I Want to North Fork on the Table

It’s always nice to get away from reality for the night, especially when dozens of vineyards and a quaint and charming cheese shop are involved. This weekend we went to the North Fork of Long Island to have a private tour of Lenz Winery and see how their production of wine has been progressing. First we needed to fill our bellies before we started the day of drinking and stopped off at The Village Cheese Shop in Mattituck. Appropriately, this cheese shop/ café is located on Love Lane. And it was true love when I first walked in and saw the large selection of cheeses they had and found out they were serving wine in the café. Their featured cheese was Hooligan which I’ve had before and remembered loving. Hooligan is a raw cow’s cheese that is aged in underground caves for over sixty days. It is left with a semisoft pate, and has an easy start with a very long finish. We then sat down for smoked salmon, charcutterie, fondue and a glass of their local white wine.

I surveyed the selection of cheeses in order to know what I wanted to pick up on our way out of town the following morning. The Stinky Bishop, which I have read is one cheese to use to impress your friends, was there. By the next morning they were sold out of it. That didn’t stop me from buying some other cheeses. I picked up Lamb Chopper, Langres and the Drunk Monk.
Lamb Chopper is made from sheep’s milk. Adverstised as coming from Cypress Grove in California, this cheese is actually made in the Netherlands and imported to Cypress Grove. It’s mild, custardy and buttery flavor lingers in your mouth for the perfect amount of time, giving off an almost sweet taste. This cheese is recommended as using for cooking. I’ll keep it on the table, thank you. Langres is a French cow’s milk that is produced in the Champagne- Ardenne region. It manages to be a soft and creamy but still have a crumbly texture to it. The yellowish rind is made with penicillium candidum. I don’t know what the hell that is, but sounds as bad as the ingredients listed on a can old diet coke. Good thing I can easily ignore this when I am schmearing it on a flax seed and honey flatbread. Yum!
The third cheese is the Drunk Monk hailing from Connecticut. Always falling for those witty names of cheeses and pretty wine labels, I decided to try it. I found out later that Drunk Monk was Hooligan after it’s been given a rub down in brown ale from the Willmantic CT Brewing Co. No wonder it tastes so good. I know some people who need this treatment. The cheese is very pungent with a hint of peanut butter.

A fun and relaxing time had by all, we are planning another trip for the fall.

Restaurant Review II- Blue Hill at Stone Barns

There are few experiences one has in their life, which can spiritually, physically and emotionally shape them. For me, they are usually centered on food. Sunday brunch at Blue Hill at Stone Barns was one of these experiences. Chef Dan Barber uses local ingredients to create gastronomical and artistic wonders. Everything from the homemade butter to the environmentally friendly cardboard straw has been carefully and flawlessly thought out. For two and a half hours we tasted seasonal food that could not be forgotten.
The menu is very unusual, where you see all of the ingredients Chef Barber may use in your meal. The participants at the table let the waiter know if there are any allergies or dislikes, such as liver or brain (which we excluded) from our repertoire. Let the eating begin!

Unsure if this was our first course, the waiters casually brought over four amuse bouche. First was homemade white bread, made on the premises, still warm and exactly what I was craving after three painful weeks on a no-carb diet. Next, were beet chips. Paper thin, the chips practically melted on your tongue after giving it a lightly salted jolt. Keeping with the winter root vegetable, beets, were mini beet burgers. Between two moist corn bread-like disks was a compote of beet and raspberry. A micro-green playing as the lettuce, I wish there were twenty more to shoot down. Venison sausage (my dads favorite) and sunchoke soup were part of this pre-first course.

Next a young lady came to our table presenting five brown eggs in a hand blown glass hollowed bowl stuffed with the makings of a nest. She gave us a shpeal about how many eggs the farm produces in the winter months. Ten minutes later we were presented with what had me up thinking about for days later. The soft-boiled egg is lightly deep-fried in an almond panko crisp breading and presented with a green house salad with pistachios and a schmear of herb dressing. Days later I was lying in bed when Barbers method still had me stumped, “After being boiled, peeled and fried, the yolk was still perfectly runny. How the hell did he do it?”

Second course was poached halibut in a spinach broth with baby shrimp and clams. The waiter caught us starting the meal with a fork when he rushed over and recommended using the spoon in order to get the broth evenly distributed over the piece of fish. He knew what he was talking about. The fish absorbed the broth, changing the color and flavor. Absolutely delish.

Thirdly was roasted venison and venison sausage with carrots. We understood it as though the venison came from a nearby deer farm. Not knowing that was either legal or available in Westchester we were open to this new experience and embraced it to the last bite and lick of the plate. The carrots had the right amount of sweetness and al dente, also grown on the farm.

The cheese lovers that we all are, we decided to insert the cheese plate into our menu. A little disappointed with the options that they had, we definitely felt we could put together a much better cheese plate. They had us comparing and contrasting two blues and two cheddars. I was hoping for a little more originality, especially since the previous three courses. I think we all felt a little upsold. None of that stopped us from finishing all of the cheese in our preparation for dessert.

Two different desserts were divided between the five of us. I got an apple strudel pancake with vanilla maple goose egg ice cream. Not usually being one for desserts, I couldn't get enough of the ice cream off of the plate. I was looking for more bread to soak it up with. A great end to a fantastic meal. One that I will never forget.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

630 Bedford Road

Pocantico Hills, NY

914.366.9600

http://www.bluehillatstonebarns.com/

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Restaurant Review 1- Morgans Fish House

When my favorite cheese, Pecorino Tartufo makes a cameo on a dish in a restaurant, I automatically hold a special place in my cheesy heart for this restaurant and have to tell everyone I know about it. Last Friday I had lunch at Morgans Fish House in Rye, New York. The place was completely desolate, making us question the food we were about to eat. Trusting the recommendations we’ve been given on this restaurant, we soon relaxed with a nice cold glass of Prosecco. I started off with a terrine of tuna tartare served with avocado salad and cucumber. The tuna tasted very fresh but it was a little too cold, as if it was left over from the night before. The presentation was absolutely exquisite. I also let the waiter choose half a dozen oysters for me to try. Again, the freshness couldn’t be compared. For my entrée, I had the baby arugula salad with pecorino tartufo (Hallelujah!), crispy pancetta, golden apples and toasted pecans. The light vinaigrette they tossed the salad in did not overpower any of its superb components. Morgans on a Friday night seems like a great place to come with a large group of people. It’s bright, loud and fun. Note: My birthday is coming up soon!

Morgans Fish House
22 Elm Place
Rye, NY 10580
914.921.8190

http://www.morganfishhouse.net/

Organic and Biodynamic Wines

This past Monday, my friend Sarah and I attended an organic and biodynamic wine tasting at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea. Having no idea what biodynamic wines were, we looked at it as an afternoon of catching up, boozing for free and maybe learning a couple of things or two. Owning a liquor store, she gets invited to these events all the time and as her favorite wino friend who doesn’t have a day job, I get invited. I tease her that after seventeen years of friendship, it is all starting to pay off. Of course that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Our first two assumptions about organic wines were that they do not cellar, meaning you can’t keep it in your basement for twenty years and open it and have an extremely better wine then you had twenty years prior, like a Brunello. FALSE. Second, that on the average they cost much more then other wines because of the labor intensity that is involved in their creation. FALSE. The majority of the wines we tasted were in the $12-$25 range. Very reasonable. We also learned that biodynamic farming means treating the farm and all of its living organisms as one entity. It works on a self-nourishing system so whatever you are taking out of the ground is then put back into it. Biodynamic farming also has to do with the moon patterns. Picking and cultivating is only done at certain times depending on the position of the moon.

Three of my favorites were Podere Concori’s 2006 Toscana. The vines are grown on land of pebbles, boulders and standstone, giving it a very interesting and smooth finish. It is why I like Italian wines so much. This vineyard also had a white Melograno which was a fresh palate cleansing wine. Full of acidity, it could easily be drank as an aperitif in the summer months. They work very hard to make these wines organic and biodynamic.

Second was an Austrian wine named Meinklang. Angela and Werner Michlits (who are my age) run this family wine estate. They age the wine in ceramic barrels in their basement and you can definitely taste the love and passion that they put into it. All of their wines were delish but in particular was this sparkling Pinot Noir. It had no label and was in a bottle like the one my mom makes her lethal limoncello in. Just when you thought the bubbles were coming, they would cut off. We stayed at this table for awhile. Meinklang is an organic and biodynamic winery.

Lastly, was a higher end wine from Rutherford, Napa Valley called Frogs Leap. Their 2006 Merlot was full of everything: currants, cherry, tobacco, herbs and plum. They use all of the fruits from around their vineyard. They have been practicing organic, sustainable and dry farming since 1988 which makes it well worth the big bucks.
What would be wine without cheese? France’s Comte (con-TAY) made a special appearance along with cheese from the nearby Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, NY. Both cheeses were very tasty, firm, strong and organic. They were a nice change from the dozens of wines we were refusing to spit.

Before the wine tasting we grabbed a bite to eat at a small trattoria, le Zie where we indulged in a little charcutterie. Here is a photo of the cutting board. The small yellow and white squares were grilled polenta. The sopresetta and prosciutto were where it was at. Another wonderful day of fancy food and drink.

My Future tis of Cheese, Sweet Land of Liberty

So it’s 2009 and we have an extremely handsome, intelligent, cool and charismatic man as our President and some really handsome and cool cheeses to go along with it. A couple of Sundays ago was themed Cheeses of the USA. Purchasing all of them at Whole Foods, each one had extremely interesting and unique characteristics.

First (left to right in photo) was Nancy’s Camembert from Old Chatham, New York. This buttery, soft and moist cheese is everything you wouldn’t expect from a New Yorker. A mix of cow and sheep milk, the bloomy rind has a barnyardy and lingering tanginess that reminds you of why you like cheese so much. This cheese is a great excuse for city dwellers to take a break and travel upstate for the weekend to meet Benoit Maillol and Brian Booth, the cheesemakers of this tasty one. Pair this cheese with a Sauvignon Blanc and you have yourself a pawty (pronounced with NY accent).
http://www.blacksheepcheese.com/
The second cheese was one in its own. Truffle Tremor will make you tremble. Produced in Humboldt County, California, this pasteurized goat cheese appears to be the mixing of two cheeses together. Mary Keehen is responsible for this velvety, creamy and runny cheese. Filled with specks of truffles, this cheese is one of the newer cheeses of Cypress Grove Creamery. With all due respect, I still favor the Pecorino Tartufo in regards to truffle cheeses. This cheese should be paired with a buttery California Chardonnay.
http://www.cypressgrovechevre.com/
Third was Haystack Mountain’s Red Cloud. This raw goat’s milk cheese is washed in brine which gives it a stinky aroma. Surprisingly, it has a very clean and balanced flavor that can be enjoyed with a Riesling or Gewürztraminer. It seems that all of their cheeses are given names related to nature. It’s is like a haiku in your mouth. http://www.haystackgoatcheese.com/
Lastly was my definite favorite of the four. Constant Bliss (which it surely was) is a small white mountain of bloomy raw cheese made from the lovely cows in Greensboro, Vermont. It was assertive, fluffy, moist, springy and clean. It simply, made me happy. The story behind the name of the cheese is told as, “We named Constant Bliss after a revolutionary war scout killed in Greensboro by native Americans in 1781. He was guarding the Bayley Hazen Military Road with his compatriot Moses Sleeper, who died with him.” They continued with this tradition and named another one of their cheeses Bayley Hazen. I must hunt this one down. War has never tasted so good.
http://www.jasperhillfarm.com/
Tasting cheeses that have something in common whether its animal, country, cheese type or raw versus pasteurized allows one to have a better understanding of what you are tasting and gives you something to compare it to. For me, I like themes because I think you can be much more concentrated and can learn a lot more from it. So, what will be my next theme???

Up on Cripple Sprout Creek Farm

The Jersey and Guernsey cows have done me well at Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, New York. They seem to do just about everything there from their wonderful creamery to their camp for children on local and sustainable farming. These grass-fed cows produce really tasty and very different cheeses.

Waking up early on a Sunday morning (something I almost never do) I was proudly the first at the door of the White Plains County Center indoor farmer’s market. I shoot right over to the Sprout Creek table where the woman is feeling chatty and extremely generous with her slices of cheese. Ignoring the Colgate fresh mint toothpaste that is still lingering in my mouth I try one of each of the seven cheeses she has…..and then repeat a few. I end up buying Barat which is a raw, hard cow’s milk cheese that is full of nut flavors. The white, cratered and flakey rind is aged and protects the cheese so that it can last for awhile. On the drier side, Barat would be good to shave over pasta or even better, polenta.

The second cheese was Batch 35. It was named due to the 35 tries it took for the cheese to get where the Cheese Makers thought it was closest to perfection. Aged for 60 days, this cow’s milk coppery colored cheese has an earthy and pungent taste. Balanced and still complex, the smoothness and softness makes it easy to eat this cheese anywhere and at anytime.
Raw cheeses seem to be the way to go. Buying locally, it is much easier to get cheeses that have not had added hormones or preservatives. No matter how inexperienced ones palate is, the freshness and authenticity of the cheese is obvious in unpasteurized cheeses. During the summer, Sprout Creek Farm gives classes on making cheese. I think it would be a really important learning experience for me and one that I am excited to partake in.

The next farmer’s market is March 15th. You can also visit the creamery market Wednesday thru Sunday.

http://www.sproutcreekfarm.org/

Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary is a symbol of loyalty, friendship and fidelity. It is also my favorite herb, one that reminds me of the Mediterranean. I love rosemary on just about anything from steak to fish to chicken and especially, cheese! So it is no surprise that I have found true love with this cheese, known as, Cabra al Romero. A firm goat milk cheese, Cabra al Romero is smothered in rosemary giving the paste a well balanced herbaceous flavor with a lemon finish. The texture is smooth, soft and almost clay like, making it really hard to have just one small piece. It is reminiscent of the Murica al Vino and with good reason. Cabra al Romero is made in La Mancha, Spain by Lorenzo, the same maker of the Murica al Vino. This relatively new cheese should be enjoyed with a lighter red wine, such as a Pinot Noir. I have definitely found a new friend that I plan on staying true and loyal to.