Tag: washed rind
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.
Cheesy Bacon Potato Nests
Potatoes…yum.
Bacon…yes, please.
Cheese… hell yeah.
These cheesy potato nests are a yummy riff on a French Reblochon Tartiflette – a rich gratin dish from the Savoie region of France. The dish is made with sliced potatoes, onions, lardons, a big glug of white wine, and then topped with an entire wheel of Reblochon cheese before it is baked in the oven.
The name “Reblochon” comes from way back in history when farmers would get taxed on the amount of milk their herds would produce. They would wait until the tax collectors had counted their yield, then go back and milk their cows again. The second milking was much richer and creamier and made cheese which was equally as rich and creamy. True raw Reblochon from France isn’t available in the United States, but there are US creameries making washed-rind cow’s milk cheese in a very similar style.
Sawtooth from Cascadia Creamery was tasting particularly amazing when this batch of potato nests were made, but any soft washed-rind cheese would work in this recipe – Oma, Taleggio, Mont. St. Francis, Muenster, or Raclette. The pungentness of the cheese does reduce a bit in the recipe, so don’t worry too much if the wedge you picked up is a real stinker. Using the entire wedge (rind included!!) adds a funkiness that makes these potatoes addicting.
Traditionally, a Reblochon Tartiflette would use a white wine from the Savoie region. Essay Chenin Blanc is a great (non-French) option to use in this recipe and to drink alongside. No matter what you get, use something you would enjoy drinking also. The recipe only calls for less than a glass, so get something you like to drink.
These cheesy bacon potato nests are a great side to serve at brunch, at a spring holiday meal or just alongside a light green salad. Let them cool a bit in the pan before you start to remove them, so they have a better chance of holding together on a plate.
Cheesy Bacon Potato Nests
Makes 12 muffin-sized nests
- 1 small onion
- 7 oz slab bacon
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 ½ oz. dry white wine
- 1 pound waxy potatoes (ex. Red Bliss, Fingerlings or New Potatoes)
- 9 oz. washed rind cheese (.6 pound wedge)
- Salt and black pepper
- Pan spray
Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a standard muffin tin with pan spray.
Peel and dice the onion into small pieces. Slice the bacon in lardons. Add onions, bacon and bay leaf into a skillet over medium heat and cook until the bacon is beginning to crisp and the onions are tender, 8-10 minutes.
Pour in the wine and cook until almost all the liquid is evaporated, around 3-5 additional minutes.
Using the julienne blade on a mandoline (or carefully by hand,) slice the potatoes into matchsticks. Stir into the onion, bacon and wine mixture and remove from heat.
Cut the cheese into bite-sized pieces and gently stir into the potato mixture. Evenly portion into the muffin tins and place in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and golden brown.
Let cool slightly in the pan and serve warm.
Baked Belgian Endive with Epoisses and Golden Raisins
There is nothing, repeat, NOTHING wrong with eating a wheel of Epoisses, room temp, with a baguette. That sounds great. You can even watch this video of someone doing exactly that.
But if you are looking to try something a little different with the creamy and stinky French classic, this is for you.
The bitterness of the endive is balanced by the fattiness of the cheese and the sweetness of the golden raisins and the honey drizzle at the end. It makes a hearty side dish on a cold night. And you only need half the wheel for the recipe, leaving you the other half to eat with that baguette.
Baked Belgian Endive with Epoisses and Golden Raisins
BREADCRUMB TOPPING
- 4 ounces Italian bread (about ⅓ of a field&fire loaf)
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons EVOO
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon La Quercia Pesto Bianco lardo spread* /
ENDIVE
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 Belgian endives, sliced in half, lengthwise
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup sweet Riesling
- ½ cup golden raisins – about .15 pounds
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- ½ wheel Epoisses or 4 ounces a washed-rind cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 teaspoons honey
*If you are needing to keep this dish vegetarian, omit the Pesto Bianco and add ½ teaspoon of salt to the breadcrumb mixture instead.
Preheat the oven to 350℉.
Slice the outer crust off the bread and tear into small pieces. Combine the bread, parsley, olive oil, crushed red pepper and black pepper in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Toss together with a wooden spoon and cook until brown and toasty, around 8 minutes. Halfway through, add the Pesto Bianco. Transfer to a plate and let cool. Wipe out the skillet and return to medium heat.
Add the butter to the skillet. Once foamy, add the endive, cut-side down. Let the underside develop some color, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and set on a cutting board. Sprinkle 1 tsp of the salt on the cut-side of the endive, getting in between the leaves.
Add the minced garlic to the remaining butter and let cook for 1 minute. Be careful not to burn the garlic, adding a splash of olive oil if the pan seems too dry. Add the wine and raisins to the skillet and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the remaining teaspoon of salt and return the endive to the skillet, cut side up.
Place the skillet in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set to broil. Slice the Epoisses into 4 pieces. Top each endive half with a piece of the cheese and the bread crumb topping. Set back in the oven and broil until melty and golden, about 2 minutes.
Let cool slightly and top with chopped parsley and a light drizzle of honey. Serve with sauce and raisins spooned on top.
