Cleansing the Palate

Timeless beauty

What would any of the 12 days of Christmas be without a cheese tray? Well…nothing in my house. I live for cheese at any time of the year but it's this season that I allow myself to be excessive. Cheese is traditionally served at the end of meals in many European countries and I am happy to carry on a heritage tradition of serving a cheese plate with a bit of savoury nibbles on the side. It is lovely on the tongue after a heavy meal or a strongly flavoured one in place of a sweet and filling dessert. After a lighter fare a cheese tray can be a course all its own and should be served with a more substantial accompaniment such as hearty breads and compotes or a charcuterie board.  It's just a shame the cheeses I love are so expensive that this has to be a special occasion tradition.

Along with the cheeses shown below I served a Le Sauciflard sausage with a Parmesan rind, a Mennonite Summer Sausage, Spanish Olives of differing types such as cracked and spiced small and Jumbo plain. I managed to find dilled pickles the size of my little finger as sweet pickles such as gherkins aren't popular around here. 

To go with the 'cheese ball' I made, I served Kashi fire-roasted vegetable crackers and Pita crisps with Sea Salt. Absolutely delicious ! I mention the cheese ball with quotes as it isn't truly a cheese ball - more of a thick spreadable dip wrapped with phyllo dough. I originally thought of this as individual appetizers made from Goat's milk but a dearth of the necessary time demanded a change in the plan. This is what I came up with.

To make this again as a whole offering, I would make a bowl out of the phyllo rather than treat it like a galette with a top, like I did here. That way guests can scoop out a spoonful at a time onto their plate without wrestling with temperamental phyllo dough that tends to become shards of confetti when baked. 

Since the filling is the most important part of the dish, I am including the recipe here even though the presentation was a last minute compromise that probably won't make it to my kitchen journal as is.

A sampling of what was served: Top left to bottom right:
Kaltback Gruyère (Switzerland); Swiss Babybel; Snowdonia Smoked Cheddar (Wales); Kerrygold aged cheddar (Ireland);
 Saint Agur Blue Cheese (France); Snowdonia Cheddar (Wales): Cheddar Babybel

Left: The Smoked Cheddar is a grainy, crumbling cheese with a mildly pungent flavour holding a light smokiness.
Right: The aged cheddar in the black wax is simply lovely. Although a firm cheese, as soon as it hits that
sweet spot between the tongue and the upper palate, it turns into a slightly sweet creamy paste that is divine.

Left: The fabulously wonderful Kerrygold along with a Double Gloucester, a Wensleydale or a Red Leicester will be
my favourite go-to cheeses from across the pond.
Right: I do love Stilton and a mild Irish or Danish blue but I can't say this Saint Agur is a favourite. I found the mustiness to be too overpowering for me. I'd rather have a bit more tartness and a little less damp basement.

Oh yeah!! I love me a good gruyere and this one doesn't disappoint. Firm, slightly granular but with the teeniest of
grains, pungent without curling the toes and a milky paste made in that sweet spot all lead to an enjoyable mouth
feel and taste.

How I served this : wedge of galette onto plate with crackers and spread knife

Cheese, Pepper and Artichoke Spread/Dip

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

130g Pickled Peppedaw Peppers from South Africa

175g Pickled Artichoke Hearts

Salt and pepper

butter, melted

phyllo dough, half a pkg

In processor, add softened cheese, peppers, artichokes, salt, pepper and whiz until blended. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake.

Remove half of the phyllo sheets and return rest to plastic wrap to stop from drying out. Working quickly, lay a sheet at a time onto a baking tray, lathering on melted butter onto each sheet. Place cheese ball in centre of sheets and fold up one corner. Brush melted butter onto fold and repeat on the other three corners, brushing on more butter as you go.

Bake in 375 degree oven for approx 20 minutes or until golden brown all over. If top is browning too quickly, cover the top loosely with foil, removing near the end of cooking time to continue browning.

Can be reheated in the oven - just cover any cut parts with foil or parchment paper to stop the exposed parts from drying out as it reheats. (If you are following my suggestion of a phyllo bowl, cover the entire top when reheating.)

Lovely Chenin Blanc from South Africa is a wonderful wine for both the cheese platter
and the rabbit dish I served for Christmas dinner.

all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2015

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Beorc - Berkana

And so we begin again…

The Nordic Rune Beorc (also known as Berkana) represents the birch, a symbol of rebirth/renewal and is associated with spirituality

Welcome to the relaunch of my blog - yes, I did what I swore I wouldn't do, I became an absentee blogger for a year. Stopping went against the plan and indeed knowledge of my distraction from the blog lurked in the back of my mind like a guilty secret for most of the year. But I was riding the ADD rail and you don't usually get a choice of destination, you just hang on and hope to arrive intact. 

There has been a name change, a few template changes even though it does resemble the previous one, and there have been some removals of posts I didn't feel were a part of the original vision for the blog - just evidence of when I veered off course. However, the 'mission statement' and the heart and soul behind it remain unchanged. My statement is shop local, shop small, shop right with a sidebar of pragmatism I call 'just shut up and eat it'. Our attention is so taken up with the minutiae of food nutrition and health information that we lack focus on the truly pertinent details.

I am a firm advocate of small farms and markets, which you will see if you look at my earlier posts - markets that care about the quality of the foods they produce. The food that we obtain from the supermarkets typically contain 30-50% less nutrients than just a few generations ago and chemical usage is up to astronomical percentages. That was true when I first wrote about it and it remains true, sadly.

Most grains we ingest, knowingly and unknowingly, have been tampered with both genetically and in terms of what chemicals they have been exposed to as seed and seedling, all in the name of consistent profit for 'them' and health risks/ depleted genetic diversity for us and the plant kingdom.

Land that used to belong to small farms that could have remained in their and their descendants hands had the government chosen to support small businesses rather than persecute them, is now given over to Factory Food growers who push the land to its limits and beyond. The Powers that Be are handing over prime agro areas to foreign interests that in turn sell us what we could be doing for ourselves, all in the name of pandering to BigBusiness. (google Melanctin Ontario for a prime example of an attempt)

Diversification is slowly but steadily becoming a non-word, a non-issue as small producers of heritage breeds are being dogged and harassed out of business and this will continue until we have a perverse rendition of Noah's Ark occuring... We will have only one kind of chicken, one cow, one pig, one sheep and you will buy them from a BigBusiness grower. All heritage breeds will be lost to time and knowledge. This is not an issue for just farmers but for our own future. Heritage breed growers are the keepers of the past, not just for a euphemistic historical symbol but for the fact that they are not tampered with through scientific manipulation or through heavy chemical exposure. That surely is important enough to alarm everyone at the threat to their existence.

Unification is the goal. That is the plan, the ideal plan for a modern government. Diversification is expensive. Standardization, conformity and consistency is cheap - cheap to regulate, cheap to administer, cheap to enforce. 

If there are no choices, no 'wrong' choice can be made.

By making the choice to shop local and in season, by finding quality small markets for your shopping needs, you not only vote against Factory Food with your wallets, you gain a new perspective and appreciation for your food; gain a foothold to better health for you and your family; gain a greater involvement in your community and you keep the money circulating within your community. On a side note, by shopping local you help diminish the carbon footprint that our food shipping creates on a daily basis.

My goal remains the same - to share some pragmatism and hard won wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is power. We should be and feel empowered, especially when it comes to our food sources.

 I wish to share my love of food, love of cooking and my love for learning. I admire those that live close to the land and live a life that is hard but rewarding in the sense of freedom that subsistent living can engender. In an ideal world, I would still be living a part of the life I had during my childhood. 

I would be growing my own food for my family, shopping at a neighbours for a side of beef and picking up what vegetables I didn't grow myself from a farmers market at the weekend. My bread would be hand made and filling the house with the yeasty smells of yesterday and made with unbleached locally milled flour. I would have a dairy room where I would make fresh and aged cheeses and a cold cellar where I would store my surplus foods for the winter. My canned and preserved goods would line the walls of the cellar, on their shelves, bright like jewels; standing like ceremonial and decorated soldiers. 

There are those that can live that life and I do so envy them for their determination, their drive, their ideals and their challenges. However, we all can't live that life, not unless necessity drives us there. Does that mean we can't live a better life than the one we are 'meant' to have in today's society? According to media we are supposed to shop Big, eat Big, drive Big and live Big or we are not patriotic, we don't support our countries. It is a load of codswallop but we are force-fed it nonetheless. The screaming fanatics from both sides of the issue would have you believe in an all or nothing campaign but I believe that we can live better in terms of our health and lifestyle choices that can blend with our budgets, time constraints and general level of interest. I don't believe in all or nothings, just win-wins. 

I want to show everyone that it is possible to be earth-friendly, wallet-friendly, and health-friendly while still living a modern lifestyle of your choice. I want to show you that food is our friend, our lifelong companion, our drug of choice, our survival kit, or arsenal if you will, for a long and enjoyable life.

Thank you for joining me :) You will notice changes occurring over the next few days/weeks as I find my footing again and begin walking in the direction that holds my destination. Thank you for coming along.

Be safe. Be happy. Be well.

Click below to read the recipes I just posted or move to the right to the Pages tab and click on the Home button to see all posts.
Meyer Lemon Chicken
The Hen Party
all photographs and text ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2014

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Fallen

Just had to post this as it is rather sad to see...


Maybe I romanticize the lifestyle, but how do you go from this...

to this...

taken surreptitiously, with iPad, at Burger King

I realize that these younger ones might be from a different group than our local Mennonites--I'm woefully ignorant about them--but I do know that this is not a part of their chosen life...

Pernicious, insidious, Id-enticing poison that is fast food...


Tomorrow, Part Three of History of Cheese making, where we learn how to serve and eat cheese with wine and beer, where to buy Ontario Artisan cheese and the results of a mini taste test.

Have a tasty day!

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