Artisan Cheeses: Never the Same Twice

a 5-inch round fresh from the farmer's market

There is no cheese I don't love. My refrigerator always contains at least three kind of cheese (cheddar, cottage cheese, blue cheese) and usually several other types as well. Recently, I have become enamored of a locally produced artisan cheese called Wheyside, named in honor of the Wayside Inn, a nearby landmark. The cheese is made by Nobscot Artisan Cheese, a neighborhood company that sells at my closest farmer's market, which is where I tasted their cheeses. Nobscot is committed to making cheese using milk from a local farmer. They have several different cheeses, but the Wheyside won me over immediately and continues to do so. I buy it regularly, and it's always delicious but never exactly the same twice.

That lack of uniformity is the real difference between artisan cheeses and mass-produced cheeses. While the mass producers strive for perfect consistency, artisan cheeses are quirkier. They are made by hand, following traditional techniques, and all sorts of factors can affect the final outcome: whether the cheese is made with raw or pasteurized milk, the weather, what the cows ate, the length of ripening, whether the cheese is washed in brine, cider, or something else, as well as mysterious factors.

Years ago, I read a book called The Cheese Book by Vivienne Marquis and Patricia Haskell. It recounted the story of the Borden's Liederkranz cheese factory, which moved to Ohio from NY. The owners were scrupulous about moving everything: the equipment, the method, the original culture and recipe. But the new cheese was unsatisfactory. Finally, some genius decided to smear some of the original Liederkranz cheese on the new factory walls. (I love picturing this, and I wonder how that idea was originally received by management and by the people working there.) Voila! Future batches were successful, because now the very air was correct, filled with the perfect beneficial bacteria.

If the Nobscot folks ever move their cheese works, I will send them this story. I don't want my Wheyside influenced by foreign microbes.

Planked Grilled Salmon

ready for cooking

Last year I grilled salmon for the first time and loved it. I followed a recipe given to me by my dentist, a fellow foodie. I wrote about this in an earlier blog posting. At the time, I mentioned that I wanted to try cooking the fish on a plank, since I had heard that it was delicious.

I finally tried it. Basically, you prepare the fish the same way you would for grilling, but instead of placing it on a hot oiled grill you place it on a plank that has been soaked in water. Then you cook it using indirect heat. In other words, you heat up the grill, turn off one side of it if it is a gas grill (for charcoal, you pile the coals on one side when you start the fire), and place the planked fish on the cooler side. Then you cover and cook. No turning is necessary, although you do have to allow extra time.

The result is a moist fish with a silky even texture. The color is uniform throughout, with no blackened or crisp places. When I ate the first piece hot, I missed the slightly charred taste and texture of fish grilled directly on the rack. However, when I ate cold leftovers, I was stunned by wonderful it was. The fish practically melted on my tongue. I ate it for two meals in a row.

I cooked this salmon on a maple plank, which a friend had given me. I'd also like to try a cedar plank, which imparts a bit of its own flavor to the food. Whichever I use, the next time I make this fish, I will cook one piece directly on the grill to eat hot, and then I will plank the rest to serve cold afterwards.

The Joys of Summer: Lobster

I just returned from a few days in Maine, where I feasted on fresh lobster served by the water's edge. I chose the type (hard or soft shelled), the size, and the cooking method (boiled or baked). Then I sat at an outdoor table and waited while my lobster was plucked from the water, cooked, and brought to me with assorted eating implements. For many folks, this is the quintessential New England summer dinner.

I'm one of those people who eats every possible morsel; a friend once said I reminded him of the scene in Splash, where Darryl Hannah bites into the middle of the lobster's back and then proceeds to devour it from there. I not only enjoy the tail and claw meat, but I rip off the little skinny legs and chew on them; I open the carapace and root around inside. To me, picking the lobster apart and digging out the sweet meat is part of the whole experience and pleasure. Luckily, my dining companion felt the same way, because eating a lobster this way takes time and creates a giant mess. And you smell like lobster for hours, despite the little wet wipes that most places give you.

If time is an issue, I'm likely to order lobster roll instead of boiled lobster. To a New Englander, lobster roll means just one thing: lots of lobster meat held together either with a bit of mayonnaise or just melted butter (and sometimes celery) piled atop a hot dog roll that is split on top and lightly toasted. You can buy lobster rolls in many places, including supermarkets and fast food restaurants, but I really wouldn't bother. Wait until you get to a place that makes them to order and makes them well.

I confess that I have never actually cooked a lobster; I can't stand hearing their claws scratching on the kettle. But this doesn't stop me from enjoying them. I always wonder about the first person who ate a lobster. When you look at one raw, it looks pretty unappetizing—a bit like a giant greenish-brownish bug. I salute the person who first decided to try eating one.

Cottage Cheese: A Bum Rap as Just a Diet Food

my favorite brand and type

Cottage cheese has a bad reputation, and I hope to change that. For some reason, it is seen primarily as a tasteless food eaten by long-suffering dieters. It is a good food for dieters, since it is high in nutrition and low in calories, but it is also a great staple for everyone else. Its blandness makes it extremely versatile: cottage cheese can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert.

Cottage cheese is a protein powerhouse, offering twice the protein of yogurt. A single serving of cottage cheese provides half of an adult's daily protein requirement. People on budgets should remember this.

Cottage cheese is the original curds and whey enjoyed by Little Miss Muffet of nursery rhyme fame. It is essentially just milk components and salt, and today the salt is negotiable. Cottage cheese can be bought in many different forms: small curd, large curd, low sodium, low fat, nonfat, and flavored with sweet (pineapple, jam) or savory(chives, garden vegetables) items. I buy mine plain, adding flavors depending on how I use it. I'm not a fan of the low-fat varieties, but you may feel differently.

In hot weather, I often add a glob of cottage cheese to a tossed green salad. It turns it into a complete meal without making it appreciably heavy. I also eat this cheese on toast, bagels, or English muffins in the morning. (Richard Nixon ate cottage cheese for breakfast every morning, but he put ketchup on his.) In winter, I usually add a dollop of cottage cheese to a baked potato. If I'm in need of comfort food, I enjoy it in noodle kugel, a dish unknown to most of my friends but luckily not to my children. (Noodle kugel is a slightly sweet noodle pudding familiar to most Jewish kids of Ashkenazi descent.)

Cottage cheese is also an ingredient in one of my favorite summer desserts, a light and refreshing cheese cake--more accurately a cheese pie, I guess. It's easy to make and is lighter and more custardy than typical cheesecakes.

Graham Cracker Crust--make or buy.
Preheat oven to 350.
Blend the following ingredients or beat well at high speed

• 1 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 oz. cottage cheese
• 6 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

When thoroughly blended, pour into the crust and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes while you raise the oven temperature to 475.

Now mix 1 1/2 cups sour cream, 2 TBSP sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla together. Spread on pie and then bake in the hot oven for 5 minutes.

Chill thoroughly before eating.

The Eggplant Surprise

these little eggplants are only 3-4 inches long

Silly me! I thought an eggplant was just an eggplant, a member of the nightshade family. Yes, I had seen a few types at my local farm stand, but they looked essentially similar, except for the white ones, which just look freaky. But that was before my farming neighbor stopped by with a little basket of Fairy Tale eggplants. These cute veggies look like more like small purple zucchinis than they do eggplants.

Before cooking these miniatures, I did a bit of research and was well rewarded. I learned that eggplants come in numerous varieties, and that the Fairy Tale eggplants I had received required very little cooking. They are less bitter and more tender than standard eggplants, and their skin melts in your mouth. However, they do not have a long shelf life and should be eaten soon after picking.

I read a few recipes and then decided to try one that looked quick and simple. It was wonderful. (While I was cooking the pepper, I threw in a few mushrooms and added them to the final mix.) I cooked the split eggplants in hot olive oil briefly, added them to the other ingredients, and then feasted on the results. I was so encouraged that I may even try a white eggplant next.

Beautiful Beets

golden beets, straight from the farmer's market

One of my daughters shuns beets, saying they taste like dirt. This always surprises me, since this daughter loves to cook and eats a wide variety of foods. But never beets. The other daughter enjoys this vegetable as I do. To me, beets taste sweet. I like all varieties, but for salads I especially like golden beets, because they don't discolor the greens.

Last week, I bought a bunch of golden beets at a local farmer's market, prompted only by their sheer beauty. I steamed them and have been eating them almost every day in various salads. I love beets in salad combined with goat cheese and also with citrus fruits. I often make a luncheon salad like this one, substituting oranges for the grapefruit, since I cannot eat the latter. 

My other favorite beet dish is borscht. There are dozens of recipes for borscht online, so I won't bother linking to any one. Suffice it to say, that I like borscht made with cabbage and carrots and flavored with lots of dill. In wintertime, my borscht is thick and hot and includes slivers of beef, while in summertime I serve it ice cold with a hot boiled potato and a dollop of sour cream. 

Bubble Bursting: Sun Tea

making sun tea

I have made sun tea for years and always felt good about it. Using the sun's natural energy, I could make a refreshing summertime drink that tasted delicious and was practically free. Furthermore, it was crystal clear and looked lovely. All I needed, I thought, was a sunny day.

Then, somewhere, I got an inkling that I didn't actually need the sun to make sun tea. I ignored that inkling, because what fun was that? Then I visited my daughter, who remarked in passing that you don't actually need sun to make sun tea. I could not ignore this, because I never ignore my daughter.

I came home and did a bit of Internet research and confirmed that the sun was not a requirement. In fact, the article that I read suggested that tea made in the refrigerator actually tasted better.  So the sun doesn't impart any sort of cosmic goodness into the drink? Apparently not.

I was slightly disappointed to learn this but even more upset to discover that sun tea can actually be bad for you. (When you research information on the Internet, you discover all sorts of related topics, and this one, sadly kept cropping up.) According to Snopes, sun tea can harbor icky bacteria unless you jump through all sorts of hoops first. That sort of takes the romance out of making sun tea.

So for now on, I'll make mine in the refrigerator. I just need to come up with a good name for it--a romantic name that speaks to my love of summer.