Cowgirl Creamery Cooks

Once upon a time...the short version.

Sue Conley and Peggy Smith were both from the D.C. area, but they met in a dorm room at the University of Tennessee. They became fast friends. After college, they worked in D.C. until they save enough cash for a beat up Chevy van. They packed it up and headed to San Francisco.

San Francisco in the 1970's was a hotbed for food innovation and what would later be called California cuisine. After several years, Peggy Smith wound up at Chez Panisse, spending nearly 17 years working there. Sue Conley worked at her own restaurant finally selling her share and moving to Point Reyes. With all those years in the food business, the duo knew just about everybody.  After becoming involved in an organic dairy, Sue called Peggy and suggested a new business.

As their barn was being renovated, they saw a guy ride up on horseback, tie his horse up, and stroll into the bank. When someone said it was the wild, wild, West, Sue laughed and said, "I guess that makes us cowgirls, and this is the Cowgirl Creamery." 

And the rest is...history.

With years of making award winning cheeses, the duo decided it was time to gather their favorite recipes into a cookbook, Cowgirl Creamery Cooks.  In addition to tasty cheese recipes, the book serves as a primer for eating, making, and putting together a fine and dandy cheese plate.

Now what would be the ultimate cheese dish? That would be mac and cheese. The most amazing thing about mac and cheese is that is, well, macaroni and cheese. Add those two ingredients and the possibilities are quite literally, endless.

 The Cowgirl Creamery's version features there own Wagon Wheel cheese along with a wagon wheel pasta, rotell.

Cowgirl’s Version of the Classic 

1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 pound large rotelle pasta
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk, at room temperature
1½ pounds coarsely shredded Wagon Wheel cheese
8 ounces coarsely shredded sharp white cheddar
5 slices bacon, diced, fried crisp and drained
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder (such as Coleman’s)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
4 medium red heirloom tomatoes, cored and sliced

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart baking dish.

Bring an extra-large pot of water to boiling. Stir in the salt and rotelle. Cook the pasta until it’s just shy of being tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Drain well.

In a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter. When the butter is bubbly and fragrant, whisk in the flour to form a smooth paste. Cook, whisking, until the mixture turns golden, 2 to 3 minutes. While still whisking, slowly pour in the milk. Whisk over the heat until the mixture thickens and bubbles, an additional  3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

With a wooden spoon, stir in both cheeses, the bacon, pepper, nutmeg and mustard powder. Add the cooked pasta; mix well but gently.

Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a small pan, remove from the heat, and combine with the bread crumbs. Set aside.

Transfer the cheese mixture to the prepared baking dish. Arrange the sliced tomatoes in wagon-wheel fashion over the top of the pasta mixture. Sprinkle with the buttered bread crumbs.

Bake, uncovered, until the top is a nice golden brown and bubbling on the edges, 30 to 35 minutes. Let the dish cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Check out the Cowgirl Creamery web site for info in where you can buy their wonderful cheeses or you can sign up for a monthly cheese collection.

Great Balls of Cheese

Ah yes, the bland old cheese ball. You love to dig into one with some nice crackers, but you don't want to admit that you actually ever made one. You never show up at a pot luck with a cheese ball. You never take a cheese ball to a wine and cheese.

Well, Michelle Buffardi is going to change all that. Crack open Great Balls of Cheese and you will find and illustrious collection of hand crafted cheese balls. Yes, there are some fine recipes, but the truly wonderful aspect of the book is the cheese ball design. Seeing is believing. There is the owl on the cover.

The is a lovely kitty cat, and many more uber-creative balls. There is even a requisite football. Since the Super Bowl is upon us, make this game day extravaganza.

The Pigskin

1 1⁄2 pounds sliced bacon
1 medium jalapeño, cored, seeded, and finely chopped (if you want extra heat in your cheese ball, retain some of the seeds)
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, plus 1 tablespoon, for decorating
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
Crackers, for serving

Cook the bacon: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lay the bacon slices in a single layer on 2 baking sheets.Bake until crispy, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the bacon on paper towels and let cool. Reserve 2 tablespoonsof the bacon grease from the pans, and discard the rest. Once the bacon has cooled, coarsely chop andset aside.

Cook the jalapeño in the reserved bacon grease in a small skillet over medium heat until soft, about 5minutes. Using a stand mixer or a bowl and a spatula, mix together 1 cup of the chopped bacon, thesautéed jalapeño, cream cheese, 1 cup of the cheddar, and the scallions until combined. Form themixture into a ball and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Before serving, form the ball into an oblong football shape and roll in the remaining chopped bacon tocoat. Decorate the top of the football cheese ball with the remaining 1 tablespoon cheddar to resemblelaces.

Serve with crackers.

So,the next time you need to take something to that boring old pot luck, whip up a zippy cheese ball. You will be the belle of the ball.

 

Tasia's Table

I am totally convinced that I have written about this book.   I waited months and months for it to be published.  It was on my waiting list forever.  How did I not post about it?   I am here to rectify that over site.   Largely, because Tasia Malakasis was featured in the new issue of Country Living.  I said to myself, Self, you love that book and you did a great post.  But I looked and couldn't find it.  I am going crazy!!

Anyway...

Malakasis has a great story.  In this great migration back to the farm era, she was a forerunner.  Here is the the Cliff Notes version.

Small town Alabama girl makes it big in NYC.
She goes into her local cheese shop and finds a chèvre from Alabama.  
Becomes obsessed.  
Visits the cheesemaker.  
Harasses the cheesemaker till they let her intern at the dairy.  
Buys the dairy and moves back to Alabama.   
Makes a fine cheese.
Then writes a cookbook.
But not, "The End."

Malakasis is Greek but also Southern and with lots of goat cheese around, she has managed to write a cookbook that encompasses all the parts of her life.  There is a recipe for moussaka right along side a recipe for grits and goat cheese.  While the recipes rely on a lot of Belle Chèvre, there is a definite Southern breeze flowing through them.  If you have ever complained that all Southern cookbooks are basically alike, this is one that will change your view.

Take the sideboard staple, potato salad.  Here it becomes a warm and unctuous side.  It looks like potato salad but with a classy twist.

Warm Potato and Belle Chèvre Salad

2 lbs Fingerling Or Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut in 1” dice 

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup dry white wine 

Clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste 

1/4 cup sour cream

1 medium red onion,  diced 

1/4 cup fromage blanc

1/2 cup fresh parsley 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup Belle Chèvre Confetti 

4 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh tarragon

Steam potatoes until tender. Drain and toss with with wine, salt and pepper. Add cheese, onion, and parsley. Stir together remaining ingredients. Toss with potatoes and serve immediately.

To read more about the Country Living article, head over to Lucindaville.

Simple Fresh Southern

To give you an idea of how far behind I am... I went to see Matt and Ted Lee in April and I am just now writing about it.

The Lee Bros. were quite charming and proved that you don't have to be born in the South to be a Southern Gentleman. The Lee Bros. told stories of their love of food and talked a bit about searching through old cookbooks, which of course, is a favorite pastime here. I attended with Harry Lowe and both ANN(e)'s. Ann is a photographer who's work has graced the cover of Life Magazine but alas, she doesn't cook. Anne can cook but taking pictures with her nifty iPhone needs some work! Still, the Lee Bros. were game.

They were at the Smithsonian not only to talk about food, but also to sell their latest cookbook, Simple Fresh Southern. The pages are rich with lovely photos of drinks and salads and desserts. Not to despair, there are also a few fried items sprinkled here and there. Like most regional cuisine, "Southern" cooking is about as diverse as can be. When I cook, one of my goals is to take the essence of something traditional and serve it up in a unique way. The Lee Bros. have the same aesthetic in their cooking, which is why I always love to read their recipes and listen to them talk about food. If you haven't seen them "throwdown" with Bobby Flay making Country Captain, you must hunt it down and watch. (I won't spoil it by telling you the winner.) For that matter, why does Bobby Flay have two or three shows on TV and Lee Bros. don't???

They talked about the various methods of making collards, from the cooking for many hours version that is the traditional way to the quicker, dice and cook method. They also told a wonderful story about potlikker. Later I shared with them one of my favorite potlikker uses. You can check it out at Lucindaville.

When I ran across this dish in Simple Fresh Southern, I realized it was a similar to a dish a friend in Mississippi used to make. It was a wonderful potato dish that contained frozen potatoes, cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise and jarred peppers. It was a bit like watching sausage being made, you didn't really want to watch, but in the end, it was delicious.

This dish is not as dicey to watch being put together and it is, well -- simple, fresh and Southern.

Pimento-Cheese Potato Gratin

3 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 shallots, finely diced (scant 1/2 cup)
1/4 teaspoon crushed dried red chile flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One 9-ounce jar roasted red peppers or piquillo peppers, with their liquid
8 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)

1. Heat the oven to 375°F, with racks positioned in the middle and the top third of the oven.

2. In a 3- to 4-quart stockpot, bring 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons of the salt to a boil. Add the potatoes, and cook for 10 minutes. Then drain, and set them aside.

3. Combine the cream, shallots, chile flakes, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, the black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the liquid from the jar of roasted peppers in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the chile flakes have begun to stain the cream, about 2 minutes. Add half of the cheese and stir until it melts, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat.

4. Layer roughly a third of the potatoes in a 6-cup baking dish, overlapping them slightly so that they fit in an even layer. Scatter half of the roasted peppers on top of the potatoes (cut up any peppers that have remained whole so that they lie flat), and repeat layering potatoes and peppers until all the peppers and potatoes have been used. Pour the cream mixture over the potatoes and peppers, and agitate the dish to distribute the liquid throughout. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes.

5. Uncover the dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, and place the dish on the top oven rack. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and gently browned on top. Serve immediately.

The Lee Bros. refer to pimento-cheese as a Southern pâté. While we are on the subject of pimento-cheese...
it was always a staple in my house. Like many things, it fell out of favor, but came back with vengeance. Not just as a sandwich, but for me, a quick meal. Her are a few ideas:

I make pimento-cheese mashed potatoes -- throw a spoonful into the hot potatoes and mash.

Top some tortillas chips with pimento-cheese and some ground beef for a Southern twist on nachos.

Try mixing three cup of pimento-cheese into cooked macaroni and baking for a quick mac and pimento-cheese.

In July, Ann was visiting and she asked me to make a Tomato Pie. I asked her if she had read a recipe somewhere and she said no. She had just heard someone mention it and she wanted a savory tomato pie, because it sounded good. For a quick Tomato Pie, take a store-bought crust, layer it with sliced tomatoes and pimento-cheese, with the pimento-cheese last. Bake in a 375 oven for about 40 minutes.

Now I want you to drag out those old junior league cookbooks and find a recipe that you can update and make simple, fresh, and lovely.

A Platter of Figs

I love A Platter of Figs by David Tanis.

He asks the age-old question: Do you really need a recipe for a platter of figs?
(OK, maybe it's not an age-old question, but still...)

Truth be told, much of what we cook really doesn't need a recipe. Too many cookbooks out there have long, involved recipes for ... well, a platter of figs.

David Tanis respects his food. He spends half of his year as the chef at Chez Panisse and the other half of the years cooking in Paris. (So, really we HATE him!)

This book has lovely, practical advice. If you can shop, you can cook from this cookbook, and in the end, isn't that what you want to do? Here's what Tanis says about his book:

"What can you learn from this book? That a party can be any gathering of eaters at a table. That a fine meal doesn't have to necessarily be elaborate. The best meals mirror nature and celebrate the seasonal."

What more do you want? Or need?

Goat Cheese with Honey

Two 6-ounce logs mild goat cheese
Chestnut honey or other artisanal honey

Slice each goat cheese log into 5 pieces with a thin sharp knife or cheese wire. Arrange the cheese on a platter. Top each round with a good teaspoonful of honey.

You so want to eat this for dessert. P.S. if you don't have a cheese wire, use dental floss -- the best cheese wire in your medicine cabinet! Unflavored, please.


Yesterday we issued the:

Cookbook Of The Day Challenge:

1. Go to your shelf and pull out your favorite cookbook.

2. Check the purchase price.

3. Donate that amount to Feeding America.

We took the challenge with A Platter of Figs. Don't forget to donate!!

Lorenza’s Antipasti

Lorenza de’Medici runs famous cooking classes at Badia a Coltibuono. There is always an afternoon break featuring a glass of white wine and an antipasto. She reminds us that no matter how it has been mistranslated, antipasto is NOT something you have before pasta, but something you have before the meal. Of course, she is not opposed to you eating antipasto as an appetizer, a lunch, or even a midnight snack.

The history of antipasto traces back to the ancient Romans who featured antipasto as a stimulant before the main meal. It evolved from two very different cultural conditions – extreme wealth and the poverty of necessity. The wealthy use the antipasto as a prelude to a multi-coursed banquet. For the poor, antipasto was a street food eaten while working or shopping.

Lorenza’s Antipasti is filled with recipes to fulfill your antipasto needs, whiter that is a little snack or the beginning of a grand meal. After going through the recipes in the book, you will probably want to fore go the banquet and instead, make a long table full of antipasti. This recipe involves two of my favorite things, cheese and pears.

Tartufi Di Pere E Formaggio

300g/10 oz gorgonzola cheese
300g/10 oz/1 1/4 cups mascarpone
2 Bosch pears, not too ripe
Juice of 1 lemon
120g/4oz/1 cup freshly grated parmesan

Mix the gorgonzola and mascarpone cheese together until well blended. Peel the pears, then core and cut the flesh into small dice. Sprinkle with juice and combine with the two cheeses. Using a spoon, form the mixture into walnut sized balls then roll them in the parmesan to coat well. Arrange on a platter and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

White wine, a roaring fire, Tartufi Di Pere E Formaggio, what could be better.

The Cheese Course

I would rather have a cheese course at the end of a meal rather than dessert.

Janet Fletcher wrote The Cheese Course for those of you have never served a cheese course or eaten a cheese course. This book is a good basic primer, including how to pick cheese, how to serve it, and what to drink with it. If you eat cheese, you probably know how to do all this. Perhaps its best feature is just showing what a cheese course can look like.

The Cheese Course is about the cheese and the recipes are a kind of afterthought for accompaniments such as breads, vinaigrettes, marinades, and fruits. The recipes usually feature a single cheese with an accompaniment like this one.

Basque Sheep’s Milk Cheese with Poached Quince

2 quince (about 1 pound)
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds, crushed in a mortar or spice grinder
2 cups water
1 pound Pyrenees sheep’s milk cheese

Quarter, core, and peel the quinces. Cut each quarter into 4 slices. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, cardamom, and water. Over moderate heat, bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the quince, cover and adjust the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until the quince are tender and rosy pink, about 2 hours. Let cool in the liquid, cover, then refrigerate.

Divide cheese and quince evenly among 8 individual plates.

Quince is a favorite fruit to accompany cheese. The French like prunes in Armagnac. I make figs in Cointreau. What ever you choose, skip that sweet dessert and have a cheese course instead. OK fine, have the cheese course and then, HAVE dessert. That may be the best plan.

Halloween Fun: 101 Ideas To Get In The Spirit

Halloween is looming. I was one of those rare children who HATED Halloween. I loved getting ready for the holiday and my father loved it. He made carmel apples and had a huge table filled with individual sacks of candy for every child in the neighborhood. He decorated the house and was ready for any fright. The big fright came the first time the doorbell rang and I went screaming into another room and hid behind a chair, crying

My poor father never had a spooktacular time with his only daughter!

Here's hoping you have better luck. And here's a good recipe that does not contain a speck of sugar.

Cheesy Spiders

1 pkg (8 oz), softened
black paste food coloring
1 pkg (16 oz) shredded four-cheese mixture
1 pkg (3.5 oz) round rice crunch crackers (or 24 of any round cracker)
1 cup chow mein noodles

1. Mix 2 Tbsp of the softened cream cheese with the food coloring to make black. Spoon into a ziptop bag; set aside.

2. Beat the remaining cream cheese with all but 1 cup of the shredded cheese until blended. shape mixture into 1 1/4-in. balls.

3. Place the remaining cheese in a shallow bowl. Roll the balls in cheese to coat. Place one ball on a cracker. Insert 8 chow mein noodles into each ball as the legs of the spider. Snip a very small corner from the bag with the black cream cheese. Pipe eyes on each spider.

4. Serve with stew. spiders can be made in advance. (Do not put on crackers until ready to serve.) Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.

Enjoy this recitation of All Hallows Eve by Witches in Bikinis

Little Cheese Dishes

As Ambrose Heath writes:

“With cheese in the larder, there is always an appetizing, quickly-prepared meal at hand. Ring the changes in its preparation, please the eye as well as the palate, and you will never be at a loss for a delicacy. Be it a snack to nibble at or a substantial repast, you can make it with cheese –- and quickly.”

Heath compiles his recipes in Little Cheese Dishes, another in the Home Entertaining Series. Heath is British so the recipes for cheese toast abound. In a funny twist, the introduction says,

“...it was advisable, however, to dispense with those recipes that are so generally known, such as Macaroni or Cauliflower Cheese."

I am pretty sure that if you can make Macaroni and Cheese you can probably make Cheese Toast, but who am I to question Ambrose Heath. During his writing career, Heath wrote and translated over a hundred books about food. He translated Madame Prunier's Fish Cookery Book.

Here is a nice twist on potato pancakes and a great planned-over if you are making mashed potatoes.

Cheese Potato Cakes

Mash up half a pound of potatoes with butter, work in two ounces of flour and two ounces of grated cheese, and bind with beaten egg. Roll out and cut into small round cakes which can be baked in the oven or cooked on a girdle or heavy frying-pan.

A much better choice than Cheese Toast!

The Country Kitchen

The Country Kitchen by Jocasta Innes was published in the late 1970’s. It could have been written today. Of course instead of drawings of techniques, today there would be photographs including detailed designs of Innes’ farm kitchen. Like many English kitchens there is a large Aga stove, multiple cupboards and tables and one tiny refrigerator, roughly the size that one finds in most college dorm rooms.

Jocasta Innes wanted to revive the kind of kitchen arts that would have been very familiar in the late 1800’s. Make sausage, cheese, preserves, and bread. Drying meat and mushrooms, curing ham, smoking kippers and brewing beer. As you can see, this is the stuff of many current cookbooks.

Innes is a classic and straightforward writer. Her instruction is precise, without being didactic. She encourages, offers advice, and forgives mistakes. Innes makes her own crowdie or cottage cheese, but you can make it with a commercial cottage cheese.

Spiced Cheese Loaf

225 g (8oz) crowdie or cottage cheese
3 egg yolks
25 g (1 oz) butter
4 tablespoons sugar
tiny pinch each ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 thick slice stale white bread


Sieve or blend the cheese until smooth, and mix with beaten egg yolks, softened butter, sugar, spices and vanilla. Grate or grind the bread (minus crust) in an electric grinder into fine crumbs, then mix well with the cheese mixture. Pour into a well buttered glass or pottery oven or soufflé dish. Grate a little nutmeg over the top and bake for 45 minutes at 190 C (375 F, Mark 5). Eat hot from the dish or turn out when warm.

As a child I hated cottage cheese, but I learned to love it as an adult. This is a great dish to “disguise” cottage cheese and turn it into something special.

Kafka's Soup

I received another package from England from my friend, Sandra Walker. Aside from being my friend, she is best know as a master watercolourist and member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour along with Prince Charles!

But enough about Sandra, lets talk cookbooks. Knowing my fondness for literature (my package included a "Read Virginia Woolf" button which I am wearing now), Sandra sent me a copy of Kafka's Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 17 Recipes by Mark Crick. Crick's ingenious little book presents 17 recipes that might have been referenced in works of literature and then he creates their reference in the style of the writer. There are recipes for Clafoutis Grandmere a la Virginia Woolf, speaking of, and Quick Miso Soup a la Franz Kafka or Kafka's soup!

Here is one from Britain's most renown playwright...Harold Pinter...and you thought it was Shakespeare!!

Cheese On Toast a la Harold Pinter

1 loaf of ciabatta
1 aubergine
Extra virgin olive oil
Pesto
200 g. Mozzarella
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped.

ACT 1

A kitchen, cluttered. A florescent tube is flickering, trying to light. Beneath a window is a sink, piled with dirty dishes. The bin is overflowing with rubbish; nearby, empty bottles are standing. There is a small kitchen table; newspapers and unopened letters obscure the surface. At the table are two chairs. There is the sound of a key in a door, muffled voices. The door bangs shut; instantly HURLEY, a young man dressed in a leather jacket, and CLACK, an older man, tramp-like in appearance, enter stage left.

HURLEY. Come in, make yourself at home.
(CLACK enters and looks around)
Bloody light. I've been meaning to get a new tube.
(HURLEY reaches up and taps the light with his finger until it stops flickering.) I'll make
you something to eat.
CLACK. I haven't eaten all day.

Crick is quite the talent as is Sandra!

Cook Hostess’ Book

"Only a slut gets in a mess in the kitchen."

Franny Cradock

"I'm all about Fanny Cradock"

Amy Winehouse

What a shame that we will never witness a cooking program with both Franny and Amy. Suffice to say, it put Nigella and Gordon Ramsey to shame.

Fanny Cradock was one of the first "celebrity" chefs in Britain. Her program debuted nearly a full decade before Julia Child. Fanny was a firm francophile and and loved to give even the most British dishes extravagant French names. Her partner in TV was her husband, Johnnie, who appeared to be the slightly drunk on most occasions. As the years wore on, Fanny's love for pastry boats and garish food coloring lost it's charm as did Fanny. And while today's television chef's find rudeness as important as a sharp knife, it failed Fanny. As she grew older, she wore more and more make-up, flitting around the kitchen in chiffon and pearls, making her persona the stuff of parody.



Fanny & Johnnie Cradock's Cook Hostess' Book is one of my favorites. It is filled with "Fanny" pronouncements on how and why to entertain. She relay the day she told a group of British experts that ALL of her source books were, of course, in French. Her discussion of how much food to prepare for say, a dinner dance, gives us this:

"...hostess who give dinner parties before dances and, alas and alack, some of theses will be very liberal while others may veer to the parsimonious."

For Fanny, there is nothing worse than having the guests at a dinner dance be famished because you were parsimonious in the portion department!


This is truly delightful and unusual dish. I love the phrase "1 dozen tiny casserolettes" which I believe we would call ramekins. The ice cream does tend to go a bit "begiey" but I refrain from food coloring. Dust the top with a fine grind of red pepper and it will brighten it up. Fanny doesn't tell you how long it might take to set up. Give it at least 4 hours and serve it with bit of green salad for a lovely appetizer.

Cheese Ice Cream

If you really want to surprise your guests and save yourself the trouble of working on this course at the time of your entertainment, serve our Cheese ice Cream. Johnnie moaned on about the lack of this kind of ice cream for many years and, finally, Fanny settled down to what she calls a trial and error session. There emerged the recipe we have been using ever since.
Make a good sauce by dissolving 1 oz. butter in a smallish pan and working in 1 oz. of fine sifted flour. When the roux is formed and has cooked for at least 2 minutes work in 1/4 pt. of dry white wine gradually, beating well, as always, between each addition. Repeat the process with 1/2 pt. milk or 1/2 pt. single cream. Then add 3/4 oz. of very finely grated Gruyere cheese and 1 1/4 ozs. finely grated Parmesan. Remove pan from heat, beat in 1 separated egg yolk and then 2 1/2 fl. ozs. of double cream. Taste, correct seasoning with salt, pepper and a pinch or two of nutmeg. Remember when doing your final seasoning that freezing diminishes the potency of both sweet and savoury flavours so err a little on the generous side.
Divide mixture between 1 dozen tiny casserolettes or miniature moulds and freeze under a tight covering of foil until a very few moments before service. Alternatively, show off with a large cheese ice cream. Oil an ornamental mould, pour in the mixture and freeze until 10 minutes before service. Dip into very hot water, unmold and surround the base with a little wall of coiled pretzels. Incidentally, we think the appearance of the finished ice cream is dull – a flattish creamy beige – and we have taken to adding a few drops of harmless green vegetable colouring to make it more pleasing to the eye.

Recipes from a Provencal Kitchen

Michel Biehn's cookbooks are visual feasts. Recipes from a Provencal Kitchen is no exception. If you never cook a single recipe, it won’t matter, as the pictures are good enough to eat. Biehn is a very European and old-fashioned cook, so the recipes are chatty paragraphs that explain how to cook a dish as opposed to long lists of pre-measured ingredients. Some people don't like that, but it the way I cook, so I don't mind.

Here is an example of Biehn's style. Marinated goat cheese makes a great hostess gift. As I said before, everybody brings wine, so be different! I often add a few red peppers to the oil.

A Jar of Goat’s Cheese in Olive Oil

If you go to Banon, do not forget to buy a supply of their famous little goat’s cheeses. Buy them fairly dry, so you will be able to preserve them easily in olive oil. Choose a large sterilized glass jar with a lid. At the base put a layer of these little cheeses and ideally sprinkle these with savory, a herb we call pebre d’ase around here. Savory will flavor the oil and the cheeses, and it will be unnecessary to add any other herbs. You are not making a bouillabaisse! Fill the jar with alternate layers of cheeses and savory. Cover with a good olive oil, seal the jar, and marinate for a month before using. Savory grows wild in southern Europe and tastes like a cross between mint and thyme –thyme could be used instead.