Martha's Cheese Blog

Paella

2011-04-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

My roommates Stu and Mags have always been interested in hosting Couchsurfers at our apartment in San Francisco; they are planning a big trip in the next couple years and have already had a long vacation in Europe. I don't mind these visitors as they have never caused me the smallest inconvenience. I also don't mind because Stu, Mags and my third roommate, Katie have been more than accommodating when it comes to my frequent out-of-town guests.
Last week we had two great guests from Madrid stay with us. I really must go to Spain some day; every Spaniard that has ever stayed with us has always gone out of their way to be gracious and cook us amazing Spanish food! This time we had some amazing paella. One interesting thing they told us was that the yellow color of the paella, while traditionally achieved with saffron, was cooked with a yellow dye. "Everyone in Spain cooks it this way," they said. "It's cheaper." This amazed me. I've made paella before, and although it is a one-pot meal, it also has a gazillion ingredients and can be pretty spendy. I also remember thinking: can you even taste the saffron?
I wish I could tell you the dye they used, but I'm assuming it was just yellow food dye. And the verdict is in: I'll take Paella made by Spaniards with yellow food dye over the saffron any day!

Yamo- San Francisco Burmese food

2011-04-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

My Mom, Frani, came down to SF this week to attend my reading for Word World, and to just hang out and have fun. Today we went to one of my favorite places in SF - YAMO, a fabulous little Burmese noodle shop.

The place is literally a hole-in-the-wall. There is barely room for a kitchen and a bar with seven or eight stools.

We totally lucked out - we got a parking space a block away and when we showed up at Yamo - the place was empty. It must have JUST opened up for the day. We sat down and within thirty seconds the stools were all full of people and there was a line out the door!

The three ladies that run this place are AMAZING! It's entertaining just to watch them work. One woman takes orders, does the cold salads and apps, one chef preps for the other at the stove. It's like a well-oiled machine. Somehow they do to-go orders, make change and serve DELICIOUS food, without losing their timing or their temper. All in a kitchen the size of a closet.

Mom got curried prawns and I got the mango chicken with rice. We were both so hungry and the food was so yummy, I forgot to take pictures!! I recommend YAMO (18th and Mission) to both visitors and anyone who hasn't yet experienced it. Sitting there eating this great Asian food, it made me sad to leave SF. It's places like YAMO that make San Francisco a great place to live!

Borat's version of the Cheese Shop skit

2011-03-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

Click

Cheese- My soul food

2010-10-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

As people come in and out of my life there’s always artifacts, rituals left behind: Jim’s tradition of eating potato chips and black coffee for breakfast, my mother’s habit of slathering cinnamon rolls with butter, Ledena’s black bean and sweet potato burritos. Although I inhabit these memories now and then, stepping into a kind of gustatory nostalgia, when I look at my life, I know that cheese, cheese is my soul food.
I’ve worked with cheese since I was twenty-four, cutting, slicing, and wrapping. Counting, weighing and tasting. Selling, selling, selling. I am comfortable in this world. I can now walk into a cheese shop and choose among two hundred different options without breaking a sweat. For a party platter, I can move beyond a simple wedge of Gouda, hunk of cheddar and pile of olives. I posses the proper tools: slicer, knife, cutting board, and wine opener. I possess the knowledge. I have the palette.
There is no food more fabulous than cheese, no food that is as nutritious per ounce, packed with as much flavor, and as durable as cheese. What food, besides cheese, goes so perfectly with vegetables, fruit, meat and nuts? Cheese demands no cooking or preparation. One needs only imaginative combination and an aesthetic display, the majority of the work already having been completed by the animal, bacteria and the cheese-maker. Name the country and animal of origin and a few descriptors and your job as hostess is over.
There is also no food as misunderstood, abused and overlooked. In America most people are only familiar with a few varieties, have never ventured farther than the territory of a cow. Indeed, the cheese that bears our name, American, is not even really cheese, so resistant it is to rot, so devoid of flavor.
And, as far as the human body goes, there is no food as indigestible, no food as disgusting. When I eat cheese, I try not to think about what it is. I try not to think about its first squirt from a chaffed and bloody nipple, its mixing with hundreds of other milk sources, its heating, its cooling, the industrialization of the whole process, how it’s wrapped in plastic, plastic, plastic.
When you work with cheese as I did, as a retail cog, preparing cheese for its ultimate place on the consumer’s plate, you start to accumulate a storehouse of observations. For example: Despite the availability of local, artisan cheeses, cheese making is still largely an industrial process. Yet, many advertisers and designers for cheese companies will have you believe that cherub-cheeked little boys and girls with wooden shoes still milk the cows and make the cheese. Global economies and food safety laws prohibit exporters from actually participating in these pastoral fantasies. There’s nothing romantic and appetizing about a man in a hair net and booties mixing a stainless steel vat of steaming milk.
I also describe cheese as indigestible because it is almost not a food. Having a good palette is another way of saying that I have trained myself to eat things that my body would ordinarily consider rotten. Literally. And it is only recently in our long presence on this planet that humans have even been eating cheese. This is the reason that many people are lactose intolerant- it’s the body’s natural response to eating something that we really shouldn’t be eating.
As with alcohol and pickles, once the basic process of fermentation has been mastered, humans will do an ever-growing variety of things to cheese, to change it, to tweak it, do differentiate it from its neighbors. They will age it for longer and longer periods, they will up its fat content, they will add spices and vegetables, they will restrict the diets of the cows, they will co-op governments and state entities in their ventures, they will hide it in caves, they will hang it from rafters, they will smoke it, they will rub it in lard, they will infest it with maggots, they will bury it in the ground, they will bind it with cloth, with wax, with leather, they will pat it, squeeze it, rotate it. They will control its shape, temperature and consistency.
But the appeal of cheese, is that at some point it is unruly, it is unpredictable. At one tasting, the cheese is spongy, mild and velvety on the tongue. On its next tasting, the same cheese is tangy, stinky, and so runny you have to shovel it off the plate with crackers or a finger. Even the most seasoned aficionado cannot always predict how a cheese will change, given the right circumstances.
This is what makes me keep coming back for more. There will always be another cheese for me to sample, another combination to try out. How do roasted almonds and Idiazabel taste, can I spread this Crescenza on my toast? Will this mozzarella go well with my black coffee and potato chips?

Great Video about Stilton

2010-07-01T14:28:00.001-07:00

More pasta!

2009-12-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

This was actually really, really good, even though I didn't start with any idea of what I was actually doing.
Saute red onion, garlic and some asparagus in a pan with a little bit of oil.
Boil water and add penne pasta.
In a separate bowl throw in some arugula and top with brewer's yeast, flax oil and a small amount of balsamic vinegar.
I bought a quarter pound of chicken curry with celery, raisins and onions. When the pasta is done throw it all in a bowl while still warm and mix it up!
My only regret is that I couldn't find more curry seasoning in Camille's cupboard and also that I would have used more arugula. It shrinks so much when you wilt it that you really should always use more than you think you'll need.

Variations on a theme

2009-12-27T00:15:00.001-08:00

Been house-sitting and I spent some money on groceries. Now I have what my budget allows and have to work within the confines of what I have and the ingredients of Camille's kitchen.
Saute garlic, red onions, green beans and two sliced-up strips of bacon. Add some pasta seasoning and rosemary.
Boil the water and add penne pasta.
Throw two hefty handfuls of arugula into a bowl and add some brewer's yeast and flax seed oil.
Dump the warm bean mixture over the arugula and when the pasta is ready mix together.
Delicious!

Why was it so good?

2009-12-23T08:01:00.001-08:00

I made this pasta dish the other day and I'm not sure why it turned out so good. Here is the recipe:
Saute half a white or yellow onion and three minced garlic cloves in oil.
Add thinly sliced red and yellow bell peppers. Half a pepper each.
Slice up a zuchinni- make sure it's sliced thin.
After the vegetables are tender, add a small can of tomato sauce. Season with a generous amount of Italian seasoning.
Slice very thin one turkey italian sausage and let simmer until well cooked. Add pasta of your choice. I used awesome bow-tie pasta. Top with feta cheese. Yum! This picture is of my breakfast with a over-easy egg and toast. So good!

Cheese Tips

2009-12-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Cheese tip: When you buy a crumbly cheese like feta or blue cheese, pop it in a ziplock bag. When you want to crumble it up, mash it through the bag without taking it out and then open and sprinkle on salad or pasta! Clean hands!

Meals lately

2009-12-22T10:45:00.000-08:00

Yum: Waffles with plain, natural yogurt, real maple syrup and fresh apples.

Roasted Fall Veggies

2009-10-22T10:11:00.000-07:00

I made this recipe last night and it turned out really well.
Slice up: Small pumpkin
One zuchinni/squash
Two medium carrots
One yellow onion
Five cloves of garlic- mashed, minced
Three bell peppers
Four medium beets

Vegetable oil
Tablespoon- cumin
coriander and cinnamon
little less of- cayenne and salt

Mix all together and bake for forty minutes at 400 degrees.

Basque Feast

2009-09-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Since I've moved to San Francisco, I've been eating the best food! Last night we had some couchsurfers from the Basque Nation stay with us- Inaki and Joseba- They were kind enough to cook us a traditional Basque feast! They made Gazpacho, Tortilla Patata, sauteed mushrooms and a tuna soup that I can't remember the name of. We finished off a couple bottles of red wine. Yum! Thank you!!

Cheesy Asparagus Pasta

2009-06-15T20:56:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
Asparagus
Half a red onion- Minced
Marinated Tomatoes- Minced
Whole Wheat Penne Pasta
Pecorino Romano - About half a cup grated
Fleur da' Anis - About half a cup cubed

Throw the tomato, asparagus, and onion together in frying pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover and let the vegetables get tender on a low heat.
Cook the pasta until al dente. Drain. Throw in the pan with veggies and stir together. Add in the oil and leftover spices from your marinated tomatoes. Top with cheese and serve.
Cooking Notes: Be careful with the salt. Pecorino Romano is a very salty cheese so when I use this cheese I cut back on the amount of salt in the recipe. Also be careful of what brand of whole wheat pasta you choose. Some kinds are really gross and chewy. I used trader joe's pasta and it wasn't too bad.
PS: that's pineapple on the plate with my pasta dish!

Vegan Pasta Dish

2009-02-17T16:48:00.000-08:00

Vegan Pasta Recipe
My sister Ana made this for me the other day, and I really loved it. Thanks Ana!

Ingredients:
Whole-wheat penne
Roasted Red Peppers
Kale
Zucchini
Broccoli
Olive Oil
Almonds
Salt and Pepper
Red chili flakes

Cook the penne to al dente
While the pasta is cooking, sauté the kale, broccoli, and zucchini in olive oil in a large pan.
When the vegetables are tender, add the almonds and the red peppers.
It can be hard to get all the vegetables cooked evenly, but experiment with the recipe until you get it the way you want it.
What I love about this recipe is two things: the almonds and the chili flakes. The chili flakes add a lot of flavor to the dish without using garlic and onion, two flavors I get a little tired of. And the almonds are great because they contribute protein to the dish without relying on animal products

Roast Chicken

2009-01-27T17:08:00.000-08:00

Roast Chicken
Ingredients: one whole chicken
Butter
Lemon
Yellow Onion
Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Thyme

Cut up Onion and sprinkle into your pan- The juices from the chicken will ooze out all over the onions- Yum.
Pierce the lemon all over with a fork and stuff inside the chicken with a handful of sliced up thyme and garlic. I used pre-diced garlic because I'm lazy.
Rub the chicken with butter and salt and pepper.
Roast the chicken at 450 degrees for about forty minutes. Make sure the chicken is 190 degrees inside before you pull it out of the oven.
As you can tell, we hated it.

Tuna Salad Sandwich

2009-01-15T21:28:00.000-08:00

Okay, I haven't published a blog here for a while. The main reason is that I had my gall bladder removed and I've had to cut way back on my cheese consumption. This site will now morph into my food blog, with some cheese tidbits thrown in now and then.
Here's my recipe for THE BEST TUNA SALAD SANDWICH EVER!
Ingredients:
One can of quality tuna
Two large spoonfuls of sour cream
A handful of cranberries
A handful of salted almonds (I used marcona almonds, but I'm a fancy pants.) Crush the almonds.
Half a red onion - minced
Half a crispy apple- sliced up

Put everything in a bowl and mix well.
I chose to use raisin nut bread, toasted for extra texture.
Enjoy!

Goulash

2008-11-19T12:57:00.000-08:00

I won't post the recipe here, but I just have to say that goulash+wine+Autumn+Grandpa= naptime!

Mascarpone canapes

2008-11-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

I made this recipe a while ago but I'm finally posting it!
This is very easy and very tasty- Just make sure you get the right ingredients:
Hazelnut cranberry bread from Trader Joe's

Mascarpone (Mascarpone is a VERY mild cheese from Italy. It usually comes in a little tub. It has a great consistency but almost zero flavor. It's traditionally used in cooking like in Tiramisu, the Italian dessert.)

Toasted Hazelnuts. (I bought mine from New Seasons- a great new product from Albina Nuts, a local company.)

Dried Cranberries- Chop them up

Arugula

Chop up cranberries and hazelnuts and mix them up with the Mascarpone. Spread on bread and garnish with the arugula.
Enjoy!

River's Edge Chevre

2008-10-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

River's Edge Chevre is located in Scio, Oregon. Last spring I had the opportunity to go to visit their farm and taste some of their fabulous cheeses. What I really like about their cheese is the fresh ingredients they use. As far as fresh goat cheese goes these guys really know their stuff. Here are some cute pictures of their goats!

Raw, Rotten and Cooked

2008-10-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

“ What each society understands by “raw,” “cooked” and rotten can only be determined through ethnographical observation, and there is no reason why they should all be in agreement about the definitions.”
“Certain incidents which occurred after the Allied landings in 1944 show that the American soldiers had a broader conception of the category of the rotten than the French; under the impression that the Normandy cheese dairies stank of corpses, they sometimes destroyed the buildings.”
- Claude Levi Strauss “The Origin of Table Manners”

Best Pesto Ever!

2008-10-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

The Best Pesto Ever!

This week I decided to make a pesto from what we had in the fridge and I was delighted that it turned out so delicious!

Anyone who knows pesto knows that you can play around a lot with the ingredients to add your own personality to the dish.
This time I used:
Hazelnuts instead of pine nuts
Half arugula and half basil
Half Parmesan and half Lamb Chopper Gouda (sheep’s milk gouda from California)
And of course, plenty of garlic and olive oil.
I crushed the hazelnuts before I put them in the food processor.
I spread the pesto on baguette for my party and garnished each piece with a little marinated tomato.

Glazed Carrots With Cider

2008-10-12T18:55:00.001-07:00

This recipe does not involve cheese but tomorrow I am having a dinner party with cheese and it turned out so well I thought I’d throw it up here.
This recipe is from this great recipe book I picked up at the library last week. It’s called the World Encyclopedia of Vegetables. It’s full of beautiful photos and some fairly unique recipes. It’s British and I always love “foreign” cookbooks because you’re sure to find the unexpected.
I decided to make this recipe because for tomorrow’s party, I bought a bag of carrots for my hummus platter and I wanted to use up the rest of them. I also had got this bottle of organic cider from New Seasons and was looking to use it up.

Glazed Carrots with Cider
1. Cut up some carrots- I used four large carrots and cut them into strips.
2. Melt a quarter of a cube of butter into a pan and pop in the carrots.
3. While you are stirring the carrots throw in a tablespoon of brown sugar
4. Stir until the sugar is dissolved
5. Pour into the pan a half cup of cider and a quarter cup of water
6. Bring to a boil
7. Stir in a teaspoon of mustard. The recipe called for Dijon, but we didn’t have any. I used yellow mustard and it worked just fine.
8. Cover the pan and let the water boil until it’s all sticky and “glazey”. If the carrots cook too fast you can always set them aside and cook the liquid until it’s thick. I didn’t need to do this but I think it’s because I kept the carrots fairly thick when I sliced them up.
9. Yum.

More pictures of Pepper Jack casserole

2008-10-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Pepperjack Casserole

2008-10-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today, the only cheese we had at our house was a big block of Tillamook Pepper Jack. So, Simone and I decided to make a casserole. I've never made a casserole before and I was a little nervous. It turned out pretty good, although it could have used a little more sauce.
Ingredients: Half a yellow onion
Three or four cloves of garlic
Half a green pepper
A couple fresh tomatoes
Two zucchinis
One or two large cans of crushed, fire roasted tomatoes. (I used one large can, but it wasn’t enough.)
About three cups of shredded pepper jack cheese
Crushed croutons for a “breading topping”
A box of pasta- I used farfalle

Sautee the minced garlic and onion in a saucepan with oil. Add the peppers once the onions soften. Throw in the zucchini, tomatoes and canned tomatoes and let the whole thing simmer. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. I like to add a healthy amount of garlic salt as well.
Boil water while you do this and add the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente.
Combine sauce and pasta in a casserole dish. Top with cheese and breading.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about forty minutes. Uncover the dish about ten minutes before you take it out of the oven to let the cheese and breading brown.
Enjoy.

Jon's Blog

2008-10-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Check out Jon's Awesome Blog: pdxpicnic.com

Gouda For Breakfast

2008-10-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

Although I’ve never been to Holland, I really love Gouda. I don’t mean the bland kind covered in red wax, I mean the rich, snappy, nutty, sweet kind that almost make you pucker with their pungent flavor. My favorite kind of Gouda is Rembrandt from Holland or Midnight moon which is made in California from goat’s milk. Gouda goes great with fruit and I’ve even had lasagna made with a five-year aged Gouda in place of Parmesan. It was wonderful although decidedly richer on account of this addition.
Two famous Dutch artists also loved Gouda: Van Gogh and Willem de Kooning. Befitting his gloomy character Van Gogh preferred his Gouda with Absinthe and a hunk of crusty bread, while De Kooning liked his with a traditional Dutch breakfast. The breakfast includes deli ham, pumpernickel bread, poached eggs and tea.
These simple meals are so satisfying and easy to throw together. It reminds me of one my favorite restaurants in Portland: Broders on Clinton street. This restaurant serves great coffee and simple, protein heavy breakfasts with a Scandinavian bent.

Sources: The Artist’s Palate by Frank Fedele

Traditional French Onion Soup

2008-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe from a nifty little book I picked up at the library this week: The Cheese Lover's Kitchen Handbook. It gives a brief description of many cheeses in the front of the book and then some great recipes in the back. It serves four.

Ingredients: 1/4 cup of butter
Two onions- about half a pound- sliced
2 tsp plain flour
Four cups of vegetable stock
4 tbsp dry white wine
Four slices of french loaf
Third of a pound of Gruyere- grated or shredded
salt and black pepper

Recipe:
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add onions and cook for about twelve minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the flour and continue to cook until the flour turns a sandy color.
2. Pour in the stock and wine and bring to a boil, stirring. Season, cover and simmer for fifteen minutes.
3. Meanwhile, toast bread and then top the slices with cheese. Place them back in the oven or toaster-oven until lightly browned on top.
4. Remove the onions from the stock and divide evenly among four bowls. Top with cheese toast and then with stock. Enjoy.

Martha's Cheese Tip: If you want a sharper flavor use cave-aged Gruyere. For something more mild, use Emmental.

Camille's Magic Pizza

2008-09-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

THE CHEESE: FETA, RICOTTA

RECIPE: Buy some biscuit mix from the store. Get the kind without lard.
To make things more interesting add to the dough: minced garlic, sesame seeds, a little honey, black and red pepper or poppy seeds.

For the sauce make sure you get a good pasta sauce from the grocery store (although I personally prefer paste with my own spices.) Camille likes to add cinnamon to the sauce.
TOPPINGS: Veggie Sausage and/or Veggie Pepperoni
Roasted Garlic
Sundried Tomato
Ricotta- Dry
Feta- Greek - Goat/Sheep
Olives, Green or Kalamata
Red Onions
Broccoli- Lightly steamed before throwing it on the pizza.
Top off with Brewer's Yeast and ENJOY!

First Blog!

2008-09-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody! So I finally decided to put up a cheese blog. This is my first entry! YAY.
Stay tuned for cheese talk, picks and fabulous recipes.