.

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan and stir in the flour. Cook the roux over a low heat until it it begins to darken in colour and smell nutty. Then tip in the hot milk and onions all at once and stir. It should thicken pretty well immediately - if it's too thick add a splash of the reserved cooking water. Or more milk, if you prefer. Remove the thyme.

Add half the grated cheese and season to taste and tip into an ovenproof dish. Heat the grill, top with the remaining cheese and cook until the top is golden and bubbling.

The effect of the onion was quite interesting, making the cauliflower cheese milder if anything although that could have been the Gorwydd which is quite subtle and delicate. It would have been particularly good with boiled ham or indeed with some bacon or ham in it though I was trying to keep it veggie. (This blog is sometimes too meaty by half).

I didn't take the roux quite as far as I might have done in terms of browning it. I reckon I cooked it for about 3 minutes - I think I'd cook it a minute or so longer next time to get an even nuttier taste. And a little blue cheese might have been interesting. But a nice twist on a family classic.

Thankyou, Fortune, for the inspiration.

Incidentally the surface of the cauli cheese shouldn't look as crinkly if you flash it under the grill. I had to put mine in the top of the Aga which takes an age to brown things. One of the things that drives me nuts about it.

Cheese: Paris Creek Nuage Blanc

Paris Creek Nuage Blanc

From South Australia, an oozy white mould.

Read More...

All Rights Reserved ©Haalo. For personal non-commercial use only - this feed may not be republished.

Cheese: Paris Creek Nuage Blanc

Paris Creek Nuage Blanc

From South Australia, an oozy white mould.

Read More...

All Rights Reserved ©Haalo. For personal non-commercial use only - this feed may not be republished.

Helen Roberts & the Kikkoman Test Kitchen

Chef Helen Roberts is the manager of culinary development and public relations at Kikkoman. She works on consumer recipes using the whole range of Kikkoman products from soy sauce to panko bread crumbs to soy milk and beyond. She used to work in product development and was hired because of her amazing ability to taste subtle differences in 16 different soy sauces! At the time she was hired, she had never even tried Japanese food.


I recently got to visit Helen and her test kitchen in downtown San Francisco. What a treat! Helen is friendly, enthusiastic and has a great sense of humor, and so it was no surprise to see that her recently renovated test kitchen in San Francisco is cheerful and lively as can be. The kitchen has a big island, two stoves and a large refrigerator. It also has a big flat screen television with cooking shows on all the time and the radio set to "old school." By the way, is there anything better than cooking with Prince playing in the background?


I had a great time cooking with Helen, whipping up some recipes for Valentine's Day. She was working on a version of a recipe she swears convinced her husband to propose to her. She fills puff pastry shells with a cajun spiced cream sauce (made with soy milk) and shrimp sauteed in butter. Helen made us a snack to nibble on while we cooked and shared tips with me such as use a splash of soy sauce in the water when you blanch vegetables instead of salt.

I made one of Helen's recipes for crab stuffed mushrooms which came out beautifully which is a testament to her skills, because I was so distracted chatting that I did not follow the directions as well as I should have.


The other recipe I made was from 1984, and it was not created by Helen. It shows how much tastes change. The original recipe for Artichokes with Zesty Blue Cheese Dip called for only one tablespoon of blue cheese! Needless to say, it needed a little more. Ok, a lot more. I've adapted it here if you'd like to try it. Helen's office mates liked it a lot. I think it's a great choice for Valentine's Day, after all, it has plenty of heart.

Note: since this recipe calls for boiling rather than steaming, and I found the artichokes I used cooked very quickly. If you prefer, you can cook the artichokes any way you like.

Artichokes with Zesty Blue Cheese Dip
(adapted from the Kikkoman Kitchen)
4 servings

4 medium (about 8 oz. each) artichokes 

Water

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms 

2 Tablespoons minced green onions
6 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese 

2 teaspoons Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce 

Grated peel and juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

To prepare artichokes, slice 1 inch off tops; discard. Cut off stems even with base; remove small outer leaves. Trim off sharp leaf tips (about 1/2 inch) with kitchen shears or paring knife or scissors. Rinse artichokes under cold water. (To prevent darkening, rub lemon half on cut edges of artichokes.) Arrange artichokes upright in saucepan. Add water to depth of 2 inches. Bring water to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes, or until leaves pull out easily.

Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, mushrooms, green onions, blue cheese, less sodium soy sauce, lemon juice and peel.

Drain artichokes; cool enough to handle. To serve, spoon the blue cheese mixture into a bowl, and serve with the artichokes.

Enjoy!

Helen Roberts & the Kikkoman Test Kitchen

Chef Helen Roberts is the manager of culinary development and public relations at Kikkoman. She works on consumer recipes using the whole range of Kikkoman products from soy sauce to panko bread crumbs to soy milk and beyond. She used to work in product development and was hired because of her amazing ability to taste subtle differences in 16 different soy sauces! At the time she was hired, she had never even tried Japanese food.


I recently got to visit Helen and her test kitchen in downtown San Francisco. What a treat! Helen is friendly, enthusiastic and has a great sense of humor, and so it was no surprise to see that her recently renovated test kitchen in San Francisco is cheerful and lively as can be. The kitchen has a big island, two stoves and a large refrigerator. It also has a big flat screen television with cooking shows on all the time and the radio set to "old school." By the way, is there anything better than cooking with Prince playing in the background?


I had a great time cooking with Helen, whipping up some recipes for Valentine's Day. She was working on a version of a recipe she swears convinced her husband to propose to her. She fills puff pastry shells with a cajun spiced cream sauce (made with soy milk) and shrimp sauteed in butter. Helen made us a snack to nibble on while we cooked and shared tips with me such as use a splash of soy sauce in the water when you blanch vegetables instead of salt.

I made one of Helen's recipes for crab stuffed mushrooms which came out beautifully which is a testament to her skills, because I was so distracted chatting that I did not follow the directions as well as I should have.


The other recipe I made was from 1984, and it was not created by Helen. It shows how much tastes change. The original recipe for Artichokes with Zesty Blue Cheese Dip called for only one tablespoon of blue cheese! Needless to say, it needed a little more. Ok, a lot more. I've adapted it here if you'd like to try it. Helen's office mates liked it a lot. I think it's a great choice for Valentine's Day, after all, it has plenty of heart.

Note: since this recipe calls for boiling rather than steaming, and I found the artichokes I used cooked very quickly. If you prefer, you can cook the artichokes any way you like.

Artichokes with Zesty Blue Cheese Dip
(adapted from the Kikkoman Kitchen)
4 servings

4 medium (about 8 oz. each) artichokes 

Water

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms 

2 Tablespoons minced green onions
6 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese 

2 teaspoons Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce 

Grated peel and juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

To prepare artichokes, slice 1 inch off tops; discard. Cut off stems even with base; remove small outer leaves. Trim off sharp leaf tips (about 1/2 inch) with kitchen shears or paring knife or scissors. Rinse artichokes under cold water. (To prevent darkening, rub lemon half on cut edges of artichokes.) Arrange artichokes upright in saucepan. Add water to depth of 2 inches. Bring water to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes, or until leaves pull out easily.

Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, mushrooms, green onions, blue cheese, less sodium soy sauce, lemon juice and peel.

Drain artichokes; cool enough to handle. To serve, spoon the blue cheese mixture into a bowl, and serve with the artichokes.

Enjoy!

Helen Roberts & the Kikkoman Test Kitchen

Chef Helen Roberts is the manager of culinary development and public relations at Kikkoman. She works on consumer recipes using the whole range of Kikkoman products from soy sauce to panko bread crumbs to soy milk and beyond. She used to work in product development and was hired because of her amazing ability to taste subtle differences in 16 different soy sauces! At the time she was hired, she had never even tried Japanese food.


I recently got to visit Helen and her test kitchen in downtown San Francisco. What a treat! Helen is friendly, enthusiastic and has a great sense of humor, and so it was no surprise to see that her recently renovated test kitchen in San Francisco is cheerful and lively as can be. The kitchen has a big island, two stoves and a large refrigerator. It also has a big flat screen television with cooking shows on all the time and the radio set to "old school." By the way, is there anything better than cooking with Prince playing in the background?


I had a great time cooking with Helen, whipping up some recipes for Valentine's Day. She was working on a version of a recipe she swears convinced her husband to propose to her. She fills puff pastry shells with a cajun spiced cream sauce (made with soy milk) and shrimp sauteed in butter. Helen made us a snack to nibble on while we cooked and shared tips with me such as use a splash of soy sauce in the water when you blanch vegetables instead of salt.

I made one of Helen's recipes for crab stuffed mushrooms which came out beautifully which is a testament to her skills, because I was so distracted chatting that I did not follow the directions as well as I should have.


The other recipe I made was from 1984, and it was not created by Helen. It shows how much tastes change. The original recipe for Artichokes with Zesty Blue Cheese Dip called for only one tablespoon of blue cheese! Needless to say, it needed a little more. Ok, a lot more. I've adapted it here if you'd like to try it. Helen's office mates liked it a lot. I think it's a great choice for Valentine's Day, after all, it has plenty of heart.

Note: since this recipe calls for boiling rather than steaming, and I found the artichokes I used cooked very quickly. If you prefer, you can cook the artichokes any way you like.

Artichokes with Zesty Blue Cheese Dip
(adapted from the Kikkoman Kitchen)
4 servings

4 medium (about 8 oz. each) artichokes 

Water

1/2 cup mayonnaise 

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms 

2 Tablespoons minced green onions
6 Tablespoons crumbled blue cheese 

2 teaspoons Kikkoman Less Sodium Soy Sauce 

Grated peel and juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

To prepare artichokes, slice 1 inch off tops; discard. Cut off stems even with base; remove small outer leaves. Trim off sharp leaf tips (about 1/2 inch) with kitchen shears or paring knife or scissors. Rinse artichokes under cold water. (To prevent darkening, rub lemon half on cut edges of artichokes.) Arrange artichokes upright in saucepan. Add water to depth of 2 inches. Bring water to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes, or until leaves pull out easily.

Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise, mushrooms, green onions, blue cheese, less sodium soy sauce, lemon juice and peel.

Drain artichokes; cool enough to handle. To serve, spoon the blue cheese mixture into a bowl, and serve with the artichokes.

Enjoy!

Waiter, there's goat cheese in my burrito!

The first time I saw this recipe it didn't appeal to me at all. Goat cheese and burritos don't seem like they could go together. But the idea grew on me and we gave it a try. Loved it. The tangy cheese is brilliant with the beans and tomatos.

This is a very fast and low maintenance recipe. Other than cooking some rice there's only a bit of chopping and less than 10 minutes of cooking.

I altered the original recipe slightly - I'd say you could get 4-6 nice sized burritos out of this.

Goat Cheese Burritos

adapted from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons

1 tb oil

1 bunch of green onions, washed well and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp ground cumin

3 tomatos, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

soft goats cheese (2 or more tb per burrito)

flour tortillas

sour cream

salsa

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the green onions, garlic and cumin to the pan and cook, stirring often for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in another medium pan, heat the black beans and a couple of tablespoons of water over medium heat until hot. Drain off the water. Add the tomatos to the onion mixture and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the rice.

Spread the goats cheese on the tortillas. Spoon the rice mixture on top of the cheese and top with beans. Add salsa and sour cream if desired. Roll up and dig in.

Waiter, there's goat cheese in my burrito!

The first time I saw this recipe it didn't appeal to me at all. Goat cheese and burritos don't seem like they could go together. But the idea grew on me and we gave it a try. Loved it. The tangy cheese is brilliant with the beans and tomatos.

This is a very fast and low maintenance recipe. Other than cooking some rice there's only a bit of chopping and less than 10 minutes of cooking.

I altered the original recipe slightly - I'd say you could get 4-6 nice sized burritos out of this.

Goat Cheese Burritos

adapted from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons

1 tb oil

1 bunch of green onions, washed well and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp ground cumin

3 tomatos, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

soft goats cheese (2 or more tb per burrito)

flour tortillas

sour cream

salsa

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the green onions, garlic and cumin to the pan and cook, stirring often for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in another medium pan, heat the black beans and a couple of tablespoons of water over medium heat until hot. Drain off the water. Add the tomatos to the onion mixture and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the rice.

Spread the goats cheese on the tortillas. Spoon the rice mixture on top of the cheese and top with beans. Add salsa and sour cream if desired. Roll up and dig in.

Super Bowl Worthy: Chicken and Cheese Dip

This was a happy accident I needed to share. Getting food ready for the playoffs this year, I had a few ingredients on-hand that I wanted to whip into something easy to serve. This dip was just the ticket. It was devoured faster than I thought it would be, and it will most certainly be on the menu for the Super Bowl this year (Go Steelers!).

Chicken and Cheese Dip

Makes 2 cups

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 cups water

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 can (4 ounces) diced green chiles - undrained

1/2 cup salsa

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. In a small skillet combine chicken, water, cumin, garlic powder and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.

2. Cook until chicken is easy to shred, about 45 minutes. If water cooks out, add more, a cup at a time.

3. Remove chicken from water and shred or chop fine. Reserve 1 cup of cooking water. If there is not enough, add water to make 1 cup.

4. Mix chicken with salsa, green chiles, cooking liquid and cheese. Cook over low heat until cheese is completely melted.

5. Serve with corn chips, keep warm or reheat as needed.

Winter Cobb Salad:Recipe

Last year I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Michael Symon at a demo that he did at Williams-Sonoma. From recipes in his cookbook, Michael Symon's Live to Cook, he made creamy scrambled eggs with goat cheese, potato pancakes and of course, plenty of bacon. Michael Symon loves bacon, it features prominently in many of his recipes.

The next best thing to eating Michael Symon's food, is seeing him cook, so you can replicate his recipes at home. Right now you can see a number of videos with Michael Symon at EatWisconsinCheese.com, where he demonstrates some very interesting techniques. For example, he makes gnocchi that is cooked in a pan, with no need to parboil.

I'm always looking for more salad recipes and I like his version with arugula, apples, radishes and Wisconsin blue cheese. Symon's salad is a side dish, but with just a couple more additions, it actually makes a great main dish. To the salad I added crunchy jicama, creamy avocado, toasted walnuts and in honor of Symon, smoky bacon. The result is a very substantial "Cobb" style entree salad, with rows of seasonal ingredients. I'm not going to lie to you, while not hard to make, this salad does take a fair amount of time to prepare, but it is absolutely worth it. Even the least enthusiastic salad eater will love it.

Winter Cobb Salad
Serves 4, as a main dish

1 shallot, minced, about a tablespoon
3 Tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup radish slices
1 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup jicama, peeled and diced
6 cups arugula
1 cup Black River blue cheese, crumbled (Buttermilk blue would be good too)
1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Dressing
Place shallots and large pinch of kosher salt in mixing bowl. Add vinegar, honey and mustard. Mix. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste for seasoning then put in a small pitcher or ramekin for serving.

Salad
Make a bed of arugula on a large serving platter. Place the radishes, apples, avocado, jicama, blue cheese, walnuts and bacon on top of the salad in rows. Serve with the dressing on the side. Alternatively you can create individual servings of the salad if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Winter Cobb Salad:Recipe

Last year I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Michael Symon at a demo that he did at Williams-Sonoma. From recipes in his cookbook, Michael Symon's Live to Cook, he made creamy scrambled eggs with goat cheese, potato pancakes and of course, plenty of bacon. Michael Symon loves bacon, it features prominently in many of his recipes.

The next best thing to eating Michael Symon's food, is seeing him cook, so you can replicate his recipes at home. Right now you can see a number of videos with Michael Symon at EatWisconsinCheese.com, where he demonstrates some very interesting techniques. For example, he makes gnocchi that is cooked in a pan, with no need to parboil.

I'm always looking for more salad recipes and I like his version with arugula, apples, radishes and Wisconsin blue cheese. Symon's salad is a side dish, but with just a couple more additions, it actually makes a great main dish. To the salad I added crunchy jicama, creamy avocado, toasted walnuts and in honor of Symon, smoky bacon. The result is a very substantial "Cobb" style entree salad, with rows of seasonal ingredients. I'm not going to lie to you, while not hard to make, this salad does take a fair amount of time to prepare, but it is absolutely worth it. Even the least enthusiastic salad eater will love it.

Winter Cobb Salad
Serves 4, as a main dish

1 shallot, minced, about a tablespoon
3 Tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup radish slices
1 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup jicama, peeled and diced
6 cups arugula
1 cup Black River blue cheese, crumbled (Buttermilk blue would be good too)
1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Dressing
Place shallots and large pinch of kosher salt in mixing bowl. Add vinegar, honey and mustard. Mix. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste for seasoning then put in a small pitcher or ramekin for serving.

Salad
Make a bed of arugula on a large serving platter. Place the radishes, apples, avocado, jicama, blue cheese, walnuts and bacon on top of the salad in rows. Serve with the dressing on the side. Alternatively you can create individual servings of the salad if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Winter Cobb Salad:Recipe

Last year I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Michael Symon at a demo that he did at Williams-Sonoma. From recipes in his cookbook, Michael Symon's Live to Cook, he made creamy scrambled eggs with goat cheese, potato pancakes and of course, plenty of bacon. Michael Symon loves bacon, it features prominently in many of his recipes.

The next best thing to eating Michael Symon's food, is seeing him cook, so you can replicate his recipes at home. Right now you can see a number of videos with Michael Symon at EatWisconsinCheese.com, where he demonstrates some very interesting techniques. For example, he makes gnocchi that is cooked in a pan, with no need to parboil.

I'm always looking for more salad recipes and I like his version with arugula, apples, radishes and Wisconsin blue cheese. Symon's salad is a side dish, but with just a couple more additions, it actually makes a great main dish. To the salad I added crunchy jicama, creamy avocado, toasted walnuts and in honor of Symon, smoky bacon. The result is a very substantial "Cobb" style entree salad, with rows of seasonal ingredients. I'm not going to lie to you, while not hard to make, this salad does take a fair amount of time to prepare, but it is absolutely worth it. Even the least enthusiastic salad eater will love it.

Winter Cobb Salad
Serves 4, as a main dish

1 shallot, minced, about a tablespoon
3 Tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup radish slices
1 Granny Smith apples, cored and diced
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup jicama, peeled and diced
6 cups arugula
1 cup Black River blue cheese, crumbled (Buttermilk blue would be good too)
1 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Dressing
Place shallots and large pinch of kosher salt in mixing bowl. Add vinegar, honey and mustard. Mix. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Taste for seasoning then put in a small pitcher or ramekin for serving.

Salad
Make a bed of arugula on a large serving platter. Place the radishes, apples, avocado, jicama, blue cheese, walnuts and bacon on top of the salad in rows. Serve with the dressing on the side. Alternatively you can create individual servings of the salad if you prefer.

Enjoy!

Ile De France Fol Epi Cheese

About six months ago I learned that one of my great-grandfathers was a cheese maker. I was thrilled at this information for obvious reasons, the least of which is my love of cheese. I've tried so many types of cheese, some memorable and others not so, but I rarely find a cheese that I dislike. Ile De France produces many of my favorite French cheeses and I'm always happy to try new ones.

French cheeses are so different in nature than others and I find that each has a quality to it that pairs well with certain foods; sort of like I fine wine. Fol Epi is a cheese with a distinctive flavor likened to Emmental. Nutty and smooth, it doesn't have quite the bite that a Swiss would have and is milder in flavor, but equally delicious.

My favorite grilling cheese is of the Swiss variety, so I knew exactly what would become of this lovely sampling. The sandwich was so good, and the flavor of the cheese so mild, that my 3 year-old daughter couldn't get enough ... thankfully the other kids were out for the day.

The Fol Epi Grilled Sandwich

Serves 1

2 teaspoons grainy brown mustard

2 teaspoons honey

1 Naan bread

4 ounces smoked turkey breast slices

1 ounce sliced Ile De France Fol Epi cheese

red pepper slices

tomato slices

leaf lettuce

1. Slice Naan in half crosswise. Spread both halves with mustard and honey on one side only.

2. Layer one side with turkey, red pepper and cheese. Top with other half.

3. Cook in a non-stick grill pan, flipping once, until cheese is melted - about 3 -4 minutes.

4. Carefully remove one half and top with tomatoes and lettuce - replace top and serve.

Tropical Chicken Salad with Cheddar and Tarragon Crisps

One of my favorite salads is Waldorf, but I really enjoy the addition of a protein like chicken or shrimp. This salad is close to a Waldorf, but with papaya and pineapple used instead of apple. These ingredients came from the most recent Foodie Joust - papaya, cheese and tarragon. At first sight, I was a little lost, but after a lot of time to mull it over, this is what I came up with.

Lara, Ian and Katie couldn't get enough of it, and with a picky audience like that, you know it's good stuff.

Tropical Chicken Salad with Cheddar and Tarragon Crisps
Serves 4

2 cups cooked chicken breast - cubed
1/2 cup red pepper - diced
1/2 cup each yellow and red papaya - cubed
1/2 cup pineapple chunks
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts

Combine and toss to coat well. Refrigerate for half an hour to allow flavors to blend.

Cheddar and Tarragon Crisps
Makes 1 baking sheet of crisps

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 teaspoons tarragon leaves

Mix well and spread on a greased parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a 450 degree F oven until bubbly, browned and crisp - 5 - 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. Let stand until cool before peeling from parchment and breaking into serving pieces.

Ile de France Cheese of the Month: St. Albray

Cheese of the month for August at Ile de France is St. Albray - another soft-ripened cheese that has, so far, been my favorite of the edible rind variety. This cheese is equally delicious served cold, at room temperature or even melted.

Each section of cheese is an 8 ounce portion of a larger wheel that looks like a flower when intact. The presentation of a full wheel would be stunning at a large gathering.

I had in mind a stacked salad of the panzanella variety, but once I knew this cheese was on its way, I decided to do a French version of that, and this is the delicious result. The St. Albray was the perfect complement to the intense flavor of the tapenade and red peppers.



French Bread Stacked Salad with St. Albray Cheese
Serves 4

12 1/2-inch thick slices of day-old French bread
8 slices plum tomato
4 ounces bottled roasted red peppers
8 slices St. Albray cheese - rind on
1 cup prepared tapenade (my recipe is HERE)
4 basil leaves for garnish
olive oil for garnish

Lay out 8 bread slices, setting 4 aside
Layer each slice of bread with tapenade, red pepper, cheese and tomato.
Stack 2 slices of prepared bread together and top with a plain slice of bread.
Top each stack with a basil leaf and drizzle with olive oil.

Products to Love

EatSmart Nutrition Scales: Although culinary school was a long time ago for me (16 years!) I still find myself breaking out my copy of The New Professional Chef, the preferred textbook and guide for many chef schools. The recipes are some of the best I've ever had and I like to use the pastry and bread recipes in particular. The only problem with that is the recipes ingredients are more often than not listed by weight rather than volume.

Being without kitchen scales kept me from making many of my favorites. Lots of the conversions are fairly simple, but the end result isn't always the same. Having a set of scales has made it far simpler for me to replicate those much-loved recipes.

The EatSmart Precision Pro Multifunction Digital Kitchen Scale has an extra large LCD readout and a capacity of up to 11 pounds. For something to small, it sure does a big job. It's exact to the smallest amount in both metric and customary units and takes up very little space in my kitche. That was a huge plus for me because the kitchen we had just prior to this one was about 8ft x 8ft - truly diminutive.

For a scale that packs a punch, whether you're measuring ingredients or keeping track of your food intake, this one beats the rest hands-down in functionality and most especially, price. It sells for a mere $25.


Gaea Mediterranean food products: Certified Carbon Neutral food products from Greece. Partnering with myclimate, Gaea has offset carbon emissions from each step of their process resulting in carbon neutral products. I tried two products:

Cyprus Sauce - Rich Tomato & Orange Fusion Sauce. I had a moment's hesitation at the thought of a tomato sauce with citrus in it, but this sauce is absolutely delicious. I used Gaea's label recipe for Izmir Meatballs, and they were perfect; even the kids ate them!

Olive Oil - Laconia P.G.I. (which stands for Protected Geographical Indication) Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the land of the Spartans! After a few references to the movie, "300" we tried it and adored it. The flavor is light, bright and buttery smooth.

Ile de France Suprême Cheese: A soft-ripened cheese made with crème fraîche that boasts a fat content of 63%, this is one seriously rich cheese. While I try to come up with a great recipe for each of the Ile de France cheeses I've tried, this one was put to so many different uses that I lost track. I added it to creamy polenta for breakfast, tucked it into the vegetable filling of of my latest strudel, added it to the top of toasted bagels and stirred it into a rich homemade macaroni and cheese. This is a truly decadent cheese, meant to be eaten in small amounts, that delivers big flavor with every bite.

Scanpan: Scanpan, a Danish cookware maker, has just released the World's first PFOA-Free line of nonstick pans using Green Tek surfacing. I just won one of these at What's Cooking and I'm already in love with it. Made of ceramic and titanium, it holds and distributes heat very well and the safe nonstick surface has made this my go-to pan for omelets and other egg dishes. I also love that the pan comes with its own heat-resistant holder that fits right over the handle. Putting this pan in and out of the oven is a breeze and the fact that it can be put into the oven is my other favorite feature.


Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil: Did you know that coconut oil is not bad for you? After years of being vilified, coconut oil is making a comeback, and rightly so. The antibiotic and healing properties of this simple oil are unmatched and the saturated fat content is actually a 'good' saturated fat. If you don't believe me, get over to Tropical Traditions to watch the video, read the testimonies, and check out amazing (and heartwrenching) story of how this particuar coconut oil, the first certified 'virgin' and organic came to be.

This is the best coconut oil on the market with higher antioxidant levels than any other sold and the flavor doesn't compare to others either. We've used it in cooking, straight up and even set aside some to use externally on minor cuts and rashes. It's amazing stuff with awesome healing properties that begs to be looked at.