France 44 Farm Visits: Redhead Creamery & Shepherd’s Way Farm

by Joe Kastner

Last week, a group of our mongers from the Minneapolis shop got the chance to go visit a couple local creameries and see first-hand where some of our cheeses come from. We got to go visit Redhead Creamery out west in Brooten, and Shepherd’s Way in Nerstrand, which is just down by Northfield. Seeing these family farms, hearing their stories and why they make cheese, this is what our cheese counter is all about: connecting with our neighbors through food and celebrating the talented makers of cheese near and far. 

Redhead Creamery has been making cheese for 10 years now, but this year in particular is bound to be a big one for them. We were greeted by cheesemaker Alise Sjostrom with a bowl of squeaky fresh cheese curds made earlier that morning, who then proceeded to give us a tour of all the new goings-on at the farm. Just within the last month or so, they’ve added some awesome automation for the farming side of things, including an automated milking machine, where the cows milk themselves! This will give Alise and the team even more time for cheesemaking and playing with recipes, as well as their other big project, a new distillery! The Redhead team plans on using the whey from cheesemaking to distill into spirits, and then serve those spirits at their all-new dine-in expansion, which we got to see the development of! We’re all very excited for these next steps at Redhead and can’t wait to see what’s next for them!

The very next day another group got to travel down past Northfield to see Jodi Olsen Read at Shepherd’s Way Farms. Despite some issues with their water well that had just come up the night before, Jodi very graciously hosted us, showed us around the farm, and served us a delicious assortment of sheep’s cheeses, some of which you can find at our cheese counter! We got to tour the milking and make facilities, and even got to see the cavernous upper level of the barn that had just been used for a family wedding reception. Jodi has been making cheese for about 25 years now, and has really honed her craft with the different varieties of cheese Shepherd’s Way puts out. You can also find them at many farmer’s markets around the city, where they also sell their sheep’s milk by the bottle, which is a real treat. We love selling Shepherd’s Way cheeses and hope you’ll try one next time you’re in the shop!

ACS Winner: Sequatchie Cove Creamery

By Austin Coe Butler

Last, but not least, in our six-week series celebrating American Cheese Society Award Winners is Sequatchie Cove Creamery! Sequatchie Cove Creamery won in the following categories:

Cumberland – 1st Place – American Made/International Style made from cow’s milk

Cumberland – 2nd Place – Best in Show

Coppinger – 3rd Place – Washed Rind Cheeses made from cow’s milk

Having been raised in the South, I can’t help but rejoice at seeing a Tennessee-based creamery coming in 2nd for Best in Show. In fact, of the six different creameries we’ve featured so far, Sequatchie Cove had the biggest wins of the bunch. And while this may be the first time some of you have heard of Sequatchie Cove, they’ve spent more than a decade working diligently at their craft.

In the late 90s, Nathan and Padgett Arnold met at Crabtree Farm in Chattanooga, Tennessee, an urban farm dedicated to sustainable agriculture and community access to food. The two fell in love and spent several seasons on the farm as their interests in food grew and developed. Nathan eventually went to work for Bill and Miriam Keener on a nearby organic farm just northwest of the city named Sequatchie Cove Farm. In 2004, the Arnolds and Keeners went to Terra Madre, a biennial Slow Food conference in Turin, where their interest in cheesemaking was sparked by French alpine cheeses like Tomme de Savoie and Morbier.

Nathan and Padgett moved quickly. By 2010, after years of travel, tutelage, and licensing, they bought the farm from the Keeners and converted it into the creamery it is today, and by 2012 they had their first category award from ACS for Dancing Fern. The last three years have been astonishing in growth for Sequatchie Cove. Nathan and Padgett went from hard-scrabble cheese makers trying to balance labor shortages, milk access, cheese sales, and the pandemic, to requiring months-out preorders for their cheeses. Last year saw the massive renovation of the creamery to better meet demand.

Sequatchie Cove has made many cheeses over the years, but they’ve settled into a rhythm with the following four. Cumberland is inspired by Tomme de Savoie, and just like that humble cheese, it is the ultimate snacker and a workhorse in the kitchen. Beneath its suede-like rind is a springy paste with straightforward and tangy flavors that make Tomme style cheeses so craveable. Coppinger, a Morbier inspired cheese with its decorative ash line and washed rind, has the fruity, yeasty flavors of a Saison with a deeply satisfying fudgey texture that will fill your head with intrusive thoughts that you should take a bite directly out of the wedge. (Go on, do it.) 

Sequatchie Cove also makes the delectable, boozy Shakerag blue that is wrapped in fig leaves and soaked in Chattanooga whiskey. Padgett, the resident horticulturalist, goes out into the Tennessee woods to gather fig leaves that she trims, cooks, stacks, and macerates in whiskey before they are intricately wrapped around the cheese. The result is a blue that is crumbly yet creamy, bold and boozy, with a sweetness reminiscent of sugar cured bacon, root beer, or sasperilluh’ (sarsaparilla), and may even rival Rogue River Blue.

Lastly, Sequatchie Cove also makes a Reblochon-inspired cheese named Walden, a smaller format of their now discontinued cheese, Dancing Fern, which put them on the map. With its delicate flavors of walnuts, button mushrooms, and cultured butter, and a pudgy, mochi-like spring that made it go viral when we posted a video on our Instagram.

We’ll be promoting Sequatchie Cove Creamery cheeses all weekend long, so stop by the shop to pick up a wedge or two of some incredible cheese for 15% off and savor the calm, cool days of autumn.

Cook Like a Monger: Oxtail Ragù

by Matt Gruber

One of the greatest joys of working behind the counter at any of our locations is talking about food and recipes with customers. Oftentimes, sharing and exploring new corners and regions of dishes I never would have thought to explore or combine.

One afternoon a customer proposed the question “Is oxtail the right cut for my ragù?” Stumped for a moment, I admittedly had no idea. So, the conversation evolved and I found myself bringing home an oxtail to put it to the test. I love oxtail as much as the next person but had never worked with it at home. A bit unsure I grabbed some ground pork just to be safe. After doing a bit of research I had no idea I was walking into a classic Roman style Ragu - coda all vaccinara. Ragu in the style of the butcher. It was meant to be. Caught up in an 18th century dish I never knew I needed in my life.

The sheer velvetiness of the sauce caught me off guard. The oxtail is traditionally served on the bone, so I wanted to try that for my first experience with the recipe. It can be a little awkward though, so I would recommend shredding the meat. This ended up being one of the best meals I’ve created in a long time.

Ingredients:

1 QT Beef Stock

1 Package Spinosi Pappardelle

1 Oxtail

⅓ # ground pork

1 Medium onion, diced

2-3 Stock of celery, sliced into half moons

4 Cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

Fresh basil to taste, I put a few leaves in the sauce while reducing 

1 Jars LC (La caterdral de navarra) 

2 Jars Bionatura Strained Tomatoes 

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 block Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano

Steps:

1. In a large dutch oven, brown ground pork and oxtail ~3-5 minutes a side over medium heat

2. Add garlic, onion, celery and half of the beef stock and bring to a boil

3. Add the 3 jars of tomatoes with the rest of the beef stock and simmer

4. Continue to reduce until you have a thick sauce, approximately 4-5 hours occasionally scraping the fond off the sides.

5. Bring 5L of water to a boil, then cook the pappardelle for 3-6 minutes or until al dente

6. Shred meat off of the oxtail bone and return to sauce.

7. Assemble a bowl and garnish with fresh basil leaves and grated Parm. And there you have it, a simple yet outstanding ragù. 

Cook, serve, delicious

Tomato Feta Galette

by Sean Lawrence

The humble galette, the short rustic pie that it is, excels as a format for showing off simple yet delightful ingredient combinations. In this case: the beautifully sweet and ripe tomatoes at the very end of the season, salty and tangy feta, and herbs fresh from the garden (I used mint and parsley, but also recommend: basil, tarragon, chives or thyme)

Dough

1 cup AP flour

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 black pepper

1-2 tbsp ice water

Filling

4 oz Essex St. Lesbos feta

2 medium tomatoes

2-3 tbsp fresh herbs

Kosher salt

Olive oil

Combine flour, salt, and pepper. Blend in cold butter with a pastry blender or sturdy fork, or by pulsing in a food processor. Add water in small increments until it forms a loose crumbly dough. Form into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour.

While waiting for the dough to chill, cut tomatoes to 1/4 inch slices. Lightly salt both sides and place on towels to drain. Crumble or dice feta. Chop herbs and reserve about a tablespoon for garnish.

Preheat oven to 425. Roll out chilled dough to a 12 inch circle. Trim the edges into a clean edge if desired, or leave the uneven edges for a more rustic feel. Transfer dough to a baking sheet. Arrange feta on the dough, leaving 1.5 inches along the perimeter to later fold over. Next layer herbs, then drained tomato slices, and a drizzle of olive oil. Fold and pleat the outer edge of dough, pinching the corners of each fold to stick them together. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and fragrant. Allow to cool briefly, then slice and serve with herbs and more olive oil.

ACS Winners Pt. 4: Uplands Cheese

by Austin Coe Butler

In our weeks-long celebration of American Cheese Society Award Winners, there isn’t a cheese as near and dear to our hearts, and our customers’, as the next big winner: Uplands Cheese Company’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve. As the most awarded cheese in American, Pleasant Ridge Reserve added three more prestigious awards to its name:

Pleasant Ridge Reserve – 3rd Place – Best in Show

Pleasant Ridge Reserve – 1st Place – Washed Rind Cheeses made from cow’s milk

Pleasant Ridge Reserve – 2nd Place – Farmstead Category Aged 60 days or more less than 39% Moisture made from cow’s milk

Pleasant Ridge Reserve is a special cheese for us. It’s been in our case since the shop opened, and over the years our relationship with cheesemaker Andy Hatch and the team at Uplands has become one of our most cherished. Now, with over fifteen years of friendship, we hand-select the batches of Pleasant Ridge we sell during visits to the dairy. Last year, in an exciting development, we invited Andy to the Events space to invite customers to participate in batch selection as well. Put simply, Pleasant Ridge is great cheese made by great people doing great things for their cows, community, and environment. Whenever an inquisitive customer comes to the cheese counter unsure of where to start eating their way thoughtfully through the multifarious world of cheese, I hand them a wedge of Pleasant Ridge Reserve.

Fans of Uplands’ other cheese, Rush Creek Reserve, might wonder where it is on the list of ACS winners, and the answer is, it isn’t! For good reason. Rush Creek Reserve is a highly seasonal cheese, made during the autumn when the cows transition from fresh pasture to cured hay producing a milk that is less in volume but richer in fat. It arrives in October and is sold out by January, so you won’t ever see it judged by ACS in May, which, frankly, I find refreshing. In an increasingly institutionalized world where we use awards and accolades to justify our tastes, or worse, build our tastes from them, the personal pleasure of food remains a radical tool for conviviality. De gustibus non est disputandum. Pleasant Ridge Reserve doesn’t taste any better with each award it wins. It tastes great in spite of them.

As a beautiful melter and a great snaking cheese that can handle the summer heat, Pleasant Ridge Reserve is the perfect cheese to have a big wedge of this Labor Day weekend. And as an added level of intrigue, those of us who tried the day’s batch that was judged at ACS this year thought the two batches we selected alongside our customers were even better! Come visit the shop the weekend to grab and wedge and taste why it continues to remain America’s most awarded cheese!

ACS Winners Pt. 4: Redhead Creamery

by Austin Coe Butler

Next up in our continuing series on American Cheese Society Award Winners is another Minnesota native, Redhead Creamery! Redhead won in the following categories:

3rd Place – Cheese Curds – Ridiculously Good Cheddar Cheese Curds

Redhead Creamery is based in Brooten, MN, about 120 miles northwest of the the Twin Cities. The creation of the creamery was the fulfillment of Alise Sjostrum’s (resident redhead) childhood dream of becoming a cheesemaker. After completing a 4-H program in Wisconsin, Alise returned to the family farm and announced, at the age of sixteen, that she was going to stay on the family farm and open a creamery. After acquiring a decade of experience working, studying, and traveling from Wisconsin to Vermont, Switzerland to Brazil, Alise and her husband Lucas returned to the family farm and got down to work. They’ve been producing farmstead, artisan cheese since 2013, winning awards along the way. (In addition to cheese, Redhead was also recently given a grant to research and produce an alcoholic beverage from fermented whey!)

We carry quite a few cheeses from Redhead Creamery at the moment. Their Little Lucy Brie is a bright, creamy American Brie that is so adorable (and delicious) it demands to be on every cheeseboard. We also carry their North Fork Munster, a pungent, gooey, washed rind, and their Red Temper Cheddar, which is rubbed down in a chipotle pepper and honey paste and brought home a blue ribbon at last year’s State Fair!

And then there are those aptly named, award winning cheese curds. They’ve got that perfect cheddar sharpness and cheese curd squeak that just them as easy to polish off as a bag of chips. With the State Fair just a few days away, it’s the perfect time to pick up some cheese curds! You can fry them, serve them in poutine, or, if you’ve taken one of our mozzarella classes, you can make cheddared mozzarella!? All Redhead Creamery cheeses are 15% off this weekend, so stop by the cheese counter to try some and see how good ridiculously good cheese tastes!

Rancho Gordo

Austin Coe Butler

While paying eight dollars for a pound of dried beans might be a 300% increase from your supermarket beans, it’s worth it. Hear me out. Dried beans—like canned tomatoes, vinegar, and rice—are a pantry staple worth splurging on. Quality dried heirloom beans have more flavor, better texture, and cook more consistently than those supermarket beans that have been gathering dust for years. And when it comes to dried heirloom beans, there’s one name beloved by celebrity chefs and humble home cooks alike: Rancho Gordo.

Rancho Gordo exploded in popularity at the start of the pandemic. Membership to their Bean Club skyrocket to a waitlist of 40,000 people that takes two to three years to get into. These are dried beans we’re talking about. But cooks in the know have sought out Rancho Gordo beans for years.

Rancho Gordo was founded by Steve Sando in 2001 after a career burnout. With no agricultural background, he took to growing heirloom tomatoes (his first love), but soon switched to growing beans in his Napa fields and became enamored with the genetic diversity and flavors of heirloom beans. Rancho Gordo’s big break came when chef Thomas Keller began serving their beans in his restaurants Per Se and The French Laundry.

Sando did not expect his beans to become the doyennes of fine dining. He had sold the beans as a health food that did a social good. The early aughts were a time when traditional European foods were being discovered and celebrated in America while the traditional foods of the Americas were being lost. Less than favorable trading conditions for our neighbors across the southern border encouraged the industrial farming of hybrid varieties of crops for international trade, which led to the extinction of countless heirloom varieties. A big part of Rancho Gordo’s ethos is building connections and preserving genetic diversity and local food traditions like heirloom beans, spices, herbs, chocolate, and even pottery, best exemplified by their Rancho Gordo–Xoxoc Project. Sando discovered that among the health, story, and flavor of his products, flavor mattered most to people.

Like most vegetable cookery, it comes down to treating the ingredient right. Give a little love (read fat and salt) to a humble bean and it transforms into an incredible thing. Here are two simple guides to cooking beans, one according to the Rancho Gordo Manner, the other following the Primary Beans cooking matrix.

We have an incredible variety of Rancho Gordo beans at the moment, all of which are 15% off this weekend. If you get overwhelmed looking at our selection, here’s my advice: buy a few that just look beautiful or sound good to you. They’ll last you well past the winter, and as the cooler days of autumn settle in, the time to cook a big pot of beans on a lazy Sunday will come and those beans will be in your pantry just waiting to make your day.

Royal Corona Bean – A gargantuan white bean that demands to be the star of a dish. With a thick skin and creamy interior, they’re perfect in a dish like gigantes plaki or pickled.

Santa Maria Pinquinto Beans – These beans are the secret of California’s Central Coast cooking. In culinary establishments like The Hitching Post II, you’ll find Santa Maria tri-tip grilled over oak served with a side of Pinquinto beans. Treat them like a Pinto bean.

Santanero Negro Delgado – These small, glittering black beans from Oaxaca are packed with flavor and create a broth so rich and flavorful they are known as Siete Caldos, Seven Broths. Part of Rancho Gordo’s Xoxoc Project.

Marcella – When Steve Sando asked Marcella Hazan what bean she missed most about Italy she replied that it was the humble Sorana, a variety of cannellini bean. Sando grew and named this bean in her honor. This delicate, vanishingly thin skinned white bean is perfect in soups, casseroles, or dips.

Flageolet – These jade green beans are white beans that are harvested prematurely giving them the uncanny flavor of fresh green beans, even in the dead of winter. Flageolet are a celebrated pairing with lamb, making them a holiday staple, and their fresh flavor makes them ideal in salads.

Chickpeas – If you’ve only ever had canned chickpeas, get ready for a surprise. Not only do dried chickpeas have superior flavor, their texture is exceptional.

Ceci Neri (Black Garbanzo) – A gorgeous Italian heirloom that is smaller, firmer, and nuttier than your typical chickpea.

Alubia Blanca – These small but mighty white beans are ubiquitous in Spanish cooking. A perfect substitute for Navy beans.

Borlotti Lamon – Borlotti are the most celebrated bean of Italy, and among Borlotti beans those grown in Lamon, near Venice, are hailed as the best. They’re the ideal cranberry bean and perfect in Pasta e Fagioli.

Cassoulet – Also known as Tarbais beans, these are the iconic French beans that have become synonymous with that rib-sticking classic of provincial French cuisine: Cassoulet. But they’re more versatile than just one dish! Try them anywhere you would a white bean or just make a simple pot of them.

Domingo Rojo – The perfect bean for red beans, this bean not only is rich in flavor and has a dense-creamy texture, the bean broth it creates coats every grain of rice in a decadent sauce. Substitute for kidney beans.

French-Style Green Lentils – These quick cooking lentils are the perfect pantry staple. Packed full of nutrition and endlessly versatile, you’re always just fifteen minutes away from a meal with these in your larder.

Mayocoba – A pale yellow Peruvian bean that quite simply makes the best charro beans I’ve ever had. It turns ridiculously creamy while still retaining its shape.

Scarlet Runner – Gorgeous scarlet whorled beans that have a roasted chestnut and beefy flavor. These beans deserve to be the star of any dish.

Yellow Eye – A Northeastern staple traditionally used in Boston Baked Beans, these beans have an almost baked potato like texture and flavor when cooked. Versatile enough to be used in most occasions.

Plus, check out these amazing bean-focused recipes from our mongers & staff!

• Gigantes Plaki

• Mandarinquat Mojo Pork with Rancho Gordo Black Beans

• Pickled Royal Corona Beans

The Pairing: Redhead Creamery Cheese Curds + Modist "The Time is Nigh" Oak Aged Festbier

by Sophia Stern

Why we love the cheese 

There’s a reason these cheese curds are called “ridiculously good”. These flavorful curds are made from fresh milk and carefully crafted by Alise Sjostrom, owner and cheesemaker of Redhead Creamery in Broten, Minnesota. Each curd is hand milled which gives the curds their distinct, pillowy shape and ideally toothsome texture. 

Why we love the beer 

The Time is Nigh by Modist Brewing Co is one of our beer staff’s favorite festbiers! With notes of toasted malts, dried herbs, and baking spices, this crisp beer can handle the dog days of summer and will remind you that Minnesota fall is surely on its way. This brew is made with German Barke Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts, kettle hopped with Bravo and Hallertau Mittelfruh, then finally lagered and aged in Modist’s Oak Foeder for 4 weeks.   

Why we love the pairing 

Cheese curds and beer go together like butter sculptures and cookies in a bucket. Redhead Creamery’s curds have a great, cheddary flavor that goes excellently with the malty, caramelly notes in the festbiers. This is the perfect pairing for snacking at the end of a long day or sharing with friends in the backyard. 

What else you should do with it  

Go to the state fair! If you really want to have fun with it, The Time is Nigh is an excellent beer for beer battering. Throw Redhead Creamery’s curds into the freezer for an hour. Make a mixture of flour, milk, baking soda, salt, 2 eggs and a cup of the festbier. Coat each frozen curd in flour first, then the beer mixture, then fry a few curds at a time in 400-degree oil. Once golden, drain on a paper towel and enjoy with the rest of your festbiers.  

Pomodoro 2.0

by Austin Coe Butler

August means an inundation of tomatoes, a true embarrassment of riches. The feral, skyward sprawl of tomato plants begin to sag and snap under the weight of dozens of jewel-like tomatoes each bearing an incomparable fragrance and sweetness. The gardener vacillates between ecstasy and dismay at this boundless harvest. Here’s a modern take on a classic sauce to help you get through all those tomatoes.

Pasta al Pomodoro is a quintessential Italian dish—simply pasta with a rustic, chunky sauce of tomatoes, garlic, basil, and olive oil. This “2.0” version from EXAU Olive Oil takes one simple cue from modern gastronomy to create a phenomenal dish. By blending the sauce and utilizing the natural pectic in tomatoes, a rich emulsion is formed, creating a silky sauce that is the very flavor of summer.

This recipe is the time to show off simple ingredients of exquisite quality, and you can find them all with the exception of the basil in our shop. We have gorgeous, ruby-like cherry tomatoes and heads of fresh garlic. Our impressive array of olive oils are right alongside them, and an honest wedge of Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano is waiting for you in the cheese case.

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1-2 garlic cloves smashed

1 peperoncino or small red chili pepper (fresh or dried) (We sell garlands of dried Calabrian peperoncini)

5 leaves of basil

1 lb cherry tomatoes, the sweeter the better

1 lb pasta, preferably a long noodle like spaghetti or Makaira Chittara

4 tbsp Georgio Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

1. Bring a large pot of abundantly salted water to a boil. 

2. Quarter the cherry tomatoes.

3. In a small sauce pot, add the garlic and peperoncino. Cover with the olive oil and set it on low heat. If using dried peperoncino, add it with the tomatoes to insure it doesn’t burn. Cook until the garlic turns fragrant and golden, usually 2 to 3 minutes.

4. Add the cherry tomatoes to the pot and raise the heat to medium. Stir and cover. Cook for 18 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

5. Add the basil and a pinch of salt. Cook for another 2 minutes. Cut the heat.

6. In a blender or using an immersion blender, puree the sauce into a velvety consistency, think Campell’s tomato soup.

7. Cook the pasta 2 to 3 minutes shy of the manufacturer’s recommendation for al dente.

8. Add the sauce to a large pan over low heat. Transfer the pasta to the pan with the sauce along with a ladle of the starchy pasta water. Raise the heat to medium-high and toss the pasta continuously.

9. Remove from the heat and add the Parmigiano Reggiano. Stir to combine and serve immediately, finishing with a thread of extra virgin olive oil.

ACS Winners Pt. 3: Shepherd’s Way

by Austin Coe Butler

Continuing our series on American Cheese Society Award Winners, this week we’re featuring another Minnesota winner—Shepherd’s Way Farm in Nerstrand! Shepherd’s Way won in the following categories:

Burr Oak – 3rd Place – Sheep’s Milk Cheese Aged Over 60 Days

Sogn – 3rd Place – Farmstead Category Sheep’s Milk Cheese Aged Over 60 Days

What more needs to be written about Shepherd’s Way Farm? I maintain that Jodi is the nicest person working in cheese, which is saying a lot, and that Shepherd’s Way is producing some of the best cheese in the state. 

Their ACS winning cheeses are no exception. Burr Oak an extra-firm, extra-nutty aged cheese is a special release and isn’t currently available, but Sogn Tomme (pronounced SOHN) has become a year-round counter staple for us. It’s bright, mineral tang makes it the perfect companion whether you’re enjoying the summer sun or burrowed away in the bleak, midwinter. Sogn is one of Shepherd’s Way’s newest cheeses, and last year at ACS it actually won 1st place in its category!

We have a lovely selection of Shepherd’s Way cheeses in our case at the moment from their creamy brie-like Hidden Falls and tangy Big Woods Blue to Sogn Tomme and a few flavors of Shepherd’s Hope, their divine, fresh sheep’s milk cheese that is somewhere between feta and mozzarella in taste and consistency. To me, Shepherd’s Way Farm’s cheeses all scream refreshing, something we’ll need this broiling weekend. Swing by the shop this week to try some more award winning cheese made right here in Minnesota (and enjoy the AC)!