Goat Cheese is Great on Green Beans, Humboldt Fog That Is

I love that America has expanded their love for the millenia-old craft of cheese making in recent decades. To me cheese making is an art, much like winemaking. It's as if the US has had a fromage renaissance, a few steps beyond the machine-cut, mass-produced orange glop into a more advanced enlightened reawakening of the beauty of cheese that has always been. :P

One creamery worth mentioning is Cypress Grove Chevre out of California. They are taking cheese to a whole new level, keeping par with the more experienced British creameries. If you haven't tried their signature confection, Humboldt Fog then put it on your list next time you have company.

Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove Chevre

Humboldt Fog is unlike any cheese I have had before, a combination of really two textures and tastes layered curiously together and visually, more like a gâteau than a cheese, with it's ash marbled through the middle and its perimeter. The interior of the cheese is pure white, crumbly, creamy and leaning towards the flavor of a proper Roquefort Blue and the texture of a premium cream cheese, while the exterior is more like bloomy variety of Brie but with a more humble flavor of earthy mushrooms. A very interesting contrast, but absolutely lovely.

The creativity and quality of Humboldt Fog is truly unique, something American cheese makers haven't been known for on the international stage. And what makes it even more interesting, Humboldt Fog, you would never guess by taste, is a goat cheese which makes it is significantly lower in fat per serving than a cow's milk cheese. (Now how do I work this cheese into more of my recipes?) As it was, while experimenting the other day I discovered that Humboldt Fog is not only great on its own, but absolutely wonderful on green beans. Out of a can or freshly boiled, crumble some on top before serving and you will have an extraordinary little side dish.

Scratch my last note about buying Humboldt Fog for company, and put it on your list this week so you can eat it on top of your green beans!

Here's to a Cheesey 2011!

Another year gone, and a new one to face. Here are some of my cheesy thoughts and cheese resolutions for the year:

I will eat more goat cheese. Not only because it's lower in fat than other cheeses but there are now, on the market, so many excellent choices. And like any good cheese, a little goes a long way. Hmm... goat cheese omelette... some chevre on my multigrain bagel... some fresh feta on my pasta with fresh basil... mmm... the possibilities.

I will demand more Raclette! Watching the fat intake the majority of the time is well and good, but darn it, I'm going to enjoy myself and eat raclette a few more times than just during Christmas and New Years. Raclette can, in fact, be a very healthy meal-- all those roasted veggies, some meat or even fish and a modest amount of cheese-- I might even try to grill tofu.

More importantly, though, is my insistence on wanting to enjoy simple pleasures this year with people that mean the most to me, without the pressure of dazzling others with all I know and how creative I can be. Raclette grilling allows for this. Anyone can boil potatoes; anyone can buy deli meat, anyone can slice cheese and wash vegetables. But few of us take the time to enjoy one another. And somehow, this rather simple combination of ingredients results in something intangibly good and indeed healthy for us.

I will have at least 3 kinds of cheese in my refrigerator at all times (and I don't mean the Parmigianno Reggiano I need for just cooking). This year, I plan to venture out of my normal confines of Camembert, Humboldt Fog and Monterey Jack and set my sights on the likes of a Mahon of Spain, Chimay of Belgium, Bijou from Vermont... and the many more I'm increasingly seeing on display. For these special cheeses, I will reserve for my afternoon tea time and for all that stop by and visit, for this year will be a year of sharing and extending to others what good comes our way.

Great expectations, indeed... but that's really the only way to live... with thoughts of greatness and achieving something beyond just ourselves.

Midnight Moon, A Romantic Goat Cheese Gouda

Maybe it's the woman on the label, Bella-Bella daBall or perhaps it's the romantic name, but the goat cheese Midnight Moon by Cypress Grove Chevre creamery is made for the lover in us all.

I'd been perusing the cheese station at my local market, in particular looking to try an all-goat confection, when a wedge of semi-hard glacier-white cheese with an intriguing name caught me eye. Lo and behold, what I found was a hidden cheese treasure, Midnight Moon... Oh...

I brought it home thinking I'd enjoy a hunk of it with the tempranillo Spanish wine I also purchased, but couldn't wait that long. With abandon, I undressed that wedge of cheese and broke off a piece that made a speedway to my mouth. All of time suddenly slowed to almost a standstill as I allowed the rich, smooth, buttery and dense fullness of the thing to dissolve on my palate.

It was like I had a cheese epiphany.

Immediately I went online to find out my taste buds hadn't deceived me. Midnight Moon has received top accolades from cheese masters worldwide in fact, winning Best in Show out of 69 entries in the Hard Goats Milk Cheese category for the 2010 World Cheese Championships among other top cheese awards over the last 8 years since its creation.

Cypress Grove Chevre may be a California dairy, but make no mistake Midnight Moon is crafted and aged in one of the cheese meccas of the world, Holland. If you love Gouda then you'll love Midnight Moon which to my taste buds was even more buttery and a lighter-fluffier version of Gouda, but at the same time, rich nutty and dense which is even more than surprising coming from a cheese made of vegetarian rennet.

I never knew how sexy and romantic cheese could be until now, and as The Cheesemonger describes it, "Midnight Moon is pure cheese porn."