People who walked around downtown Poulsbo during Viking Fest
last weekend may have noticed a new store on Front Street. Crimson Cove, which has been
selling smoked salmon, smoked cheeses, nuts and other goods at area
farmers markets during the past few years has opened a
storefront.
Mark and Jody DeSalvo began selling smoked goods in 2007. They
use alder and apple woods to smoke their goods from a building in
Kingston.
The store, next to Sluy’s Bakery, has the same salmon and the
variety of cheeses from blue to swiss that they’ve sold at farmers
and other area markets as well as smoked salts, nuts, dips,
crackers and salsas so boaters at Poulsbo marina can take back
enough snacks for a day on the water. Plus, they have samples.
Today, April 12, is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. Yes,
there’s a day to celebrate practically any kind of food, but
today’s — actually
a book with 50 grilled cheese recipes and a food truck in Portland
dedicated to it. Beacher’s in Pike Place Market hosted the author
of aforementioned book Monday afternoon
On Thursday, Poulsbo’s Central Market will host a
cooking demonstration titled, “Grilled Cheese á la Pain du
George (bread)”
Need I make any further case for waxing on about grilled
cheese?
Admittedly, one of the additional reasons this food holiday
piqued my interest enough to write about it is my recent pining for
some downtown Bremerton grilled cheese offerings. Two Blocks Up on
Pacific Avenue in Bremerton has an “ultimate grilled cheese”
sandwich, with cream cheese, cheddar, well-buttered bread and more
is a regular Monday special, and tomato soup always is on the menu
then. The Coffee Club Diner on Park Avenue also serves up a
“Grown-up” version with three cheeses and onions. They haven’t
stopped serving it, I’ve just stopped working downtown, and making
it from my home office just isn’t the same.
This all brings me, though, to the questions (this is the
interactive part of the blog, folks):
What are your criteria for a good grilled cheese sandwich?
Should it purely be cheese or contain extras? And where is your
favorite place to have one and what makes it so good?
I’ll try to kick off a discussion by answering the first two: It
has to have a lot of cheese all gooey and melting out the sides
between two thick slices of white bread buttered and crisped to a
light brown, not too hard toast. I’m a big fan of ones containing
cream cheese and cheddar, but once you put anything non-cheese on
it, it ceases to be a grilled cheese sandwich. It’s just a grilled
sandwich; the world must have rules. Except if it has bacon,
because everything is better with bacon.
As for the last, my grilled cheese ordering experience has been
pretty limited to Bremerton. I’ve heard tale of offerings
elsewhere, such as a grilled cheese and panini sandwich with
Fontina at MorMor in Poulsbo.
I made these little cheese snacks this weekend, and the friends
I shared them with seemed to enjoy them.
I’m not kidding about the one ingredient, though you can spiff
it up with herbs, spices and/or a mix of cheeses.
Done right, they can be an airy, crispy snack that happens to be
low-carb (though perhaps high-fat) .
So here’s how you do it. Shred some parmesan cheese, sprinkle it
in circles on parchment paper or a lightly oiled baking pan, bake
at 350-degrees for about 7 minutes, remove immediately from the pan
to cool, and you’re done. If you want, you can shape them
immediately out of the oven by draping them over something or
forming little cups.
You can play around with it by mixing in pepper, cayenne pepper
or other herbs and spices with them. I added finely chopped
rosemary to one batch, but the herbs burned before the wafers were
done. Tossing in a little oil beforehand may have helped.
There were a few lessons I learned while making them:
Watch them while baking: The cheese can scorch and taste
burnt pretty fast. Pull them out when they start to just become
golden.
Grate your own: I tried it at first with some
pre-shredded parmesan from the grocery store, but preferred the
cheese I shredded myself using the tiny shredding part of the
grater. The store-bought had too much powdery grated cheese, which
melts together in a clump and ends up being either chewy or
thickens into something that’s hard.
Keep it thin: When sprinkling, just put a thin
layer for each chip, leave a lot of holes. Most of it will melt a
little together. I preferred something a little more delicate, so
this colors my judgement. I think it’s something that you just have
to play around with.
Not all cheeses mix: Mixing parmesan and swiss
seemed to work well and parmesan with Asiago or other similarly
hard cheese came out great. Cheddar, however, at least the sharp
Tillamook I tried was not a good choice. They don’t melt at the
same rate, so the cheddar ends up being just a burned mess. I
didn’t try it, but mozerella or other cheese with a higher fat
content is probably more likely to melt.
Mt. Townsend
Creamery in Port Townsend, who has gotten a few nods
from Seattle foodies and chefs, won for their Trailhead
variety.
I’ve been a fan since I wrote
a story in 2006 (before I was a web geek, I was a staff
writer) and got a taste test — research, simply research.
Their cheese is sold at Central Market, and possibly other
places.
If you want to wait to get a taste of a variety of cheesemakers,
they’ll also be at the Seattle Cheese Festival in
May. Many, like Mt. Townsend, come from the Northwest. We’re giving
Wisconsin a run for its money.
Since we’re on the subject, who are some of your favorite
Northwest cheese experts?
After breaking the cardinal shopping rule of not buying
something unless you know what you’re going to do with it, namely
the truffle oil I purchased at Pike Place Market, I found myself
going on a long hunt for recipes that included truffle oil.
The lux item is new to me, and I tried a little in a couple
standard things, such as with a bread dip with balsamic vinegar, as
well as a quick linguine with mussels.
But I happened upon a recipe this week and made it last
night.
Hands down, it was, The Best. Mac and Cheese. Ever.
The truffle oil and chevre makes it a little pretentious, so
it’s not your boxed-mac for kids fare. This is some adult stuff,
earthy, rich and delicious.
I made it mostly as I saw it in the What
We’re Eating blog. (They went so far as to call it
“orgasmic”. ) But I used 2-percent milk (because that’s what I
had), and I used dried shitake mushrooms, but fresh would probably
make it better. I used two tablespoons of truffle oil and might
actually go with a half tablespoon less since it ended up being so
strong. I used white cheddar, which made it look really fancy. I
also ended up adding extra sage because I cut too much. But still
heavenly.
Here is the recipe in all its glory:
Wild Mushroom Macaroni and Three Cheeses with Truffle
Oil
1 1/2 cups sliced crimini mushrooms
1 1/2 cups sliced shitake mushrooms
2 tbsp oil or bacon fat
1 1/2 tbsp sherry vinegar
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 cup whole milk, warmed
4 oz herb chevre (goat cheese), crumbled
4 oz sharp cheddar, shredded
4 oz parmigiano reggiano, separated in 2 2oz piles
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
2 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
1 tsp fresh sage, minced
2-3 tbsp white truffle oil, depending on how strong you like it
(yes, this is some rich mac-n-cheese)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup panko
10 oz elbow pasta
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a large pot of water over
high heat and cover. Place a large saute pan with 2 tbsp oil or
lard over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the mushrooms to
the pan and saute for 7-10 minutes or until the mushrooms are fully
cooked and slightly caramelized. Toss or stir occasionally. Season
with a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper then deglaze the pan
with sherry vinegar. Allow all of the vinegar to cook out, then
remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside.
Begin the cheese sauce. Add 4 tbsp butter to a medium-sized
sauce pan and place the pan on the stove over medium heat. Once all
the butter is melted and hot, whisk in 4 tbsp flour. Cook the
flour, whisking, for about 30 seconds , just long enough to get rid
of the raw flour taste, but not long enough for the flour to start
caramelizing. Add the thyme, rosemary, sage, and red pepper flakes.
Continue stirring and allow the herbs to saute for about another 30
secpnds. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking continuously, so
the roux and milk incorporate smoothly and there are no lumps.
Allow the bechamel to come to a simmer (it won’t gain it’s full
thickness until it does), stirring occassionally.
While waiting for the sauce to come to a simmer start the pasta.
Liberally salt the pot of boiling water, almost to the point it
tastes like sea water. This may take a few handfuls of salt . Add
the pasta to the water and cook the pasta for a minute or two less
than the suggested time on the box.
Once the bechamel has reached a simmer, stir in the chevre,
cheddar, 2oz of parmigiano, and truffle oil until all the cheese
has melted. Turn off the heat and and taste the sauce for seasoning
levels. Season with salt and pepper as necessary. In small mixing
bowl, mix together the panko and remaining 2oz of parmigiano
reggiano.
Strain the pasta immediately once finished cooking. In a mixing
bowl, toss the pasta, cheese sauce, and mushrooms together. Pour
the macaroni and cheese into a deep glass or ceramic loaf pan and
sprinkle the panko/parmigiano mixture evenly across the top. Bake
the mac-n-cheese in the upper part of the oven for about 15 to 20
minutes or until the topping is golden and the cheese sauce is
bubbly. Serve hot. Enjoy!
