Charles de Gaulle has been credited with asking, "How can you be expected to govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?" Well, I don't govern much of anything, but I can certainly relate to Mr. de Gaulle's dilemma. You see, these days I've become a bit cheese obsessed, and it doesn't help that with so many varieties out there, the possibilities for experimentation appear to be endless. I've played with it on pizza, on toast, on soup and especially in dips and sauces. But one application that I had yet to test out on cheese was grilling.
A while back I learned that you can actually grill and roast several firm cheeses like feta and haloumi. I love both applications because they impart a type of flavor that can't be achieved through other cooking methods. With grilling you get a beautiful charred smokiness and awesome color, not to mention a whole new flavor profile. Roasting always brings out the sweetness of ingredients by slowly browning and caramelizing, a perfect flavor juxtaposition with a firm, salty cheese. Despite its scary location under an overpass behind the Port Authority, the Greek import shop in my neighborhood has an excellent selection of international meats and cheeses. I'd been searching high and low for a good haloumi only to find that most cheese shops do not carry very many Greek cheese other than feta. Fortunately, this oddly placed culinary wonderland in the middle of nowhere had several types of haloumi to choose from.
I decided to take a recipe from Gourmet that combined several of my favorite flavors including garlic and lemon with a hint or salt and sugar, all combining in a lovely sweet and sour glaze. The recipe originally called for dill, but I really like the woodyness of thyme, especially when paired with lemon and a little charred flavor. The only thing missing would be the beautiful grill marks of an actual outdoor grill, which in this case was replaced with an indoor grill pan. The cheese blistered and charred just the same, holding up shockingly well to the heat from an intense flame. The original recipe also called for grilled lemons which would serve mostly as decoration but aren't particularly edible. I think next time, perhaps with a nice block of feta, I'll roast lemon halves along with the cheese and then squeeze the sweetened, browned juice over it before serving. Until then, here's what I did with the haloumi:
Grilled Haloumi with Lemon Dressing
adapted from Gourmet
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 pound Haloumi cheese
1 large garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
4 (3/4-inch-thick) slices peasant or country-style bread
2 Tbsp dried or fresh thyme
1. Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over moderately high heat, or heat an indoor grill pan over moderately high heat.
2. Mince garlic and mash to a paste with a pinch of salt using side of a large heavy knife, and combine in a bowl with lemon juice. Whisk in salt and sugar until dissolved, then add 1/4 cup oil, whisking until combined.
3. Halve cheese diagonally, then cut each triangle, cut side down, into 1/3-inch-thick slices. Toss cheese with dressing and brush both sides of bread with remaining 2 tablespoons oil.
4. Grill bread and cheese, covered, turning over once, until bread is toasted (2 to 3 minutes total) and grill marks appear on both sides of cheese (3 to 4 minutes total).
5. Whisk thyme into remaining dressing. Divide bread among 4 small plates and top with cheese and lemon slices. Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately. Enjoy!
-Laura
When I am faced with a week of bad weather, late nights at the office and--worst of all--a bad hair day, there are only a handful of things that make those five evil weekdays tolerable. Normally, finding something great to watch on TV is half the battle, but since pretty much everything is still in reruns, I usually drown my sorrows in food and something Tivoed. There's usually one week out of the month where cooking is nearly impossible because I get home so late, so over the years I've discovered a few key ingredients that I can buy on Monday to last me through the entire week.
The first key ingredient to a quick, late dinner is a big, crusty loaf of bread. A great loaf of bread is good for more than just an amazing sandwich. You can use it as the base for any spread that's easily whipped up in the food processor or heated on the stove. In my experience it may even be done before the bread pops out of the toaster. For easily spreadable ideas see the recipes for my tapenade, artichoke spread and white bean tostada.
The second ingredient that I depend on is cheese. You can do everything from create a quick pizza or flatbread, mix it into pasta, or do what I love to do, spread it on your trusty loaf of bread. This week, as work got super busy and eating slipped through the cracks of my busy day, I made it a point to make one quick pit-stop on my walk home. The wine and cheese shop on my corner has an excellent selection of cheese from around the world, including a delicious cow's milk/goat's milk blend that I grabbed on my way home. It was soft and gooey even straight out of the fridge, with the sweetness of a brie, but with a hint of the tartness one gets from goat cheese. Once I got home all I had to do was spread it on toast (which helped it get even gooier) and then top it with some slivered olives and pine nuts to accent those nutty brie-like flavors. It was a super easy and satisfying meal, not to mention I wasn't totally full from eating dinner super late. No recipe today, just a few helpful hints :)
-Laura
One of my favorite trips as a kid was going to Spain and visiting my family. We'd always stay with my grandparents in the north of Spain, in the apartment they'd lived in since my father was 4. Mainstream American culture had yet to hit their town and everything around me seemed steeped in old world, European history. Every morning my grandmother would wake me from a deep, jet-lagged slumber and insist that I accompany her on morning errands, all of which involved gathering ingredients for the day's meals. The first stop was always the bakery, where there appeared to be a perpetual shortage of French bread, leading to a race against the clock. Knowing that we had at least 3 other stops to go on our daily relay, the baker would smile, say a quick hello, and pass us our baguette like a runner passing a baton.
That set us off to stop number two, the butcher. In the days before supermarket mega-stores, the butcher was a powerful man. What you ate for lunch and dinner depended solely on what he had available and what was fresh. Being on the butcher's good side was of paramount importance if you ever wanted to bring home another steak. My grandmother had already informed him that we would be visiting and of how much I loved thin veal scallopini, simply seared a la plancha. So, he saved us the entire tenderloin that we could thinly slice and pound out into translucent minute steaks. The last stop was always for what is commonly known here by it's French name, charcuterie. This place was like a mecca for dried and cured meat products, and we stocked up on everything, from multiple kinds of chorizo, to mortadella and entire legs of serrano ham. One last stop for a few pieces of cheese and fruit and we were done for the day.
I'd usually tuck back into bed after all the excitement, picking up on bits and pieces of casual conversation and gossip from the kitchen as I drifted in and out of sleep. As the smell of lentil soup and stove top espresso wafted into my room, I would slowly awake from my sleepy stupor to find the rest of the family showered, dressed, and ready for a late Spanish lunch. I'd always have just enough time to wash up before the futbol match ended and we'd all be summoned to the table. While the rest of us took down one bowl of soup after another, my grandmother thinly sliced a slightly aged manchego cheese and laid it out on a plate. Then she used a string to cut a ruby red, jelly like mold into rectangles and laid them down alongside the cheese. Carefully stacking a jelly slice on top of a piece of cheese, she worked her way through the entire spread of cheese and fruit. I eventually came to love this dish (queso con membrillo) and have often entertained with it. Membrillo, or quince paste, is almost like a firm marmalade that can be sliced and served with cheese or in a sandwich. Its sweetness is a perfect foil for the Manchego, which can be slightly tart, especially as it ages. There's no real recipe here today, but definitely a great idea for entertaining or a lazy Indian summer dinner. Just do as we did and break out the dried meats and cheeses, some membrillo and a good glass of wine. You can sit outside, around the table, or even lounge on the sofa, just grab your family or a loved one and call it a good day.
-Laura
I don't know about anyone else out there, but to this day, whenever I'm handed a red plastic cup, I'm reminded of going out for pizza. Having grown up nowhere near the New York area, pizza for me always meant Pizza Hut. Back then it wasn't the flashy, delivery driven franchise we see today, but rather a family establishment encouraging you to come on in and stay a while. Chandeliers with red velvet lampshades and yellow fringe hung over every table, and the distant sounds of a pinball machine could be heard over the joyous cries of children spying their pizza as it made it's way to the table. The only thing better than the bottomless fountain soda refills was the long cheese tightrope that formed between your mouth and the tip of your slice after that first glorious bite.
Eventually pizza lost it's leisurely connotation and became a food of convenience or a late-night hangover cure all. The pizza parlors that once made room for the whole family gave way to popular demand and began to diversify, serving a variety of mediocre dishes, and discouraging eating in. Fortunately, the last five years have seen a renaissance in pizza perception. While it still holds it's place as the ultimate post-drink snack, pizza has also become the object of a many chefs affection. It's become not only an excellent vehicle for new and exciting ingredients, but a respectable dish in and of itself. Many foodies are picky about crust, sauce and cheese, not to mention toppings in general, silently begging the pizza makers of the world to raise the bar once again.
I took my own leap forward last night by experimenting with pizza making for the first time. I'm generally terrified of dough, so instead of making my own dough I purchased some pizza bianca bread at Whole Foods that made an excellent pizza crust. The whole endeavor actually started with a beautiful and appropriately named bianca cheese that I'd purchased at the greenmarket on Saturday. It was soft and spreadable like cream cheese, but had a bit of sweetness like ricotta, and a tartness just milder than that of a goat cheese.
Once hearing that it was spreadable and delicious when heated, I immediately knew that I wanted to use it as a base for a pizza bianca, and got to thinking about other toppings. Prosciutto came to mind immediately, as did olives. One of my favorite Turkish brunch spots covers their ham flatbreads in a micro green salad, so I decided to top mine with a lightly dressed baby arugula salad. The dish took no longer than 7-10 minutes to assemble, and a mere 5 minutes in a 450 F degree oven to cook through. This would be a really easy and impressive dish to entertain with, not to mention that it has the potential to feed an army on the cheap. Mine got rave reviews (not just from me) and it is most definitely something I'll make again and again.
Pizza Bianca with Prosciutto and Olives
1 large pizza bianca flatbread (available at Whole Foods)
1 6-inch wheel bianca cheese or other soft farmer's cheese
4 slices prosciutto (about 1/8 of a lb if you're buying at the deli counter)
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, torn in half
3 cups baby arugula
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt
pepper
1. Preheat over to 450 F degrees.
2. Drizzle a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil over the bread and season generously with salt and pepper.
3. Spread a thin layer of cheese over the pizza bread. Tear each slice of prosciutto in half and drape evenly over the pizza. Dot the bread with olives and season the top of the pizza with salt and pepper. Drizzle the pizza with extra virgin olive oil and bake in the oven on a baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, or until edges of bread start to brown.
4. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine arugula with a drizzle of both extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Season with salt and spread over the top of the cooked pizza. Cut pizza into 8 squares and serve. Enjoy!
-Laura
So as a result of my apartment lock down (broken elevator, see previous post for more info) I spent the weekend making dishes that required no extra shopping...or so I thought, until I realized I was out of crusty bread for the above pictured dish. It wasn't a problem though, as I decided to spend Sunday out on the streets for as long as possible, and to only come home and tackle the seven flights of stairs once. Granted, this led to (as it always does) a new pair of boots (I know, I'm poor now, but they're fabulous), three new books to read, and many errands run. Oh yeah, and eventually I bought a fresh baguette from the bakery across the street. I generally prefer a ciabatta or sourdough for this, but they seemed to be out, and/or were trying to be really mean to me (I'm pretty sure it's the latter. Dammit).
Regardless of the bread, the dish turned out great. I was hoping to have something fun to watch while it baked in the oven, and finally I saw that of all places, the Disney Channel had something for me. So I preheated the oven, popped in the baguette and sat down to watch...Finding Nemo! I know it's for children, but honestly I love that movie, and let's not even get into how excited I am to Netflix Ratatouille today. It's absurd that I haven't seen it, and I'm just tickled that I'll probably have it by the weekend. And we won't talk about how many times I cried during Nemo.
So back to the brie. You can really do this with any soft cheese you like. The first time I tried it a few months ago it was with a very stinky Camembert, and it was quite good. The bread was lacking, but that's not my fault (I think?). This time I tried a soft and mellow brie, and I think it was a good move. The Camembert had been very gooey and oozey, but the brie was a lot more buttery, slightly sweet and had more body. To contrast those flavors I decided to go slightly spicy on the bread, sprinkling a little bit of paprika, cayenne and grey sea salt (more on that after the recipe). It worked out well, and for those of you questioning your love of brie, I promise you the flavor that develops in the oven is light years beyond your average party cheese, so give it a try. Here's how you do it:
Baked Brie with Paprika and Sea Salt Bread
1 wheel of Brie, or soft cheese of your choosing
1 loaf of crusty bread, like ciabatta, sourdough, or a baguette
Olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I like to put the loaf of bread in as the oven heats up just so it's warmed through before you slice it, but it's not necessary.
2. Remove cheese from all packaging, leaving the rind on. Wrap it in a sheet of aluminum foil and place it in the middle of a baking tray until oven is heated.
3. Cut the bread into one inch slices and toss with olive oil, paprika, cayenne and grey sea salt and add it to the baking sheet with the cheese. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, removing the bread once it's golden brown, usually after 8-10 minutes.
4. When the cheese is done, the easiest way to remove it from the foil is by carefully flipping it out onto a plate (that's why the top is golden brown in the photo, it's actually the bottom).
**TIP: Try using grey sea salt. Believe it or not, it's actually saltier than regular table or kosher salt. It has a richer flavor and therefore does a better job of bringing out the flavors in the food you season with it. After all, salt not only makes things salty, but it brings out the moisture in whatever you're salting, and moisture is flavor. So if you want more flavor, use the salt that does the best job of providing it. And now I'll hop off my soapbox. Good day.
-Laura
