The Cream Dream Sauce
When asparagus is in season, it doesn’t need a lot of foreplay:
a quick dance in a garlicky sautée pan, a bed of good pasta,
and the dreamiest lemon mascarpone sauce you’ve ever mouthed.
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American Goat Ladies: The Founding Mothers of American Artisan Cheese
Holy Mothers of Cheese!
Mother’s Day is this weekend, so I want to give a shoutout to our founding mothers of cheese.
They’re known as the American Goat Cheese Ladies.
Back in the early 80’s, Americans mostly ate Kraft singles. Great cheese just wasn’t available.
So women all over the country began making it.
Some were inspired by the back-to-the-land movement of the 70’s.
Some had discovered artisan goat cheese abroad and wanted to bring it back home.
All of them took a risk for us and started a cheese revolution.
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WTF is Chèvre?
Fresh Chèvre Log from Montchèvre
🌷 Springtime = Chèvre Time 🐐
“Chèvre,” pronounced “shev,” is a type of goat cheese that’s
either from France or just made in the French style.
When fresh, chèvre is soft and creamy with a bright, tangy flavor.
As it ages, it becomes firm, the flavors intensify, and a rind develops.
Spring is my favorite time of year to eat chèvre.
Like fruits and vegetables, cheese is seasonal too.
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Goat Cheesy Scrambled Eggs
Gobs of Goat Cheese with Scrambled Eggs
I love me a nice, hot scramble – especially when it’s cheesy.
The cheese keeps it delicious even if you overcook the eggs.
Cheese has your back like that.
These cheesy scrambled eggs are light and springy with a goaty tang.
Smear onto some crunchy toast and
watch it spread like butter.
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Overnight Egg Strata with Roasted Tomatoes and Cheese Curds
Don’t You Want to
Wake and Bake This Strata?
My birthday is in late May (the 29th), so a couple weeks ago I hosted a brunch to celebrate. I gathered a few friends, poured a couple rounds of mimosas and set out a great feast of cheesy breakfast foods. The stand out favorite was this warm, custardy egg strata.
Egg strata is a baked casserole of stale bread, eggs, and a bit of milk – kind of like a baked french toast. It’s extremely easy and the modifications are limited only to your imagination- you can put just about anything in it. I had a bag of cheese curds on hand, a gift from The Lone Grazer creamery, so I decided to incorporate them into this strata with roasted tomatoes and fresh basil – a classic flavor combination. Why reinvent the wheel?
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Chevre Cheesecake with Almond Crust
Your Cake Needs a Little Chevre
Let’s Get Cheesy
Put down the cream cheese! You deserve better than that, so use fresh goat cheese and mascarpone instead. Don’t get me wrong, I love cheesecake. When I was little, my nana made cheesecake all of the time and I would go crazy on it. I mean, two pieces after a full meal. I still have dreams about it… but only dreams. Now that I’m an adult, just one slice after dinner is a one-way ticket to acid reflux city. The amount of saturated fat and sugar in traditional cheesecake is a perfect recipe for digestion apocalypse. Save yourself from torture and make a chevre cheesecake with real, nutritious cheese and a toasted almond crust. You might even like it better this way.
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How to Make Healthy Strawberry Shortcake
Now You Can Eat Strawberry Shortcake
For Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
This isn’t one of those healthy hacks that sacrifices all reasons for eating dessert in the first place. It’s less sweet, but if you’re using in-season strawberries you really don’t need the extra sugar. Because the base is a mixture of oat flour and whey protein, it’s also hearty and satiating. You can actually eat it for dinner and it will keep you full. This recipe is also an excuse to eat more strawberries. Make it for your dad this weekend, even though he’s on a diet.
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Lavender Gin Martini
Last Friday, I was blessed with a media pass to dinner at CH Distillery. I’ve been a fan of their excellent line of liquors since they opened, but I had never stopped in for even a cocktail. That’s probably because I’m so broke that if I don’t get the option to write my way into a free dinner, I don’t get to go out. That’s my life as a “freelancer,” which is code word for “I’m in between jobs but I’m super duper creative and sometimes get paid money for artsy gigs that help pay for my artisanal cheese addiction.”
Anyway, we had a great experience. We sampled their cocktails, seasonal menu, and line of house-distilled spirits. Now I’m all geared up for spring time gin cocktails, only my liquor cabinet is almost dried up, save a collection of bitters, a near empty (now empty) bottle of gin, and dry vermouth. Luckily, the kind of cocktail I usually want doesn’t need much beyond a quality liquor. I want something strong and complex. I want a martini, but with a sensitive streak.
Enter the lavender martini, a cocktail with a simple floral note that enhances the natural flavors of the gin. It works especially well with the Key Lime Gin from CH Distillery, which already has a touch of lavender.
Lavender Martini
Serves 1
Ingredients //
- 2.5 oz gin
- 0.5 oz dry vermouth
- 1 drop lavender essential oil // 1/2 teaspoon lavender simple syrup if you need some shuga
- Strip of lemon rind for garnish
Equipment //
- Chilled martini glass
- Cocktail shaker
- Ice
Add gin, vermouth, oil or syrup, and a couple ice cubes to the cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for about thirty seconds and strain into a chilled martini glass. Rub a lemon rind around the rim and drop it in for garnish. Enjoy!
The Gin Manhattan
Happy Thirsty Thursday: It’s Gin Time!
When the weather gets fresh and flirty with the warmth of spring, I swap my whiskey for gin.
Let the bodacious and herbaceous gin manhattan guide you into nature’s rebirth.
The Gin Manhattan
Serves 1
Ingredients //
- 2 oz dry gin
- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- 3 dashes angostora bitters
- lemon or orange twist
Combine gin, vermouth, and bitters with a handful of ice in a tall glass. Stir for 20 seconds and give it a taste. If it’s too strong, continue stirring for 10 seconds and taste again. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with a twist and a large ice cube.
Pair it: Hidden Springs Creamery sheep ricotta with lavender honey
For more information on pairing cheese and gin
check this guide by Madame Fromage
Preserved Lemons
UPDATE: THIS POST IS A SCAM
With that being said, I’ll leave the remainder of this post unscathed, but only for my records. Do not make this recipe. And fuck blogs that leave ignorant peeps to do their writing. Who writes a preserved lemon post without measurements for the salt? There is no way this was going to work out. These poor, beautiful lemons have been raped by salt. Raped. I tried removing the flesh, soaking the rind…. that’s all there is to try. There is no use for these over-salted, slimy abominations.
So to the original publisher of this recipe, you owe me some organic fucking Meyer lemons
As for this little blog, we will break the mystifying wall between reader and blogger. You will only get raw, rough, blistering truth here. At least from now on. Apologies to anyone who has made a recipe from my blog that didn’t work out. This is a new era for my website. You’re gonna see a lot of fuck-ups. It’s going to get real.
CONTINUED:
Beautiful, delicate and versatile!
Preserved lemons are more than just another trendy pickle. They’re sweet, complex and lovely in both baked goods and savory dishes. The flesh and rind can both add a special zing to anything you want.
the learning curve
- Get creative with the spices: cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, coriander seeds, cloves, peppercorns, dried chiles, and cardamom pods each add delicious complexity.
- You can also slice the lemon before pickling.
Preserved Lemons
Adapted from the kitchn
Ingredients //
- 4 Meyer lemons, scrubbed
- 5 T salt
- 1 T spices such as cardamom, cloves or cinnamon
Equipment //
- Paring knife
- 1 pint-sized wide mouth jar with lid, sterilized
Add 2 tablespoons of salt and a couple spices to the jar. Slice off the ends of each lemon.
Cut the lemons in half lengthwise, stopping about a 1/2 in before you reach the center. Repeat the cut horizontally, so that each lemon is cut in an “X” formation, still attached at the core.
Hold the sections open with your fingers and liberally sprinkle salt on the inside and outside.
Place each lemon in the jar, pushing down on them to release the juices and layering with spices. Fill the jar, leaving about 3/4″ of headroom. The lemons should be completely submerged. If they aren’t, you’ll have to squeeze extra juice over them. Add 2 more tablespoons of salt and the remaining spices and seal.
Let the jar sit at room temperature for 2 – 3 days. Every day, flip the jar and shake to distribute the salt and liquid. Put the jar in the refrigerator and continue to turn every other day.
When the rinds have softened, they are ready to use. This will take about 3 weeks. Discard seeds before using. If you find the lemons too salty, give them a light rinse. Will keep for 6 months.
A salad of tomato, avocado, minced preserved lemon, and pea shoots.