Buffalo Mac-and-Artisan-Cheese

By Jared Kaufman

Serves 4

Few dishes celebrate the melty, gooey, comforting qualities of cheese quite like the classic macaroni. To turn the dial up a notch, this spicy stovetop recipe uses Barnburner, a smoky cheddar made at Grafton Village Cheese Company in Vermont and aged at Crown Finish Caves in Brooklyn, and Challerhocker, a double-cream alpine-style beaut from Switzerland with a fudgy, roasty flavor. 

And if you have never tasted our house-made ranch dressing, you’re missing out. It ranks among the best ranch dips I’ve tried, and it’s really what makes this recipe pop (no offense to the cheese, of course).

From France 44:

·         ½ lb. Barnburner

·         ½ lb. Challerhocker

·         1 pint F44 ranch dressing

From your pantry:

·         1 lb. large elbow macaroni (or your pasta of choice)

·         ½ cup unsalted butter

·         ½ cup all-purpose flour

·         1½ cups milk

·         ½ cup Frank’s RedHot (use more or less to your liking)

·         3 stalks celery

·         Scallions for garnish

·         Optional: Chicken, cooked + chopped or shredded

Instructions:

1.       Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

2.       Meanwhile… prep your ingredients. Remove the rinds from both cheeses and grate into a bowl. Chop the celery into small dice.

3.       Start the sauce. In the empty pasta pot (or another stock pot) over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and immediately whisk to combine. Continue whisking for about 1 minute to let the mixture darken slightly.

4.       While still whisking, add the milk. (The mixture will suddenly tighten in texture; this is OK!) Add the ranch, hot sauce, and cheese, and fold together. Continue stirring until the cheese melts and the sauce is very smooth and well-combined.

5.       Finish the sauce. Remove from heat, and stir in the celery and chicken if using.

6. Combine the cooked pasta with the sauce. Garnish with finely chopped scallions and an extra drizzle of hot sauce if you so choose. Enjoy!

Moroccan-Inspired Kefta (Meatballs)

By Jared Kaufman

Serves 4

If you’ve read my recipes for this blog, you might gather that I’m obsessed with the New York Shuk line of Middle Eastern condiments and spices. They recently released their take on matbucha, a North African roasted tomato and pepper sauce, to which they’ve added olives and mint. It’s fantastic, and makes the perfect base for this Moroccan-inspired kefta (meatball) tagine dish.

I served this with Israeli couscous and honey-glazed carrots roasted with Moroccan spices. But you can get creative — we have a fantastic Tunisian couscous from Mahjoub in the shop, which you can prep with almonds and herbs to match the flavors of this dish. Or just grab one of our Rose Street Patisserie baguettes and dig right in!

From France 44:

·      1 lb. ground lamb

·      1 jar New York Shuk matbucha with olives and mint

From your pantry:

·      8 oz. can tomato sauce

·      ½ a yellow onion, minced

·      2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

·      1 tbsp finely chopped mint

·      1 tsp sweet (hungarian) paprika

·      1 tsp cumin

·      ½ tsp cinnamon

·      ½ tsp coriander

·      ½ garlic powder

·      Olive oil

·      Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions: 

1.     Start the tomato sauce. In a wide saucepan over medium heat, pour in the jar of matbucha. We’re cooking it down a little to concentrate the flavors. Stir occasionally. Meanwhile...

2.     Make the meatballs. In a large bowl, combine the lamb, onion, parsley, mint, and spices. Mix with your hand or a spatula just to blend, but do not overwork the meat or your meatballs will be tougher.

3.     Form small, quarter-sized meatballs.

4.     Meanwhile… into the pan with the matbucha, add the can of tomato sauce and stir well to combine. Drop the heat to low, so it sits at a nice simmer.

5.     Sear the meatballs. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, pour in a little olive oil. Drop in the meatballs and briefly sear them. We’re not cooking them through yet — just getting a little texture and flavor. (You can sear them in batches while you’re forming them!)

6.     Poach! Remove the meatballs from the pan and drop them into the tomato sauce to finish cooking. Simmer together for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Verano

by Austin Coe Butler

Cheesemongers sometimes speak of the “Trinity” when helping customers put together an assortment of cheeses. By this we mean selecting one cheese made from cow’s milk, one from goat’s milk, and one from sheep’s milk. While we are busy celebrating the arrival of the seasonal Comté Sagesse (cow’s milk) and Brabander Reserve goat milk gouda, there is a cheese equally worthy of celebration to complete this seasonal Trinity: Verano, the flag-ship cheese from Vermont Shepherd.

            Vermont Shepherd (formerly Major Farm) is located outside of Westminster West, Vermont, not far from the Connecticut River. David Major bought the farm from his parents in the 1990s and started producing, by all accounts, terrible sheep’s milk cheeses. Making sheep’s milk cheeses is not a tradition in the United States for a number of historical, cultural, and culinary reasons. Sheep have never taken hold here as a farm animal the way cows or even goats more recently have. (This lack of tradition is also why Vermont Shepherd, despite being founded in the 90s, is the oldest sheep dairy in the United States.) The Majors decided to apprentice with shepherds and cheesemakers in the French Pyrenees, and it was this formative period that inspired and informed the creation of Verano. Verano, as its name implies, is only made in the summer months when the ewes are lambing and grazing on fresh pasture. This raw sheep’s milk cheese is cooked and then pressed roughly into colander shaped molds (giving it its distinct UFO shape) before being brined for several days. The young wheels of cheese are then transported to the Majors’ own bespoke cheese caves where they will age for three to five months.

            While the United States doesn’t have a strong sheep’s milk tradition, you would never know it from eating Verano; the tomme has that beautiful rustic flavor evocative of ancient sheep’s milk cheese like Pecorino Toscano, Manchego, and Ossau-Iraty. It is well balanced with savory, nutty flavors and a sweetness reminiscent of summer’s red fruit with an aroma of grass and toasted rice, though some wheels can burst with the spice of mint or wild thyme. The texture is dense and surprisingly supple and smooth for a sheep’s milk cheese, which can often be granular. For this alone, Verano could be called one of the best cheeses in the country. Verano is excellent with the pears and apples that are in season at the moment, and maybe a drop of (the staff’s favorite) olivewood balsamic vinegar. It is also an excellent melter and culinary cheese (I used it as a substitute for Berkswell in this recipe from Neal’s Yard Dairy by Anna Tobias for a pea, ham, and Berkswell lasagna that is sure to get you through this cold week.) [link https://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/blogs/news/pea-ham-berkswell-lasagne-by-anna-tobias] This holiday season, when you’re looking for something to close out the Trinity on your holiday cheeseboard, try Verano.

The Pairing: Comte Sagesse

Throughout the course of our weekly pairing series, we’ve studied many different styles of cheese. From pillowy-soft bloomy rind cheeses, to meaty, funky washed rinds, to crystalline, crunchy, cave-aged goudas, and for heaven’s sake, don’t forget the blues; we’ve covered many delicious options. But it’s not always simply the style or type of cheese that makes one unique or sets them apart. In fact, many cheesemakers would argue that successfully aging cheese is more challenging than the actual make of the cheese itself. A talented affineur can take a cheese to a whole new level. For the second week in a row, we revisit a cheese we paired earlier in our pairing series, returning to the caves of Marcel Petite at Fort Saint Antoine, high in the Jura mountains of eastern France, to showcase an extra-special, aged Comté named “Sagesse.” Each year, just before the Holidays, we receive a small shipment of this amazing cheese chosen specifically for its ability to age, like a fine wine. These wheels of Comté are hand-selected by Marcel Petite’s Master Affineur, Claude Querry, for their ability to peak in taste, texture, and aroma at right around 2 years old. Aged at least one year longer than the wheels of Marcel Petite Comté you’ll normally find in our case, the Sagesse is dynamic, and screaming for something yummy to drink along side it. Where its younger sibling tastes of fresh cream and butter, combined with the slightest hint of raw almond and green grass, the older Sagesse delivers a boozy punch of toasted brioche and burnt sugars, kissed with a proper hint of farm. We’ve chosen the 2016 Pinot Noir from Robert Sinskey Vineyards in Napa Valley, California for our wine pairing. Light enough to stand on its own, but with a spine strong enough to hang with a 2 year old cheese, this Pinot is a fantastic partner. Flavors of bright red fruit and cinnamon mingle with aromas of native prairie flowers and oak to successfully make this wine our first choice. The combination of meticulous attention to detail and perfect weather has blessed this vintage with an unfair advantage that fully supports a cheese like the Sagesse, and we’re excited. Supplies are limited, so swing by early and get it while you can!

Stilton

by Joe Kastner

“The King of Cheeses.” I see this phrase thrown around all the time in regards to many different types of cheese. It’s often associated with Parmigiano-Reggiano, Brie de Meaux, Roquefort, or even Farmstead Cheddar. To me though, the “King of Cheeses” (ignoring the patriarchal and antiquated connotations of that phrase) is absolutely Colston Basset Stilton. This is not the Stilton you see at the holidays with dried fruit or other abnormalities shoved inside, this is the top-of-the-line, crumbly, melty, delicious blue cheese from our friends across the pond (that’s England).

Nestled in South-Central UK, just east of Nottingham, the Colston Bassett Dairy operation is surrounded by sprawling farmland where they get the milk for their amazing blue cheeses. The milk is curdled, molded, and salted all by hand by the small team of hard-working cheesemakers. They also mix in the Penicillium Roqueforti at this point, the beautiful little mold that creates that blue growth we all love so much. Once the wheels are formed and placed on shelves to age, the affineurs (cheese-agers) will go around and poke formed cheeses with long needles. This brings oxygen into the inside of the cheese, allowing the mold to breathe and grow, giving the Stilton it’s lovely veining throughout. 

I could eat this cheese all darn day long. Sprinkle a bit on your bacon-and-eggs breakfast sandwich for a little kick, crumble some onto a steak for dinner, eat it with dark chocolate for dessert. This “King of Cheeses” is always a winner and an absolute must for any holiday-season cheese board. Enjoy some today!

The Pairing: Brabander Reserve

This is a crazy time of year to be working in our shops. Business has slowed a bit since the school year began, and we’re finally able to catch our breathes after a busy summer season, but the Holidays are just around the corner, and deliveries to our back door are becoming more frequent and more massive. There is no better time of year to do the work that we do; it’s the time when our customers will depend on us the most, and it feels good to be in a position to deliver. It’s also the time of year that certain exclusive, seasonal cheeses become available to us, and our cheesemongers can’t wait to share them with you. The L’Amuse Brabander Reserve, the elder sibling of Brabander, a goat milk gouda from southern Holland we paired earlier in this series, is one of these special cheeses. And it has just arrived! While Brabander is young, milky and tastes of sweet cream, the Reserve is aged a full year longer, and is reminiscent of caramelized custard and cocoa. Over this extra period of aging, the cheese’s paste becomes a bit more crunchy, yet still melts easily on the tongue, and flavors develop in waves. For this week’s wine selection, we’ve chosen a highly celebrated Reserve Rioja from Remelluri Winery in the Basque region of northern Spain, a little over an hour drive from Bilbao, and the Bay of Biscay. Known as the first single estate Rioja vineyard in Spain, Remelluri has gained a reputation for producing fantastic Riojas that showcase distinct terroir and improve with age. With stern tannins and notes of deep red fruit, leather, and a hint of smoke, this wine is bold and beautiful and not only complements the cheese’s character, but unearths new layers of flavor within. Swing by the shop this weekend, and make time for a special occasion.

Ask A Butcher: Spatchcocked Chicken

What is a spatchcocked chicken and why do people love them? 

A spatchcocked chicken, sometimes called a butterflied chicken, is a whole chicken from which you remove two bones: the spine and the keel bone. Doing so allows the bird to lay flat for cooking, both decreasing the time it takes to cook and increasing the ways to cook it. 

Spatchcocking a chicken dramatically decreases the cooking time, regardless of the method. The time it takes to roast a whole chicken in the oven is cut in half, from around an hour and a half to a measly 45 minutes. Because they can lay evenly on a flat surface, spatchcocked chickens are also perfect for grilling. This also exposes more skin to the heat, rendering even more of it crispy and delicious. If you want your chicken to be fall-off the bone tender, you can even grab your biggest, deepest pan and braise the chicken on the stove or in the oven. That is, after searing the skin, of course. 

Breaking down a cooked spatchcocked chicken is incredibly easy. Because many of the connecting bones are now gone, you can simply pull at the base of the thighs to separate the thighs and breasts. The breasts should require nothing more than a cut between them, providing easy portioning for a full meal. 

Spatchcocking a chicken at home is surprisingly simple, too. To remove the spine, you stand the chicken on its head, running a sharp knife down both sides of the spine, all the way to the neck. If you don't feel comfortable using a knife, a pair of kitchen scissors works as well. Once you have the whole spine removed, you flip the chicken over and press down on the back of both the chicken breasts. This should expose the keel bone, located between the two breasts. It's very easy to remove with your hands, and with that, the chicken will lay flat on a surface. If you want to see an example, or have any more questions, please ask us at the meat counter! We love your questions, and were always happy to spatchcock the chicken for you, too! 

The Pairing: Rush Creek Reserve

by Sophia Stern

The air is cold, the days are shorter, the trees are full of beautifully colored leaves, and Rush Creek Reserve has arrived at the France 44 cheese counter. Beloved and sure to sell out, Rush Creek is the holiday cheese that should be on all of our lists. We’ve paired our most anticipated cheese of the year with a beautiful Franciacorta from Lombardy, a perfect bubbly for the holiday season. 

There is no better cheese than Rush Creek to launch the first of our Holiday Pairings for 2021. A special project by the makers of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Uplands Cheese’s Rush Creek is only available from late October until the end of the year. The annual creation of Rush Creek marks the beginning of fall, as the cheese is made just as the cows switch from grazing on summer pasture to cured hay, resulting in richer, fattier milk. Inspired by the traditions of Vacherin Mont D'Or, Rush Creek is a creamy, decadent cheese wrapped in spruce bark. The bark imparts a gentle woody flavor into the cheese, cutting through the other notes of butter, hay, and cream. Rush Creek Reserve is a thing of beauty and unlike most other cheeses you’ll find in our case.

Uplands Cheese recommend you enjoy Rush Creek with sparkling wine, and who are we to argue. This year, we’ve chosen Ca del Bosco Franciacorta 'Cuvee Prestige' for its gentle, clean sparkle and notes of strawberry and grass. Ca’ del Bosco sits at the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy and is considered the gold standard. Made with the traditional Champagne method, this wine has fine and creamy bubbles as opposed to the big and frothy bubbles one might find in a Prosecco. While mostly Chardonnay, the Cuvee Prestige is balanced with Pinot Bianco and Pinot Nero and also boasts deeper, richer flavor and texture than other Franciacortas due to its 25 month long contact with the lees. Considered the “Champagne of Italy”, this stunning, highly respected Franciacorta is a dynamic crowd pleasing bubbly. It emphasises the sweet grass notes of Rush Creek and break through the richness without overpowering the nuances of this special cheese. 

We always say it, but this time we are serious: allow Rush Creek to come to room temperature before enjoying. Let it sit on your counter for six hours and slice the top off before eating with a spoon. At just under a pound, Rush Creek should be enjoyed in one sitting and with company. Pick up the first of the Holiday Pairings and invite over a few friends, or make Rush Creek the center of your party table while you serve the best of the best Franciacorta. We’ll be running this pairing until the end of the year, so from fall nights at home to the Thanksgiving table, we have you covered. 

To read more about Rush Creek Reserve, check out our blog post here. 

The Pairing: Manchego

By Sophia Stern 

This weeks pairing highlights a staple of our cheese case, Pasamontes 3-month Manchego. Sheep's milk tends to pair well with a bold red or standout white, but this manchego is subtler than other sheep milk cheeses. At only three months, the texture is just starting to firm up. Bolder wines wash away the melt-in-your-mouth cheese before the tartness and notes of herbs and grass come through. And yet, the Manchego needs a wine strong enough to elevate the rich, buttery milk which comes from the Manchega sheep native to Castilla La Mancha. 

Enter Itxas Harri Roxa Rosé from the village of Monteagudo in the northern Basque region of Navarra. Itxas Harri wines belong to Ignacio Ameztoi and Iñaki Guelbenzu who are longtime friends and winemaking partners. Navarra is known as the garden of Spain, famous for its high quality artichokes and other produce. Roxa, a new wine project for Itxas Harri, has the refreshing, lower alcohol qualities usually associated with costal wines. It drinks saline and mineral. Although the vineyard is not on the coast, the Garnacha vines are planted on an ancient seabed, leading to the oceanic qualities in the fruit. The Garnacha grape is popular throughout Spain, as it tends to thrive in dry, hot climates. However, this wine only has two hours of skin contact with the Garnacha grapes, making it pale and gentle. 

There are long standing rules for wine pairings, white with seafood, red with steak, what grows together goes together and so on. Recent pairing trends have pushed against these rules, rebelling against the ways they blur the nuances of agriculture and the individuality of their products. However, sometimes we circle back to these rules and find that what grows near each other sometimes does go together, and these Spanish products play together wonderfully. Roxa draws out the savory, green flavors of the Pasamontes Manchego. The wine allows the easy-going cheese to show its complexity while brightening up the rich and buttery notes we go back for over and over again. 

To see more about the Pasamontes Manchego, check out our blog post here.

Rush Creek Reserve

by Austin Coe Butler

Like Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Rush Creek Reserve is another old world cheese made in an American context. Having spent a season in the Jura making Vacherin Mont d’Or, Rush Creek Reserve is cheesemaker Andy Hatch’s tribute to that classic cheese. Like Mont d’Or, Rush Creek Reserve is made at the precise moment in the autumn when the cows transition from diverse, fresh pasturage to cured hay and the milk becomes richer and higher in fat. This autumn, hay-fed milk lends itself to an indulgent, rich texture like custard or pudding.

            Once the autumn milk is set with rennet, the curd is cut by hand and then ladled gently into small forms (the autumn’s milk, while richer in fat, is less in volume than the summer’s milk). The forms are then flipped and allowed to drain overnight before being brined in the morning and wrapped in a girdle of boiled spruce bark cambium. This bark not only gives the cheese its structure, but imparts a woodsy flavor that compliments the cured meat flavors found in this cheese. The cheeses are left to ripen in the storeroom and, after the sixty day maturation minimum placed on unpasteurized cheeses in the United States, the cheeses are sent out just in time for the holiday season.

            There is festive air about this cheese beyond its arrival during the holidays, though. As a soft, seasonal cheese, it’s only available from late October to January, and the anticipation that builds among staff and customers to opening a Rush Creek is like opening a present. Andy’s wife, Caitlin, also paints a beautiful watercolor poster that accompanies each year’s batch. This fanfare and celebration is a fitting end to the grueling cheesemaking season when Andy and his staff are often working seventeen hours a day making not only Rush Creek Reserve but the last batches of Pleasant Ridge as well. The cows go dry, the days grow short, and the meditative practice of washing and tending to the wheels of Pleasant Ridge for the next season begins. By the cheese’s nature, it is meant to be shared. Once opened, it should be consumed, and its size is a bit too large and rich for someone to solo, though a few of the cheesemonger’s at France 44 try to each year.

            Like all cheese, Rush Creek Reserve is best at room temperature. Let it temp up over the course of five or six hours, or bring it up in a warm oven by removing the paper and wrapping the cheese in foil or placing it in a ceramic crock. (Uplands Cheese offers an oven crock made by Wilson Creek Pottery explicitly for this purpose.) Once the cheese is up to temp, slice the top rind off and serve it with a spoon. While this cheese is made with delicacy, there’s no need to be precious with it; it’s excellent dolloped on roasted meat and vegetables, and each winter Andy freezes a few Rush Creeks and takes them to the local pub where they deep fry them.

            Customers often talk about how this is the perfect cheese for the holidays when friends and family are around, and we couldn’t agree more. With small gatherings becoming more viable for people and this holiday season likely to be the first time many of us have celebrated our respective holidays or seen their family members in a long time, this gorgeous cheese is the perfect holiday centerpiece to serve and enjoy with your loved ones.

            Please note that this cheese is so highly anticipated that you won’t be able to take one straight from our case just yet! If you’d like one as soon as possible, you can preorder them online to ensure pick up staring October 29th.

 (Rush Creek Reserve 2021 print painted by Caitlin Hatch)