I love birthdays, I love the rituals and the traditions. It was mine last week, so I ventured out into the storm to go to the local cheese mongers for my annual ‘Birthday Cheese’… I say annual ‘cos I did … Continue reading Birthday cheese love!
At last asparagus has burst into the stores, and we hope with its arrival the beginnings of spring and the inevitable glory of summer. I love how seasonal asparagus is, and how its brief appearance reminds us of the soil and the seasons. I love this too about cheese, and in particular artisan cheese. It speaks of place and breed and particularity. I found this recipe when researching a little gem of a cheese called cabécou (pronounced ka-be-coo) and translated it from French, care of Babelfish. Cabécou du Perigord Cabécou is a tiny disc of a cheese, only 5 cm … Continue reading Grilled Cabécou and asparagus – a spring starter
“I’m still fizzing about the Roquefort and Sauterne,” giggled my friend Kate after we’d devoured two cheese boards based on selecting, presenting and wine matching tips from my favourite cheese-onistas Fiona Beckett and Max McCalman. They were superb! So in my next few posts I’ll share their wisdom with you. This post is on selecting cheese, the next on presenting and the final on wine matching. Part 1 Choosing cheeses – shape, texture, progression There are three things they say to remember when choosing cheese: shape, texture, and a progression of tastes. So I started with one cheese, an anchor … Continue reading Secrets to a great cheese board – Shape, texture, progression (Part 1)
Buying cheese from a cheese monger is a new experience for me and one I really recommend. I love that you can take time to taste, savour and compare cheeses so you find one that is right for you and your cheese-eating occasion. And ever better sometimes you get to geek out with a fellow cheese person. I had one of those delicious experiences last week with Ludovic Avril from Le Marche Francais. This is a little hidden gem of a shop, tucked upstairs in the Woolstore at 262 Thorndon Quay. It is becoming a regular pilgrimage. I always look … Continue reading Why I love buying from a cheese monger
Oh thank you Mr Marche Francais and thank you ewes of Aveyron – your Perail de Brebis was velvet for my mouth, rich cream for my soul! Who would’ve thought such a thin frisbee of a cheese could envelope my mouth so fully and so completely? It looked like a wide, flat Camembert, only a centimetre or so deep, with a delicate dusting of off-white surface mould. But wow, when cut, this was no chalky, supermarket camembert. This little beauty flooded our cheese board with the most glorious, silky paste, like ice cream melting on a summer’s day. A delightful … Continue reading Perail de Brebis – an ice cream of a cheese
Selecting a cheeseboard for a group of friends is one of my favourite foodie things. You have to match the cheese to both the folks and the occasion, and of course for us in Wellington, you are limited by the cheeses available. And whilst I love ‘extending’ my palate and those of my erstwhile companions, I also know that some palates are more pedestrian than others. On nights like these I employ the balanced strategy to my cheese board – where I make sure I have one guaranteed crowd-pleaser to balance out an other potentially more difficult cheese. At times … Continue reading The safe and summery hands of Comte
Life and Cheese 