Where has this pistachio-feta dip been all my life? I found it online a couple of years ago (thank you, Tasting Table) and have since made it frequently for dinner guests and potlucks. It’s easy, unusual and always gets raves. Wish I could say I invented it, but New York’s Shuka restaurant gets the credit. With all the colorful fresh vegetables at farmers markets right now, you need this dip.
Read moreStar Power
This little French beauty has a charming name and a touching back story. But more important, it’s delightful and just right for warm-weather cheese boards. Add a leafy green salad with lots of chopped fresh chives, a baguette and a bottle of Sancerre. Acclaimed affineur Hervé Mons had a hand in this cheese’s creation, so you know it’s sublime.
Read morePecorino & Favas Last Call
Fava bean season is winding down where I live. Time to make one of my favorite salads before the beans vanish. Favas and sheep cheese, sweet and salty, in the soft folds of butter lettuce. A sharp shallot vinaigrette brings it all together. Choose a sheep’s milk cheese you can shave with a plane. If it has peppercorns in it (like Bellwether Farms’ Pepato), so much the better.
Read moreYou’re Grilling What??
Whatever else you’re planning to grill on Memorial Day, make room for cheese. Yes, you can grill it, and any non-meat eaters at your table will thank you. Halloumi, the sheep and goat cheese from Cyprus that doesn’t want to melt, has little personality until you warm it in a frying pan or on the grill. Then it blossoms. Serve it on toast (or lemon leaves, if you have them) with chopped fresh thyme and a drizzle of honey. A squeeze of lemon brightens it.
Read morePandemic’s Silver Lining
There aren’t many silver linings to this pandemic but here’s one: it spurred the development of a new fresh sheep cheese from Bellwether Farms. With restaurant sales of its aged cheeses plummeting—from 300 wheels a week to five—the California creamery ramped up its plan to launch a sheep’s milk version of fresh chèvre. Just a few days old when released, this dreamy toast-ready cheese is what pandemic-weary consumers want now, says Callahan. I’m loving it on crostini with carrots and dukkah.
Read moreHello Gorgeous!
Could cheese get any prettier? This new beauty from Jasper Hill Farm gets top marks for appearance (from me, at least) and extra credit for being made with raw milk. Plus, it’s a mixed-milk blue—half cow, half goat—a rare taste experience. Jasper Hill has already proven its blue expertise with the exquisite Bayley Hazen. Has this Vermont creamery nailed yet another one?
Read moreTop Cheese Merchant Looks Ahead
Anne Saxelby/Photo: Christine Han
She’s a superstar of American cheese, sourcing the best from around the country for her acclaimed Manhattan shop and wholesale business. Pre-pandemic, Anne Saxelby supplied cheese to almost every New York City restaurant that cared about serving the best. But what a year. “Our two biggest revenue streams just disappeared overnight,” says Saxelby, the founder of Saxelby Cheesemongers. Given that May is American Cheese Month, I wanted to hear her views on how the pandemic has changed the cheese landscape. And, of course, I asked her to curate a cheese board featuring three American cheeses she’s loving right now.
Read moreNot Quite Cannoli
I’ve always loved cannoli filling but the fried outside? Not so much. Bakeries refrigerate this perishable pastry, and the crunchy shell loses all its appeal. So I just make the inside—basically, a whipped ricotta mousse with chopped bittersweet chocolate, toasted pistachios and almonds, and candied orange peel. Lately, I’ve used Seville orange marmalade to sweeten the mousse and eliminated the candied peel. So easy. If you’re treating Mom to a homemade meal on Mother’s Day, here’s her dessert. Or her breakfast in bed. What a luscious way to start the day.
Read moreBurrata Grand Slam
© Meg Smith Photography
It’s a good thing the Clif Family’s Bruschetteria is not closer to my house or I would have to hit the rowing machine even harder. Anything served on oil-rubbed garlic toast is already a home run. If burrata’s involved, that’s a grand slam. In spring, Bruschetteria chef John McConnell tops the burrata with peas and tender roasted broccoli florets, stems and leaves. I can’t imagine a more tempting lunch or antipasto with a glass of rosé.
Read moreThe Creamy One
If I were giving an award for “Most Likely to Succeed,” this Swiss beauty would be a contender. A relative newcomer, it has already taken root at cheese counters nationwide, and it’s a reliable audience favorite when I serve it in classes. Creamy, nutty and balanced, with alluring aromas, it’s a people-pleaser at an inviting price.
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