COOKING WITH CHEESE

Cheese: a versatile, transformative ingredient

Whether store-bought or crafted in your own kitchen, delicious, hand-crafted cheese is an extraordinary, inspirational ingredient for any passionate cook. Yes, these cheeses are lovely when presented solo, but when used as a cooking ingredient, the unique characteristics of an individual cheese (or combinations of) can transform even the simplest recipes, contributing complex flavors and desirable texture to both savory and sweet dishes. Though fantastic and always pleasing, cooking with cheese can go well beyond creating an ooey-gooey, comforting Mac & Cheese or a fabulous toasty grilled cheese sandwich. I invite you to explore cooking with cheese in new, interesting, and often unique ways.

A few simple tips

Here are a few simple guidelines to follow:

Use good quality cheese in any dish. The better the cheese, the better tasting the dish will be.
Soft, moist cheeses are good for melting.
Remember that cheese contains salt so be mindful of this when adding salt to a dish in cooking. More extensive guidelines for choosing an appropriate cheese for a given dish, along with cooking tips are presented in the book.

Cooking with Cheese recipes

Here are some of my favorite cooking-with-cheese or cultured dairy dishes from the book, illustrating a variety of ways cheese can have an amazing influence on a sweet or savory dish: Smoked Mozarella-Eggplant Fritters, Spinach Salad with Charred Ricotta Salata and Caramelized Oranges, Curried Saag Panir, Blue Cheese and Toasted Walnut Brownies, and Stone Fruit Tart with Mascarpone-Cardamom Ice Cream.
For your sampling is a recipe featured on the cover of Artisan Cheese Making at Home.

MAPLE-PLANKED BRIE WITH MUSHROOM-WALNUT RAGOUT

Serves 8

Roasting or grilling on aromatic wood planks is an easy, flavor-enhancing way of cooking. This method can be done on the stovetop in a cast-iron grill pan, but it is better still on a wood-fired grill or in a wood-fired oven, and it can even be done on a campfire. The planks are soaked in water or in a spirit-infused liquid, and then lightly charred on one side to release the aromatic oils in the wood. The food to be cooked is set on the charred side and roasted or grilled. For this simple planked dish, a beautiful bloomy-rind Brie is served on toast with a mushroom-walnut ragout that cooks while the cheese grills.
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1-1/2 pounds fresh meaty mushrooms, such as shiitake, royal trumpet, or oyster
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced lengthwise
1 cup lightly toasted walnut pieces
Four 1/4-inch strips lemon zest
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
2 long sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry white wine
2 wheels firm, ripe Brie, about 5 to 6 ounces each (page 136), at room temperature
Four 1/2-inch-thick slices artisan whole wheat raisin or currant bread

Submerge two 6-inch-square, ½-inch-thick maple planks in water and soak for 1 hour. Preheat a grill to medium heat (400°F), with areas for both direct and indirect heat. When hot, place a clay baking vessel or cast-iron skillet on the grill to preheat. Clean and trim the mushrooms, then cut lengthwise into thick slices. Put them in a bowl, add the garlic, walnuts, lemon zest, and some salt and pepper and toss to combine. Drizzle with olive oil just to moisten.

Place the mixture in the preheated pan and add the thyme, bay leaf, and wine. Place on the grill over indirect heat to roast until the mushrooms are golden, about 30 minutes, covering the grill. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed. Keep warm until ready to serve. While the ragout cooks, take the maple planks out of the water and let them drain for 10 minutes. Carefully cut the top rinds off the Brie and place them back on the wheels as lids (these will be removed later). Toast one side of each plank over direct heat until well marked and fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Place a wheel of Brie on the marked side of each plank and place on the grill over indirect heat. Close the lid and grill the Brie for 10 minutes. Remove the top rinds from the cheeses and discard, close the lid, and continue to cook for another 5 minutes, or until the surface of the cheese is golden brown and the interior is soft and oozy but the rind is intact. Grill the bread on both sides while cooking the Brie, then cut the toasts in half diagonally and keep them warm. Remove the planked Brie from the grill and let cool for a few minutes. Take the planks to the table and spoon the roasted mushrooms over the cheeses. Smear the Brie on the toasts and load them up with ragout.
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