My favorite recipes
5-Spoke Creamery Redmond Cheddar is made from raw cow’s milk and aged for 60 days. A very nice cheddar that we think is from Pennsylvania. Also melted well for breakfast on toast.
Manchego – a regular.
Societe Roquefort, (which I think is one of the most common brands), is very nice, one of our favorite blues. As it is an AOC, it is made from raw sheep milk according to the rules.
For National Cheese Fondue Day, the Melting Pot offered free fondue. WT was out of town and had set up the reservation, so NA and I got to take advantage of it at the DC location on 19th Street. We had just been to a lovely program at the Italian Embassy, so we were in the a festive cheese mood. The restaurant is a pretty place, much cozier than the family-friendly restaurant in nearby Arlington, VA. The staff was quite friendly, and the place was quiet. They make a big production out of making the actual fondue at your table, and that is quite fun. The hostess let us know: Every Wednesday: Wine Down Wednesday! 50% off select bottles of wine. The waiter, Charlie, and his trainee suggested salads and desserts, but they weren’t pushy. Charlie knew a bit about wine, and he checked with the bartender when we had a question. We went with Verdemar’s Spanish Albarino, and it went well with the Swiss cheese fondue. (There were many types of cheese fondue, but we decided to go with a classic).
Charlie prepared our fondue in a double-broiler-type fondue pot on the table with white wine, garlic, fresh lemon juice, grated Swiss Gruyere and Emmentaler, topped off with black pepper and nutmeg. It was accompanied by bread chucks, some veggies and granny smith apples. It was just perfect for 2. I’d give the fondue and service a good rating, but they need to work on the softie American bread–a good, crusty French bread would have added to the experience.
During the week you have to park on the street, and of course, we had parking meter issues, so bring plenty of change and call the phone number on the side if you have issues.
Belletoille Brie, a nice triple-cream brie from France.
Petite Basque, a sheep milk cheese from the Pyrenees mountains of France, near where Manchego comes from.
Parrano, a Dutch Gouda-style cheese.
Caseificio dell’Alta Langa Robiolo a washed rind (smelly) cheese from Bosnia
Maytag Blue – one that we’ve had before, but we prefer other blues.
American Brie. “A French Style Brie made in America” Missing the great texture of French Brie. And it”s a small box. Where did we get this?
When we went to Cheesetique the other day, AKT found a new Camembert that we’ve not tried: Camembert du Bocage. At least, the box lid was not in our collection so we had to get it. It was very good, of course. ‘Fabrique en Normandie’!
We also got Fontinella, a Wisconsin cheese similar to fontina, Grand Pardo Parmesean, and to fill the blue category, Gorgonzola a very nice blue cheese from Italian cows.
We were in Arlington, so stopped by Cheesetique, of course. We got a very nice sheep’s milk blue from Wisconsin named Little Boy Blue, because the girls liked the name. It is from Tony and Julie’s Hook’s Cheese Company.
Ok, it was from a box. But it was my first “homemade” king cake. I bought the mix for $6 at World Market. I was handy because all the purple, gold and green sugars came in the box. I mixed up the yeast dough in the food processor. You did have to wait for the yeast to rise 2 times, but otherwise it was easyish. I did have to make more glaze (powdered sugar, water and perhaps almond extract if I had it). It was much like a big cinnamon roll. We went to Ray’s Hell Burger in Rosslyn before. Michelle was in from San Francisco, and Mike from Norfolk. W, N, C and me, too. Mike got the baby. Next year, maybe I will try it really homemade–without the mix.
I stopped by Cornucopia in Bethesda and picked up some Italian cheeses
Buffalo Mozzarella – a very nice, full-flavored mozzarella, is very nice when drizzled with maple syrup
Cantala (sp?) – an aged Italian sheep cheese, rubbed with herbs. very nice
Asiago – very nice, but not as good as the one ‘imported’ from Italy by someone we know
I picked up a load of bread, which led to a bread “crisis” (we have too much bread here).
On the Food Network’s American website, I couldn’t find the recipe I remembered with Alton Brown making hollandaise in the blender. I did find it on the UK site as Basic hollandaise–perhaps because it has raw eggs? Since you soft boil the eggs anyway, you could probably get salmonella from them any way.
We didn’t even use half the sauce, and that dramatically cuts down on the fat / calories. If it keeps, we may use it on veggies for dinner.
For Eggs Benedict Florentine, add cooked spinach–my favorite.
Eggs Benedict adopted from Alton Brown
Recipe By : Alton Brown
Serving Size 4 Categories : Breakfast & Brunch
Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
Eggs Benedict adopted from Alton Brown
Recipe By :Alton Brown
Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breakfast & Brunch
Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
——– ———– ——————————-
Hollandaise Sauce
2 large eggs — fresh, preferably organic or pasteurized
3 teaspoons lemon juice — fresh
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 dash salt
Poached Eggs
4 large eggs — fresh, prefer organic or pasteurized
4 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 whole English muffins, whole-wheat
2 slices Canadian bacon — julienned; or proscuitto
8 tablespoons spinach — chopped
ground pepper to taste
Put the egg yolk, lemon juice, and cayenne in a blender. Pulse a couple times to combine.
Put the butter in a small microwave safe bowl and melt in a microwave until just melted.
With the blender running, gradually add the melted butter into the egg to make a smooth frothy sauce. If the sauce is very thick, blend in a teaspoon of lukewarm water loosen it up.
Taste and add more lemon juice, as desired. Move immediately to a short, wide-mouthed thermos to hold for up to 2 hours. Reheat over low heat for 45 seconds.
Poached Eggs: Put 2-4 (4-ounce) custard cups in a 4-quart deep, straight-sided saute pan. Add 6 cups water or enough to cover the cups by at least 1/4-inch. Add the vinegar and salt to the water and put the pan over high heat. Heat just until the water begins to boil and the cups clatter against the bottom of the pan, 20 to 25 minutes.
Break the eggs, 1 at a time, into another custard cup. Pour the eggs slowly into each of the cups, timing them about 10 seconds apart. Cook for 5 minutes each.
Serve immediately or remove eggs from cups and transfer to an ice bath to stop cooking. Refrigerate for up to 6 hours in the ice bath. To reheat, bring water to a simmer, turn off the heat and add the eggs. WaIt 1 to 2 minutes or until warmed through.
Put the julienned Canadian bacon in 10-inch saute pan set over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through and beginning to turn lightly brown around the edges, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, but leave the bacon in the pan to keep warm until serving.
For each serving, put 2 small dollops of hollandaise on a plate and set 1/2 an English muffin on top of each dollop, plus 2 tablespoons for cooked spinach. Put a small amount of Canadian bacon on top of each half and top with 1 warm poached egg and drizzle with hollandaise. Repeat with remaining ingredients and serve immediately.