The New Blue Kid on the Block: Grevenbroeker

Made by Peter Boonen using pure cow's milk from his dairy located in Hamont-Achel, in the Flanders region of Northern Belgium. This is by far a fascinating blue that looks more like a marble slab than an edible delight. No one really knows how Peter makes this cheese, which indecently he created for his wife who is not a big fan of blues. With regards to how it’s made, well, let’s just say Peter is protective of his method, secretive, possibly bordering on paranoid. I have my own idea which goes something like this:

Using raw milk, once he has added the rennet and the curds are formed, he introduces the Penicillium Roquforti, not by piercing, but simply tossing it amongst the curd. The cheese is then formed by hand and aged on a tin plate. The wheels are not exactly round which is definitely a sign of hand forming that add to its charm. Often the wheel is more misshapen than anything, with cuts being less the typical triangular shape that something with more than three sides.

The flavor profile is one of buttery-ness, grassy and full. Not the tongue curling that you get from, say a traditional Roquefort, but quite full, with a long, lingering finish. This goes against the idea that peter made this for his wife as a more ‘approachable’ blue. Pair this with a big Belgian Ale or a Krohn's Colheita Port, both of which have enough body to stand up to Grevenbroeker.

This cheese is available in limited amounts so I am really excited to get my hands on a wheel.

Grevenbroeker Blue-a cheese that truly goes the distance!

-Ironman Suzanne

The Lore of Trail Running in the Dark

At one point in my 5am trail run this morning I was up on a bluff that over looks the road, and there was a single headlight bobbing along in the darkness. The brief sound of soft footfalls left me with a sense of comfort that someone else out there understands the awe, beauty and sometimes simple need to run where time stands still and no one and nothing else exists except through a tiny speck of light.

Following  10 miles  of running I  topped it off with a French Press of Ritual Coffees “Hidden Cities” espresso blend.  A perfect combination to start the day!

Trail running in the dark followed by Ritual Coffee truly goes the distance!


-Ironman Suzanne

Emilio Moro Ribera Del Duero 2008

Get close to the ground. Imagine it's the only thing you can do in one hundred degree weather. Imagine you're a vine and the earth clings to you. You've been there for decades, some of your counterparts have been there for centuries. The earth and vines stay close together, the earth nurtures the vines, the vines respect the earth and hang low in symbiotic generosity. In this euphoria, under the harshest winters and hottest summers a wine region can provide, in Spain's Ribera del Duero a wine is produced that reminds one of the beautiful sensual nature of tree sap.

Tree sap, like fresh unfiltered molasses in which one tastes bark, the flesh of a tree. Young lamb is the local fare. More sheep wonder the hills in Ribera del Duero than in anywhere else in Spain. Eighty miles north of Madrid enormous castles from the 8^th century line it's northern border at the Atlantic ocean, waiting in futility for the return of the Moors. In this arid and quiet region Spain's most eloquent and expensive wines are produced.

Case in point: Emilio Moro's Ribera Del Duero 2008

Case of flavors: sap/molasses, tree bark intro, refined jam of raspberry, sweet bark finish, held by structuring tannins. One does not have to chase after these flavors, they grip the palate.

Other notes: nose of thick strawberry licorice and smoky maple syrup. Deep, deep color. Medium to light body. A great pair to Italian food, tomato sauces, rich tapas, and of course, lamb.

Amen.

-The Reverend

Mimolette, the cheese that wanted to be Edam

Mimolette is a cheese traditionally produced around the city of Lille, France (where it is also known as Boule de Lille.)

It was originally made by the request of Louis XIV, who wanted a French cheese to resemble Edam. The French, in their ongoing feud with the Dutch figured they, too, could make this gouda like cheese. Well, it kind of went a bit array, the end product however, has a much more interesting appeal to most cheese mongers then that of Edam which is more of a bland, butterball than anything.

A cow's-milk cheese, it normally weighs approximately 4.5 pounds. Its name comes from the French word molle, meaning "soft". This is interesting of course, since Mimolette has the firmness and feel of a cannonball. If I were to need to win at dodge ball this would be the ball I would use. But I digress. The interior, which is usually what draws the hand to pick it up is a striking orange and is very reminiscent of cantaloupe. This is due to the simple addition of annatto, a root that is used to make cheese that brilliant orange that kids love and adults are a bit hesitant about. It’s completely natural and imparts no flavor. It does provide a striking color break on a cheese platter.

Now onto the even more interesting characteristics of Mimolette.

If you get a chance to hold a full wheel of Mimolette, you will notice it leaves a little dusty debris in your hands. That dust is the result of cheese mites intentionally introduced to add flavor by their action on the surface of the cheese. This is what gives the cheese that rough, pock marked exterior.

Mimolette can be consumed at different stages of aging. When younger, its taste resembles that of Parmesan. Most cheese-lovers appreciate it most when "extra-old" (extra-vieille). At that point, it can become rather chewy and dense, and the flesh takes a hazelnut-like flavor.

Mimolette: A cheese that truly goes the distance.

-Ironman Suzanne

Tasty Thursday...brought to you by...

CHEF PICKLE!

           (still my favorite pickle)










Zebra Pasta with Truffle Butter

(serves about 4)
Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

(SO fast=more time to eat!)

1 Bag (250 gr) Farfalline Zebra Pasta

1 tub (3oz) Fabrique Delices Black Winter Truffle Butter

3oz Prosciutto, fine julienne

Fresh Grated Parmesan

Chopped parsley for garnish

-Cook pasta according to package directions, about 10 minutes

-While water is getting ready to boil, julienne prosciutto, grate parmesan and chop parsley

-In large skillet heat 1.5 oz. (about half container) Truffle Butter in skillet, be careful not to burn

-When butter is hot, add prosciutto to heat through

-Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to skillet 

-Mix well with Truffle Butter and prosciutto

-Plate immediately 

-Top generously with freshly grated parmesan and chopped parsley

-Enjoy

Thank you Chef Pickle!

(And just a side note from the Reverend, pair this with the off-dry acidic, citrusy,  White Bordeaux Chateau Graviere...it's killller! (on sale till the end of August for 7.99!! what!?! AMAZING!!!))

The Girl With The New Haircut and Other Ramblings

I have a confession to make. I’m a super big dork. Almost everyday when I walk into work, I have some sort of theme song running through my head. Lately it's been the Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog. In real life, I walk into the store quietly and unassuming, slight nods to everyone until I get to the Specialty department. But in my head it's a completely different scene. I don't walk in, I glide in with theme song blasting, and I do it in slow-mo like the opening scene of Mean Streets. I slow-mo point to customers, and they slow-mo smile back. Slow-mo high fives for my fellow team members, a slow-mo knucks explosion with Eddie one of my bosses, and then I get to my department. My whole team stops what they are doing, incredibly elated to see me, they throw me up on their shoulders and cheer. Sadly, I have no choice but to enter reality at this point, and unfortunately there is no slow-mo involved.

The thing about selling Specialty products such as cheese and wine is that some of the people you talk to have very deep, tight pools of knowledge about certain products, and they tend to treat this knowledge as absolute. You can't mess with that kind of passion. These interactions, as long as I've already had my coffee, are always positive learning experiences for me. It's beautiful to see how much pride people take in the knowledge they have about let's say Taleggio, or Sancerre. Sans cafe' however, the experience can be challenging as it leaves me susceptible to the barrage of slightly haughty under the breathe mutterings intended to point out my ignorance. I always tell my team to be aware all the time, there is no use punching the clock and turning off your brain, treat every moment as an enjoyable learning experience. A Happening rather, an experience may imply too much that there is an event that you are bystanding. On the contrary, a happening takes for you to engage and be a part of making it happen. You could look at it two ways, you can spend your day peddling small hunks of curdled milk to a nameless faceless mob, countless heartless transactions until its closing time; or you can be the catalyst that continues to give that cheese or wine life in your transactions. If someone makes you feel stupid, push further, ask more from him or her. If half of what they are saying is not BS then you have learned something, and therefore you have contributed. Think of the word transaction, a mechanized trading of something, right? But think again, what does it mean to trans act? Perhaps it can mean “to act beyond”. So the moral is drink your Ritual coffee, it swallows easier than a bitter pill.

Yeah, it can be challenging though. At any given time we have over two hundred cheeses, but we never seem to have what the person standing in front of us wants. "How could you not have Ahumado de Aliva? Jeez!" Can I offer you something similar? There’s all kinds of rhetoric that’s gone on for hundreds of years between retailers and their customer. “How can I be of service?” “Certainly, is there anything else I can do for you?” “Oh, it was no trouble at all.” I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t say stuff like this a thousand times over. People are wired to know how to act with this sort of language. It’s a formality. The synapse trails created in our brains through countless grocery store transactions equip us to move through these transactions smoothly, and practically with our eyes closed. But that’s like sleepwalking, or like being a zombie. I don’t want you to have that experience, let’s make a happening happen. Often, after I’ve had my Ritual, I ask myself “What happens if I look this person deep in the eyes and say xyz?” For example, just the other day a young woman was perusing the cheese case, she had just gotten her hair cut and it was obvious that the new style was something that she was not yet comfortable with. I had a hunch that she probably had it long for several years, maybe forever and this new short cut was exciting although it’d left her feeling vulnerable. Have you ever noticed that when you get a new shirt or something that you really like, you get paid complements by complete strangers about your shirt? But as that shirt ages the compliments diminish. It’s not the shirt; it’s how you wear it. You stand straighter, you feel more confident, and more attractive, and as it gets older you get used to seeing you in it and it makes you feel blah, and you project blah. Don’t believe me? Spend a week wearing your clothes like it’s the first day you’ve ever worn them. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah, the girl with the new haircut. Just at the moment when it was my duty to say something like “Can I help you?” I decided instead to trans act. I said in a familiar way, as if she were a friend of mine, “Oh, you cut your hair.” She looked up at me and then looked behind her to make sure no one else was there that I might have been talking to. “It looks nice,” I continued, leaving her momentarily bewildered as her synapse trail had gone off course. And now while not on autopilot she had no choice but to engage with me, and I could start to really tell her about the cheese.

It's tough sometimes. Often I talk with people who say they have researched (googled) certain products and they seem to disregard my comments if they don't coincide with what they've read. I don’t by any means think of myself as an expert, or even think that I’m often right, but drinking wine and eating cheese doesn’t have anything to do with being right or wrong. It has everything to do with pleasure. I just try to share with you what pleases me. The old adage pertains to cheese and wine too, because you read it, doesn't make it true. You can eat chicken with red wine, and you can chill that red wine too if you want to. In fact, the next time you are in SRF WFM to pick up a rotisserie chicken, come to my department, I will show you a Pinot from Alsace and tell you to put it in your fridge for twenty minutes, and you will have a new vibrant wonderful dinner happening. I have made some pretty awesome food pairings by taking two things that I love and pairing them together. Case in point, Humboldt Fog with Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel. Yum. Chances are you won’t find that online. Mostly they’ll tell you to pair Humboldt with a fruity yet acidic white like a Sauvignon Blanc, or unoaked Chardonnay.
Anyway, be adventurous, come to our cheese department and ask us to try our smelliest cheese. Then go climb a mountain, or swim to Alcatraz and back, and wash it all down with a Gruner Veltliner. That is what life is about, not googling before every step you take.
Okay, now that I'm fully purged of rant, I'll just say that at the end of the day, I still have The Stooges ruminating in my head. I glide out of work satisfied to have talked the value of artisan food and wine with you all day. Thank you for making it happen. It was truly my pleasure. –El Capitan

D66

Most of us know Orin Swift from the now-famous Prisoner red blend. It's accompanied us on many indulgent evenings, pairing with every dinner, even quaffing it with dessert. Since the first days of the Prisoner, Orin Swift Cellars have impressed us further with big, tannic and bold California labels such as Saldo Zinfandel and Papillon Cabernet Sauvignon. So when a friend of mine sent me a picture of D66 with the caption “Orin Swift French wine,” I responded, “what makes it french?” not being able to imagine winemaker Dave Phinney leaving his home turf, where he has gained a lucrative popularity. My friend responded, “well first off, it's from France.”

So the story goes: Orin Swift Cellars founder and winemaker Dave Phinney purchased just under 300 acres in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France. Under the sunniest skies in the region, seasoned with dry winds, the grenache grapes used for D66 thrive. If you've ever wondered while tasting through wonderful ten dollar granacha or bottle-after-bottle of Rhone blends what grenache itself is capable of: step right up.

When this wine first touched my lips a few months ago, it was as though everything I love about whiskey had consummated in wild passion with everything I love about red wine right before my eyes. Butterscotch and caramelized dates wrestled in the sheets. A sturdy alcohol backbone warms, rather than burns the palate. This isn't sipping for the faint of heart. It's a style of winemaking that lets us leave the shore of our usual senses, and throws us into seas of indulgence. Tiny waves of ripe cherry and toasted wood, ripple down the spine. To give us a rudder in this open sea, add Black Label Cambazola. The two mix seamlessly into instant creamy vanilla dessert with bourbon-berry sauce poured judiciously on top.

Wine Footnotes:

Vins Doux Naturels

Maury, the appellation in which D66 comes from is not only known for it's red wines of grenache (known under the title: Vin de Pays des Cotes Catalanes) but also a lightly fortified wine called “vins doux naturels,” also made from grenache. It's hard for me to not daydream about Dave Phinney drawing inspiration from this style, purportedly the oldest fortified wine in the world. (D66 is, after all, 15.2%.)

Punt

The punt is the indentation in the bottom of a wine bottle, common with champagne. The punt in D66's bottle is extraordinarily deep, giving it a wide base. Traditionally, the purpose of the punt is to catch sediment and reinforce the bottle, making it harder to break.

Tasting Tips:

Chill it

Put D66 in the fridge for 10 minutes before sipping. A cooler temperature, without being cold, will help balance it, bringing out more fruit for your initial encounter.

Cellar it

Up to 10 years, no joke. Get ten bottles and let it fascinate you every year for a decade. I know it sounds expensive at $37.99 a bottle but it's still cheaper than a flight to Perpignan.

Enjoy!

-Reverend