Everyone Say Cheese
Picking the right kind of cheese to have with dinner, a certain recipe or even with wine is picture perfect, but a lot of people don’t know what cheese to choose. Here is a quick list of some of the best cheeses on the market.
1. Rogue River Blue Cheese: Created each fall using milk from cows that are given grazing time along the Rogue River in Oregon. The blue cheese comes to you wrapped in grape leaves that have been soaked in pear brandy. It has a great sweet and spicy flavor and is very pungent.
2. Tillamook Cheese: From Mild and Sharp Cheddar to spicy pepper jack, Tillamook has been making cheeses since 1909 along the coastal line of Oregon. Their cheese is great for grilled cheese to anything calling for a creamier cheese. It comes packaged in singles to blocks and they carry, sour cream, ice cream, as well as yogurt and butters.
3. Sally Jackson Goat Cheese: From a farm in the eastern Washington area, it is legendary to anyone who tastes it. This cheese is pure and doesn’t have the saltiness that some cheeses carry.
4. Prima Caciotta Cow’s Milk Cheese: Products with an old fashioned Tuscan method, it is a semi-firm cheese and it has been rubbed with tomato paste to give it it’s original texture and flavor than any other cheese. It has a mild creaminess and burnished crust. The tangy taste of the cheese will have you hooked.
5. San Andreas Sheep Cheese: The founder Cindy Callahan and her son come to realize how awesome sheep’s milk would make into a straight-from-the-farm flavor cheese. They craft every cheese themselves and put a bit of tender loving care into each cheese round.
Some online artisan cheese sources are:
• Ideal Cheese in New York: Carries the best in cheeses and has a huge selection of cheese. So no matter what you are looking for, they can help you find it.
• Cowgirl Creamery in California: Maker of organic cheeses that are handcrafted with care. They have outposts in San Francisco and even Washington, D.C.
• Saxel By Cheese in New York: The best carrier in the world if you are looking for farm stand quality cheeses.
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Earthly Eating Recipe
Tomato Soup with Charred Eggplant and Basil Crème Fraiche
Serves: 4
4 cups organic tomato soup
2 medium eggplants cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/4 cup if crème fraiche
2 tbs. of olive oil
1 handful of basil leaves pureed
2 cloves of garlic sliced very thin
Sea salt and course black pepper to taste
6 springs of basil for a garnish
In a medium saucepan bring the tomato soup to a light boil and heat through over a medium high heat. Lower the heat and keep warm. Preheat the grill. Rub the garlic over the eggplant slices, brush with olive oil, season with the salt and pepper and stack on a baking sheet with the remaining garlic. Using the tongs place the sliced eggplant on the grill and grill turning only once until the eggplant is blackened on both sides and the garlic is golden brown., (about 2 to 3 minutes on each side). Remove from the grill and cut into cubes.
Keep ware. In a small bowl combine the basil with the crème fraiche until well blended. Ladle the soup into four warmed bowls, spoon in the garlicky eggplant,. top with basil crème fraiche and garnish with basil leaf, serve with warm bread.
Happy Eating!
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