Another rather small party:
The cheese plate featured Petit Basque, St. André, Rufolo*, and a gentle chunk of Cotswold. Accompaniments included more bay seasoned peanuts, Mary’s Gone Crackers, spicy plum chutney, and tomato jam.
I always try to balance a cheese plate with something mild, something creamy, something hard and aged, and something mysterious/daring/pungent. A bit about the cheeses on this plate:
Cotswold is a creamy double gloucester with chives and onions. It’s a lot like a flavored cheddar, but milder and creamier. A very quiet cheese, but I’ve never met anyone who didn’t like it.
Petit Basque (also spellet P’Tit) is an aged sheep’s milk cheese that’s firm, nutty, and light. It’s far from the sharp manchego or other sheepy cheeses you might have met – in fact, if you didn’t tell anyone, they might never know it came from the same animal as their winter scarves. The piece I got was nice and fresh, so though it looked like it would be a hard, hard cheese, the texture was perfectly firm without any graininess.
St. André is a rich, creamy butter cheese that rings in at 70% butterfat. I find it best when it’s been at room temperature for at least 30 minutes – it becomes a perfectly soft, oozy delight. It’s got a much more approachable flavor than Brie – very fresh, tangy, and nutty. It was heavenly with the tomato jam.
Rufolo – this one gets a * because I question the name, which may or may not have something to do with the Amalfi coast. (More likely than not, I think this one was mislabeled at the store – fine by me, since I got to spend some time daydreaming over images from the Amalfi, one of my very favorite places.) Whatever its true name, this cheese was a soft, smoked cheese with an assertive sharpness – a match made in heaven for the plum chutney.
But no good cheese plate is complete without wine…
I picked up the Evodia (Altovinum Evodia Old Vine Garnacha Calatayud 2007 Spain) on a whim because we drink a lot of Spanish wine*, and it ended up being the perfect companion to our fun evening of girl talk and, eventually, Wii Sports Resort entertainment provided by the wonderful boyfriend. Fruity, rich, medium-bodied, and slightly peppery, with a clean, bright finish. Just joyful. My taste tends to run a bit too dry for my companions, but we were all happy with this bottle.
Then, somehow, it became time to open a second bottle. Vinho verde (green wine) is like water around here – it’s slightly sparkling, fresh, fruity, and goes with absolutely anything. I would usually start a party with this, rather than ending with it, but the sparkle seemed right and I was at the point of the evening where I felt magnanimous and wanted to share only our best and favorite things.
I also whipped up some lemon poppy cookies, with a debt to this recipe. My version (makes 2 dozen):
- 6 T butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 t flax + 1 T water, heated (I microwaved for 30 seconds) (this is an egg substitute because we had no eggs since we’re still in post-vacation mode)
- 1/2 t vanilla extract
- 1 c + 2 T flour, which I made from 1/4 c tapioca starch, 1/2 c brown rice flour, and 1/4 c + 2 T buckwheat flour
- 1/4 t xanthan gum
- 1/4 t salt
- 1/4 t baking powder
- 2 t lemon juice
- 2 t lemon zest
- sugar and poppy seeds, mixed in a 2:1 ratio, for rolling
Procedure
- Pre-heat the oven to 350º.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add “egg” and vanilla; mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, blend together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and xanthan gum). Add these to the egg mixture and blend until just incorporated.
- Mix in the lemon juice and zest.
- The dough will be soft and sticky, but still workable. Form into balls (it won’t hold much of a shape on its own) about 1″ in diameter and roll each in the sugar-poppy seed mixture.
- Bake 1″ apart, 13-16 minutes (we always bake on a silpat, but the original recipe calls for an ungreased baking sheet).
I think it’s now time for me to finish my mug of tea and get on with my next weekend chore – laundry! I love vacations, but man does it seem like you always come back with twice as much dirty laundry as you’d have from a “normal” week.
* The Spanish wine thing, or a list of reasons that everyone should drink Spanish wine:
- It is delicious! Seriously, there are so many unique flavors to be found in these wines.
- It will immediately transport you back to the time that you were studying microcinema in San Sebastian, or, you know, whatever you were doing the last time you were in Spain. If you’ve never been to Spain, just pretend. Google image search can help set the mood, as can a few chapters of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.
- It’s relatively inexpensive, so it’s much more accessible if you’re a wine newbie (we’ve all made $50 mistakes – they never get any easier).