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Tag: cheese
Charred Corn Salad with Queso Fresco
We love it when our favorite creameries introduce new cheeses! Evergreen Lane, a quaint farm and dairy in Fennville, MI, is most known for their seasonal goat’s milk cheeses and jersey cow’s milk cheeses.
Queso Fresco is Evergreen Lane’s newest addition to our case. It is a fresh cow’s milk cheese, perfect for crumbling over salads, tacos, enchiladas, and this charred corn salad. Compared to traditional queso fresco, Evergreen Lane’s version isn’t as dry. So let it sit out, unwrapped, for a few minutes to dry out.
This corn salad is a perfect dish to take on a picnic, to a BBQ, or just eat alone in your house. Thanks to food goddess Alison Roman for the idea to add corn nuts to a corn salad. The extra crunch and saltiness takes the salad to the next level. If making this ahead, wait to stir in the corn nuts just before serving, so they stay nice and crunchy.
Charred Corn Salad with Queso Fresco
Ingredients
- 6 ears of corn
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 Divina Calabrian Chili pepper, finely chopped
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 tbsp EVOO
- 1 lime, juiced
- ½ tbsp Tajin or other brand of chile lime seasoning
- ½ cup corn nuts
- ½ piece Evergreen Lane Queso Fresco, crumbled
- Salt and pepper, as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a dry cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, add the ears of corn. Cook and rotate corn until kernels begin to char, about 8 minutes. Remove from the skillet and place on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle.*
- In a mixing, place an upside down glass or bowl that fits in the bottom part of the bowl. Trim the bottom end of one corn cob to sit even on the bottom of the glass. Slice the kernels off the cob and let them fall into the bowl. Repeat with remaining ears. Remove the glass and stir the kernels.
- Add the minced shallots, chopped calabrian pepper, chopped cilantro, EVOO, lime juice, and chile lime seasoning to the corn. Stir to combine. Taste and add more chile lime seasoning or salt and pepper as needed.
Notes
*You can also char the corn on an outdoor grill.
Julianna Spring Pizza
More signs that spring is here! Julianna is back in the case and looking beautiful as ever.
The rind of this semi-soft goat cheese from Capriole is rubbed with thyme, lavender, rosemary, and wildflowers. It has a delicate sweet and savory balance and a buttery texture that makes it a great cheese to snack on with olives and charcuterie.
Fully melting a delicate cheese like this will dilute some of its subtleties, so adding the cheese after the pizza is cooked warms it up a bit, without taking away the flavors.
Feel free to use your favorite pizza dough recipe, precooked flatbread, or frozen pizza crust.
One bunch of grocery store scallions will be plenty for this recipe. But if you have larger, farmer’s market green onions, use a few less. You’ll want a little more than 2 cups of sliced scallions before you start cooking them.
If you are feeling spicy, feel free to sprinkle over some red pepper flakes or serve with some chili oil.
Julianna Spring Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 recipe your favorite pizza crust
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 bunch scallions
- 1 tbsp EVOO
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 radishes
- Splash of light vinegar, rice, white wine, white balsamic
- .25 pound wedge of Capriole Julianna
- 1 tbsp tarragon leaves or chives
- Honey, for drizzling
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425°F. Place pizza stone, pan, or baking sheet in the oven to preheat.
- Prepare or roll out pizza crust. Let rest while preparing the scallions.
- Slice the scallions on an extreme bias. Cook over medium-high heat with butter for 6-8 minutes, until the scallions are bright green, soft, with a few crispy spot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Carefully remove the hot stone, pan, or sheet from the oven and place pizza crust on the hot pan. Drizzle with olive oil and spread on a thin layer of mustard. Scatter scallions evenly over the crust.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and crisp.
- While the pizza is in the oven, thinly slice the radishes. Place in a small bowl with a splash of vinegar. Set aside.
- Thinly slice the Julianna. Don't remove the rind!
- Chop the tarragon leaves or chives.
- Remove the pizza from the oven and top with the sliced Julianna and let the residual heat of the pizza slightly melt the cheese.
- Scatter the radishes and herbs over the top and drizzle with honey.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
*If you think your crust will take longer, feel free to add the scallions halfway through cooking. But they should be able to last about 20 minutes in a hot oven. Or if you are using a premade pizza crust and it doesn’t need that much time in the oven, cook the scallions a bit longer on the stove.
Fried Feta with Basque Pepper Honey
If you’ve been to a Greek restaurant in America, you’ve probably had saganaki – a flaming cheese appetizer that is fried, then flambéed at the table. This is the Aperitivo spin on this fried cheese dish, with a little Spanish flair.
There are a few different types of feta that you may find in the Aperitivo case – French, Israeli, Bulgarian, or Greek. These cheeses will be made primarily with sheep’s milk, sometimes with goat’s milk as well. Unlike the dry and sour-tasting cow’s milk feta that is available in the grocery stores, each of these varieties will be rich, creamy, and have varying levels of saltiness.
Any type of honey can be used in this dish. But if you use plain honey, try adding a touch of heat with ground pepper – Aleppo, cayenne, red pepper flakes, harissa, etc.
You can serve this with soft pita bread, naan, pita chips, or just simply eat it with a fork.
Fried Feta with Basque Pepper Honey
Ingredients
- 1 lemon, zested
- ¼ cup Marcona almonds
- ½ cup AP flour
- 1 large egg
- Basque pepper honey, or plain honey with a pinch of hot pepper flakes
- Fresh thyme leaves
- EVOO
- Salt and pepper
- Pita bread or chips, for serving
Instructions
- In a shallow frying pan or cast iron skillet, add a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and set over medium heat. Drop the Marcona almonds in and fry until they start to get golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add in the lemon zest (save a small pinch to garnish at the end) and cook just until fragrant, only a few seconds. Remove almonds from the pan with a slotted spoon, keeping as much oil in the pan as you can, and set the almonds and lemon zest aside to cool. Take the pan off the heat until you are ready to fry the feta.
- In a shallow bowl, add the flour and season with salt and pepper. In another shallow bowl, add the egg with a splash of the brine water from the feta container and beat with a fork until mostly homogeneous.
- Slice the feta block into 1-in thick slabs. Take a slab and dredge it in the flour to coat the entire piece. Dip it into the egg wash to hydrate the flour and allow the excess to drip off. Return the feta back to the flour bowl and dredge until the egg is coated with flour. Repeat with the remaining slabs of feta.
- Return the frying pan with the lemon and almond oil to a medium heat. Add extra oil to cover the surface if needed. Carefully place the coated feta in the hot oil and fry for 2-3 minutes, until golden brown. Flip over and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and set on a paper towel-lined plate and fry the remaining feta slabs.
- To plate, lay the fried feta on a platter. Drizzle a few over-generous drizzles of the Basque pepper honey and sprinkle on the marcona almonds, leftover lemon zest and thyme leaves. Serve with pita bread or chips.
Notes
*Tip: Zest the lemon zest with the concave part of the zester facing upwards, and zest like you are playing a violin. This allows you to ensure you aren’t zesting too deep, but also collects the zests and allows you to set it down until ready to add to the recipe.
Grilled Pear Crostini with Bonrus
Even though most of us are amidst a stay-at-home quarantine, it doesn’t mean we can’t still have fancy snacks. And luckily, Aperitivo is still open and able to satisfy all your cheese, charcuterie, beer, and wine needs during this odd time.
A newer cheese in the case, Bonrus is a soft-ripened sheep and cow’s milk cheese from Piedmont. It comes from one of our favorite Italian creameries, Caseificio dell’Alta Langa, who make some favorites like La Tur, Langherino, and Blu di Langa.
Bonrus has a soft and doughy texture, with a sweet and straw-like aroma. Its unique oval shape helps its maturation process, and like most soft cheeses, is best enjoyed at room temperature.
In this time of sheltering-at-home, you gotta take what you can get. So any soft, spreadable cheese would work in Bonrus’s place for this recipe.
Feel free to slather this delicious cheese, grilled pears, honey and smoked salt on any carb-y vessel you have on hand – toasted baguette slices, grilled flatbread, naan, English muffins, whatever you can find in your house. Or in this particular case, sliced hot dog buns. 🌭
Grilled Pear Crostini with Bonrus
Ingredients
- 1 firm pear
- ½ piece Bonrus – room temperature
- 2 Tbsp honey
- Smoked flake salt, or regular flake salt
- Toasted baguette slices
- Neutral oil
Instructions
- Heat a grill over medium heat.
- Slice the pear into ¼-inch slices, similar to the size of bread you are using. Drizzle the oil over the slices and place on a hot grill. Grill for a few seconds on each side, until grill marks appear. Try not to cut the slices too thin, or they will fall apart on the grill.
- Remove the slices and set aside.
- Slice the Bonrus into thin pieces (similar in size to the baguette) and place them on the baguette pieces. Spread the cheese out onto the bread and top with a grilled pear slice. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle the smoked flake salt. Repeat until you've used up all the pear slices. Serve immeditatey.
Vinegared Smashed Potatoes with Schallenberg and Cornichons
There are some flavor combinations that are hard to improve on, because well, they are already so perfect on their own. But who are we to not try and push the envelope?
People have been melting Raclette on potatoes for hundreds of years, enjoyed alongside bright and acidic pickles and cornichons.
Salt and vinegar chips have been around since the 1950’s and are one of the most popular potato chip flavors in America.
Why not marry these two dishes and make one bigger, better, bolder snack?
We hereby bring you….
Vinegared Smashed Potatoes with Schallenberg and Cornichons
The potatoes get boiled in vinegar, then smashed and roasted until they are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Then to top it all off, a robust and beefy Alpine cheese gets melted on top. Yum yum yum.
Any Alpine cheese will work – Raclette, Gruyere, Appenzeller, Challerhocker – but we are really excited about Schallenberg. So grab a wedge and try it out.
Vinegared Smashed Potatoes with Scallenberg and Cornichons
Ingredients
- 1 lb small Yukon Gold potatoes
- 6 Tbsp apple cider or white distilled, or a mix of both, plus 1 additional Tbsp
- ¼ cup EVOO
- 0.15-0.25 lbs Schallenberg, grated on the large holes of a box grater
- ¼ cup cornichons, chopped
- Chopped fresh herbs, dill, parsley, carrot tops, etc.
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Put potatoes and 6 tablespoons of vinegar in a large pot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch. Set the pot over high heat and bring to a gentle boil. Boil for 10-15, until the potatoes are just fork-tender. Drain and transfer to a rimmed baking dish.
- Smash the potatoes by either placing an additional rimmed baking sheet on top of the potatoes and pressing down. You can also use a skillet, plate, or a mug to smash each potato. Break a few apart to get jagged edges and spread out on the baking sheet.
- Toss the potatoes gently with olive oil, the additional tablespoon of vinegar, salt, and pepper and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through until the potatoes are golden brown. Remove the tray from the oven and sprinkle the grated cheese over the top of the potatoes. Place back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.
- Transfer potatoes to a serving dish and top with chopped cornichons and fresh herbs.
Amber Kunik Snack Mix
Don’t you wish there was a tastier, higher quality version of those plastic “protein packs” filled with cubed cheese, stale nuts, and chunked lunch meat? Of course, you do. And here it is! Right here!
This snack mix has everything you want in each bite – salty, sweet, savory, bitter, tangy, creamy, crunchy and chewy. So many adjectives! And only 4 ingredients.
Amber Kunik from Nettle Meadow is the perfect cheese to use in this snack mix. Because of its dense texture, it holds its shape when tossed together with the rest of the ingredients, but still brings a creaminess you want from a triple crème. And the flavors from its blend of goat milk and cow cream balance perfectly with the bitter and sweet dark chocolate. The recipe only calls for half of the small wheel that is washed with Adirondack Beer and Adirondack Whiskey. But feel free to use the entire wheel if you like your snack mix extra cheesy. Or keep half of the wheel to enjoy on your next cheese board.
Charring the dates gives them an extra little crunch, as well as brings a slight smokiness to the mix. You can skip this step if you are short on time, but it’s well worth the extra few minutes it takes.
You can store this mix in the fridge for a few days, but it won’t last long.
Amber Kunik Snack Mix
Makes 2 cups
Ingredients
- 10-12 dates, pits removed
- 1/2 wheel Amber Kunik
- 1 cup pistachios, shelled removed
- 3 oz. dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- In a dry skillet, add dates and cook over medium-high heat until dates start to blacken on one side, about 3 minutes. Shake pan to char the other sides of the dates. Once they start to have black spots and start to look moistened and soft, remove from heat. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Chop each date into bite-sized pieces and add to a medium mixing bowl.
- Shave a bit of the rind off the half-wheel of cheese. Using a paring knife, insert the tip of the knife into a corner of the cheese and gently twist your wrist to break off an irregular bite-sized crumble of cheese. Repeat until the entire piece is crumbled. Alternatively, you can dice the cheese into bite-sized pieces.
- Combine the cheese crumbles, chopped chocolate, and shelled pistachios into the bowl with the charred dates and stir to combine.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Tomato Ricotta Zucchini Rollatini
Late summer’s harvest can sometimes get a bit excessive. Having giant zucchinis and hundreds of juicy cherry tomatoes overflowing in bowls in your kitchen is a wonderful problem to have. But you still need to find a way to use the abundance of veggies before they pass their prime.
Combining sweet cherry tomatoes with fluffy ricotta cheese to make a rich and creamy sauce makes a delicious base for rolled zucchini slices.
If you have leftover Tomato Ricotta sauce, it is great tossed with pasta, spooned over roasted vegetables, or smeared cold over crusty bread.
Tomato Ricotta Zucchini Rollatini
Ingredients
Tomato Ricotta Sauce
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano freshly grated
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp fresh basil leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Zucchini Rollatini
- 1 large zucchini or 2 small
- salt and peper
- 12 slices La Quercia Prosciutto thinly sliced
- 1 ball fresh mozzarella sliced into 12 pieces
- ¼ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano plus more to finish
- Fresh basil leaves
- Cooking Spray
Instructions
- To make the sauce, process the tomatoes, cheeses, garlic, anchovy fillets, and olive oil in a food processor until smooth. Add the basil, and pulse until combined but with some green flecks, 7 to 8 times. Taste and add salt and pepper. Use right away for zucchini rollatini, or cover and refrigerate for up to one week.
- To make the rollatini, preheat a grill pan on medium-high heat. Using a mandoline, slice the zucchini lengthwise into thin strips until you have 12 full slices. Strips should be a little less than ¼ in. Season both sides of the zucchini slices.
- Spray grill pan with cooking spray. Grill zucchini slices 2 minutes on one side until slightly softened and grill marks appear. Gently flip over and grill for another 30 seconds. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat with all zucchini slices.
- Preheat oven to 400℉. Spread 1/4 cup of the tomato ricotta sauce on the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
- On a cutting board, lay out a slice of zucchini. Take one slice of prosciutto and lay flat across zucchini. Place a piece of mozzarella on one side of the zucchini and roll up the slice. Place seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until all 12 slices are complete.
- Spoon additional sauce on top of each zucchini rollatini and sprinkle on freshly grated Parmesan. Bake in the 400℉ oven for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling.
- Top with torn basil leaves, more grated Parmesan cheese, and serve.
Goat Cheese Butter
Rethink the cheese board by mixing together rich and creamy butter with tangy and bright goat cheese. Stirring in a few chopped herbs makes a delicious spread to smear on bread. Serve on a board with veggies, chips and some tinned fish, and you’ve got a beautiful and tasty platter.
At Aperitivo, we have access to some great goat cheese creameries. Use your favorite fresh chèvre for this recipe. It’s a great way to use a half-empty container, or stretch the cheese to feed a crowd.
Adjust the extra mix-in’s to match your season. During the summer, fresh herbs like basil or tarragon. In the winter, use items in your pantry like dried spices and honey.
Goat Cheese Butter
Ingredients
- 3-4 oz. fresh chèvre, at room temperature
- 2-3 tbsp softened butter
- 1 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the chèvre, butter and chopped basil until combined.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with crusty bread.
Napa Cabbage Salad with Marcona Almonds and Paški Sir
Have a head of Napa Cabbage from your CSA or farm share box? Not sure what to do with it? Make this salad!
The leaves of the cabbage get softened with some salt and tossed with a sweet and tangy dressing. It is fresh and bright, crunchy and sweet. A perfect salad to accompany a light dinner.
The cabbage doesn’t take too long to soften up – only about 5 minutes. So make sure you have everything else ready to go so you can plate and serve the salad before it gets too soggy.
Paški Sir is a Croatian sheep’s milk cheese that is salty, savory and tangy. It is delicious shaved over this salad, but feel free to use Parmesan or a Pecorino in its place.
This salad is super easy to scale up or down. A full head of Napa Cabbage should make 4 plated salads. But if you are making this for less people, use about 4-5 leaves per person.
Napa Cabbage Salad with Marcona Almonds and Paški Sir
Makes 4 servings
- ½ cup Marcona Almonds (about .25 pound container)
- ½ tsp lemon zest (or any citrus you have on hand)
- 1 head Napa Cabbage, tough outer leaves removed
- 1 tsp salt, plus more for seasoning dressing
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp Italian Cherry Blossom Honey
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup parsley leaves, torn
- 1 Tbsp sliced chives
- 3 oz. Paški Sir, shaved, plus more because more cheese is always better
Preheat oven to 350°F. Shake the plastic container of Marconas to redistribute the oil. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes until warmed and slightly golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle over the lemon zest and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, roughly chop.
Remove the leaves from the cabbage core, tear off the tough white bottom, and tear into 3″– 4″ pieces. Add to a large bowl and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt over the leaves. Gently massage with your hands and set aside until ready to serve, about 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey and black pepper together. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and drizzle over the cabbage. Add the chives, parsely, shaved Paški Sir and the chopped Marconas and toss together.
Transfer salad to a platter or individual plates. Sprinkle on more cheese, chopped Marconas, salt and pepper and serve.
Flora with Crispy Sunchokes, Pepper Jam & Pea Shoots
It isn’t hard to miss the large, elaborate and colorful cheese platters that have taken over any cheese lover’s Instagram feed. While they are jaw-droppingly beautiful, sometimes a one cheese plate can be just as inspiring. In a world of excess, occasionally it’s nice to keep things simple.
Goat cheese may be the springy-est cheese out there. It’s bright, fresh and reminds us there is life after winter. Capriole is one of the favorite goat’s milk creameries in the Aperitivo case. Their newest offering, Flora, is a delicate, bloomy rind chèvre round that is pleasantly grassy and creamy. It is a perfect size for a one cheese plate for a few people to share, or just one hungry person to enjoy.
These fried sunchokes chips are a delightfully crisp and subtlety spring garnish. Paired with pepper jam and pea shoots, the freshness of the Flora shines through. Have a glass of rosè alongside and enjoy life’s simple pleasures.
Flora with Crispy Sunchokes, Pepper Jam and Pea Shoots
- 1-2 medium-sized sunchokes, scrubbed
- ½ cup EVOO
- 1 wheel Capriole Flora
- 1 tablespoon Wildly Delicious Red Pepper Jelly
- A handful of pea shoots
- EVOO to drizzle
- Crunchy Salt
- Baguette or crackers
Using a mandolin, slice the sunchokes into thin rounds, then again into ¼ inch strips. Keep strips in a bowl of cold water to prevent oxidation.
Heat ½ cup of olive oil over medium-low heat in a heavy bottom pot. Drain the sunchoke strips and dry thoroughly on a paper towel. Add sunchoke strips and fry gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring often. The strips are ready when they start to brown on the edges and curl up. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon and keep on a paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with salt.
On a serving board, scatter pea shoots and top with the wheel of Flora. Spoon the red pepper jam over the top of the cheese and top with the sunchoke chips. Finish with a light drizzle of olive oil and crunchy salt.
Enjoy with toasted baguette or crackers.
