Place all ingredients with half of the crumbled blue in a mixing bowl or use your mixer if you would like it ultra-smooth. Whisk vigorously or pulse in mixer until blended. Add in the remaining crumbles for the chunky factor; salt & pepper to taste. Want it more savory with a hint of heat? Double dash with Piri Piri for that extra kick.
Steam the frozen spinach and thoroughly drain the liquid. Place the spinach in a fine mesh strainer and press all of the liquid out of it. Chop the drained spinach on a cutting board.
Place the chopped spinach in a bowl and add all of your other ingredients and stir. Save a little feta to sprinkle on the top as well as the nuts.
Refrigerate in an air tight container, overnight is just fine. When ready to serve, you can mix in more lemon, salt, feta to flavor it, and top with feta and walnuts. Serve with endive, tortilla chips, flatbreads or crusty bread.
Optional: pickled jalapenos (if you like it spicy)
Use a grater or a food processor to shred the cheddar. Pulse the red peppers in the food processor. Add spices and cream cheese and pulse until mixed. Then just add in cheddar and pulse until mixed – go for a textured (not smooth) finish. Serve with celery, apples and bread.
Who isn’t a fan of fondue? On a cold winter night there are few things more comforting than melted cheese, especially when friends and family are gathered around to share in the experience.
And we’ll let you in on a little secret: Fondue is the perfect storm of minimal effort and maximum rewards. A true cornerstone of entertaining for lazy people. It’s so easy that we made three batches in an just under an hour to try out some new recipes, which you’ll find below. What are you waiting for? Get melting!
RECIPE #1 : Basic Fondue
This is the “classic” recipe most people think of when thinking of fondue. Want to add a little flair to your fondue? Substitute 1/4 lb of any cheese below with a more flavorful Alpine style cheese like Scharfe Maxx, Etivaz, or Vacherin Friborgeois.
Take garlic glove and cut in half. Rub the garlic clove halves all over the inside of your fondue pot or thick bottomed pot on your stove.
Add the wine and lemon juice and bring to a simmer.
In a large bowl combine all cheeses and the cornstarch tossing the cheese several times until all cornstarch has evenly coated the cheese.
Add cheese to the liquid in the pot over low heat.
Stir frequently with a wooden spoon. Approximately 7-10 minutes until all cheese has been fully melted and your fondue has a smooth consistency.
Add nutmeg. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve it up! Keep over low flame to keep fondue melted.
Accompaniments of apples, ham, crusty bread, and cornichons will complete your meal.
RECIPE #2: Steve’s Fondue
A funky twist on a classic. The combination of Etivaz, nutmeg and Piri Piri makes this fondue especially rich, flavorful and nuanced in a way that will make people say, “Do I detect a hint of…?” Yes. Yes you do.
Follow method for basic fondue. Add Piri Piri at the end, seasoning to taste.
Serve with accompaniments of your choice. We like it with roasted Brussels sprouts and potatoes, chorizo, tasso ham, and crusty bread.
Recipe #3: Matt’s Fondue
If you’re ready to take your fondue to the next level, also known as “The Maxx,” this is the ‘due for you. Bold flavor, silky smooth texture and unmistakable nuttiness.
Here at Murray’s we have been raving about Roquefort all month long. Can you blame us? Roquefort is classic, tasty and versatile, perfect for this time of year when lots of people are entertaining.
After we nearly had to say au revoir forever we renewed our love for this French beauty and never looked back. Let’s just say we hope it’s standing nearby when the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve.
And to improve the odds of that happening, here are 5 tasty ways to enjoy one of our favorite cheeses. Bon appetit!
1. Fresh endive leaves topped with crumbled Roquefort, candied nuts and a dried cherry or cranberry. Sweet. Salty. Crunchy. Awesome.
2. Spread some Roquefort on a fig and wrap it in prosciutto. OH YEAH.
3. Serve a hunk of Roquefort au naturale. With a nice Sauternes on the side. Why mess with a classic?
4. Top your favorite cracker with some Roquefort and drizzle with honey. This sweet treat is the bees knees.
5. Whip it! Roquefort whipped with equal parts butter and cream cheese or sour cream makes an excellent dip. Whip it good! Veggies, chips and all things dip-able will be the perfect companion.
It’s often said that a dish is only as good as its ingredients, and that’s never more true than when you’re making something simple like mac and cheese.
Our newest cheddar, Prairie Breeze, is loaded with flavor, hitting just the right balance of sweet & sharp. It also melts like a dream, which makes it a great choice for cooking. This recipe makes enough to serve a crowd and calls for a hefty helping of cheese – we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ingredients
6 generous slices rustic white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound elbow macaroni (or other pasta shape like Rustichella Trenne)
Method
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place bread pieces in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour butter into the bowl with bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute.
2. Slowly pour hot milk into flour-butter mixture while whisking. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.
3. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, mustard, 3 cups cheddar, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere. Set cheese sauce aside.
4. Cook macaroni following manufacturer’s instructions, but cook 2 to 3 fewer minutes than instructions on box, until outside of pasta is cooked and inside is underdone as it will continue to cook in the oven. Transfer the macaroni to colander and rinse under cold water, making sure to drain well to avoid watery mac and cheese! Stir macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup Gruyere; scatter breadcrumbs over the top. If you like, top with a sprinkle of additional cayenne, black pepper or sweet paprika for an extra kick. Bake until bubbling and browned on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Bon Appetit!
James Stahl is a cheesemonger and may or may not have a thing for the original male cast members of ER. This blog invites you to take a peek at his most recent creation and dares you to try this at home.
Beef-Free Beefish Mushroom Bolognese
For one teenage year I was a vegetarian. This decision was not motivated by ethical or health concerns; I stopped eating meat for approximately three hundred and sixty five days because I wanted to be as cool as my older brother. I’ll give you one guess as to how that worked out for me. But because my father is a compassionate man, he developed a vegetarian red sauce that tasted like it had meat in it for me and my brother to eat. Desperate for anything that tasted vaguely beefish (and no, fake beef doesn’t taste even remotely beefish), I consistently finished my first, second, third fourteenth plate whenever he made it.
Since that year, I have been a meat-eater again but my girlfriend is a vegetarian so I’ve been looking into more veggie recipes so we can eat together. You might think a Vegetarian Dating a meat eater would only end in disaster but we’ve managed to make it work and me cooking more veggie dishes has certainly helped! Plus, I even loved that sauce after I stopped being a bad vegetarian (Cheetos don’t have meat in them, right?). Now I’m sure my dad has the recipe floating around somewhere, but I decided that I’d rather try to recreate it myself and see what happens. The results are below.
The Recipe
1 pound cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
1 28 oz can peeled tomatoes, diced and sauce saved
1 large white onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup vegetarian broth
2 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano , for topping
salt and pepper to taste
In a large pan, heat 1/4 cup olive oil to smoking. Drop garlic into olive oil and cook until browned, only about 90 seconds. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for about 6 minutes.
Add tomatoes and sauce, paste, broth, vinegar, oregano, basil and cayenne into pot and stir until thoroughly mixed. Salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Spoon over cooked pasta of your choice, garnish with Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve.
mmmm… beefish….
What Went Well
Quote The Girlfriend: “If you make this again and change the recipe I’ll break up with you, kick you out of the apartment and keep both cats. Yes, even the one you’ve had since you’ve been twelve.”
So yeah, I think she liked it.
Broth. Again, a good broth comes through and balances out a dish. This time it added a real depth and heartiness that, in tandem with the mushrooms, provided the meaty flavor that I was looking for.
What Went Less Well
Wait, did you say DRIED basil? Unfortunately, I did and I apologize to every Italian mother in the city, but the local grocery store was not carrying fresh basil and I had to make do with dried. While I don’t think the sauce was ruined or anything, the pop of fresh basil would only have helped.
Olives. In retrospect, I think adding a 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of chopped kalamata olives* would’ve really helped the dish. I have no rational explanation as to why I feel that way, but I do. (Girlfriend politely disagrees.)
The Verdict
It was really good and really easy to make. I stopped using jarred tomato sauce a long time ago and haven’t looked back. I’ll definitely make this again.
Best Song Played by Internet Radio While Cooking
November Rain by Guns ‘N Roses. The live 12 minute version that starts off with a completely superfluous 3 minute Axl Rose piano solo that has no real connection to the actual song other than to prove that Axl Rose can, in fact, play the piano.
Embarrassing That’s What She Said
The girlfriend and I are watching the Falling Skies premier and it’s pretty good. It’s basically the Revolutionary War with aliens taking the place of the British. Lest you forget that Steven Spielberg produces the show, at the end of the first episode they celebrate a little kid’s birthday despite the fact that two thirds of the human race has been wiped out. I direct an eye-roll towards the girlfriend only to find that she’s tearing up. She notices my look and blurts out, “I know! I’m easily manipulated!”
Embarrassing That’s What I Said
The girlfriend: You and my best friend, Vicki, share a lot of the same celebrity crushes.
Me: Noah Wylie (main star of Falling Skies) and who else?
The girlfriend: George Clooney.
Me: [shockingly defensive] What’s not to like about George Clooney?
