Murray's Cheese Blog

July 7, 2011September 26, 2012

James Is Not A Chef: Spicy BBQ Shrimp Quesadillas

James Stahl is a cheesemonger, a melt-master and an all-around crazy dude in the kitchen. This blog invites you to take a peek at his most recent creations and dares you to try this at home.

Important Disclaimer: While I assume that this will be readily apparent, I am not a professional chef. I am simply someone who loves to cook. My desire is to expand my ability to create amazing dishes and, with access to the best quality ingredients in New York City courtesy of Murray’s Cheese (not to mention a pretty sweet discount), I intend to share that experience with you. Okay, that was far too serious. It won’t happen again, pinky swear. On to the food!

Spicy Barbecue Shrimp Quesadillas

Note: The recipe shown is how I executed the dish that is pictured, not necessarily how I conceived of the dish or how I would make it again.

Ingredients:

1 pound uncooked large shrimp, cleaned
3/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/2 cup spicy ketchup
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dark beer
1/2 cup shredded jalapeno jack
1/2 red onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large flour tortillas

In a large skillet under medium-low heat melt 3 tablespoons of the butter. Add garlic, cook until browned. Add onions, sauté until soft and translucent, about 5-6 minutes.

Pour in vinegar, beer and chicken broth, raise heat to a boil. Add ketchup, mustard, cumin and cayenne pepper. Stir until fully mixed. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until reduced by about a quarter.

In a separate pan, heat up olive oil until just before smoking and add shrimp. Sear each side a nice golden brown, just over a minute each side, so pay close attention.

Heat tortillas in a microwave for about 30 seconds, add half of the shrimp on each tortilla, cover with sauce and half of the cheese. Fold tortilla on top of itself.

On a grill pan, over medium high heat, melt a tablespoon of butter, place quesadilla on pan and brown each side, a couple minutes for each side. Cut in half and serve with sour cream.

What Went Well

The Sauce. Hot damn that sauce turned out great. I was aiming for a pulled pork vinegar-style and I think I nailed it. The chicken broth balanced everything out nicely despite the fact that I hadn’t originally planned on using any. The importance of good chicken broth cannot be understated.

Could it have been spicier? I think it was plenty hot for a mixed crowd, but I wouldn’t turn down the option of chopping up a serrano pepper and cooking it with the onions.

The Shrimp. I had tossed around the idea of using a pre-roasted chicken and shredding the breast into the sauce and letting it simmer for a good long time, but shrimp really turned out to be the better option. The chicken would’ve gotten lost in the sauce while the texture of the shrimp really stood out.

What Went Less Well

My Impending Senility. So the plan was to finely chop up some chorizo, fry it crisply and add to the sauce. I bought it. It was in the fridge and everything, but I just flat out forgot about it.

The Tortillas. The large tortillas were rather unwieldy and it was difficult to get an even browning on my fry pan. I would definitely use smaller tortillas next time.

The Definition of “Cleaned” Shrimp. Apparently mine is different than the seafood shop’s. De-veining the shrimp wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had imagined, but it wasn’t particularly fun either.

That’s What She Said

The Girlfriend: “Pretty awesome but perhaps a tad too saucy, the tortillas ended up a bit soggy as a result. But I’d definitely eat that again.”

The Verdict

I definitely give it a thumbs up, but hopefully I’ll remember the chorizo next time. The smokiness and crunch from the crisp chorizo will be a killer addition to the sauce.

Favorite Song Internet Radio Played While Cooking

Dominion/Mother Russia by The Sisters of Mercy. Thank God the internet didn’t really exist back during my high school goth phase. Nobody needs to relive that. Seriously.

July 5, 2011September 26, 2012

Run, Cheese Boy, Run!

By Steve Millard

As the Store Director of our Greenwich Village shop, I get asked lots of questions every day. Questions like ‘Do you have any raw milk cheeses?’ or ‘I am having five people over and need to get 5 cheeses – can you help me?’ The other question I get, not as frequently, is ‘Why are you so thin?’ Fact: I do eat a lot of cheese. But I also work a lot of hours on my feet and if you’re here on a busy Saturday, you’ll see that I’m burning a lot of calories along with my staff.

The truth is that I run. I run a lot. About two years ago, I decided I needed to lose weight and wanted to run a marathon before I turned 41. So I started running, and watching what I ate. I enjoy it so much that I have considered getting a treadmill for the home and often read up on the best models like https://trustedtreadmill.com/proform-carbon-t10-review/. The end result two-plus years later is that I lost 60 pounds, went from a 2XL to a large and saw my waist shrink from a tight 38 to a comfy 34.

I know what you’re thinking – another born-again thin dude who runs all the time. But I promise to stick to what I know: dairy!

While training for what was to be my first marathon (in Honolulu!) three years ago, I suffered a stress fracture when I ran my first 20-miler. Any chance of running in Hawaii vanished. I was in a lot of pain, but I did find that some natural products made a difference and provided a little relief. For example, a friend of mine recommended Elixinol to me. In case you were not aware, Elixinol is a leading producer of high-quality CBD oil products including capsules, liposomes, balms, and CBD drops. There is a lot of research out there that suggests that cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD), the chemical in marijuana, can strengthen bones and help heal fractures, and in my experience, it did make a big difference to my pain and had me looking for other alternative remedies, such as private label softgels and similar natural-based remedies to aid with my pain relief.

That being said, my fracture also taught me something very important. While recovering I had plenty of time to figure out why it had happened. A quick look at my diet revealed a key piece missing. Any guesses? It was dairy! The only dairy I consumed was half-and-half in my coffee. I had cut out cheese, ice cream and yogurt under the guise of my diet and cutting out fat. (The lack of dairy was not the only culprit – I was also over-training and not following the key running mantra of no more than 10% further or faster than what I did in the previous week).

Fast forward two years – I’ve done lots of research on nutrition, using sites like https://thenutritioninsider.com/, and have added lots and lots of dairy to my diet. As a result, I’ve maintained my weight and have become a fairly good ultra marathon distance runner (with a half-marathon, marathon, 50-miler and a 50K under my belt). Not a single day goes by where I don’t eat dairy of some sort. By eliminating dairy I was eliminating calcium and short changing my body of protein and fat.

Here are a couple of things that get me through the day (not including bites of cheese). I’ll be contributing more blog posts in the future, so check back for other tips, whether you’re interested in increasing your exercise regimen or you’re just curious about the diet of a cheesemonger/runner.

Strained Yogurt: My day begins with a strained yogurt every morning. I vary it up: either Fage Total 2%, a Greek style low fat yogurt that packs a whopping 20 grams of protein and 6% GV of fat, topped with Bee Raw Star Thistle honey. I also like Siggi’s Skyr, an Icelandic style yogurt – it’s incredibly tasty and full of protein. These strained yogurts have a lot of the whey removed — leaving a deliciously thick, protein- packed punch that gets me going in the morning.

Mid-Day Snack: We all have that mid-day snack attack when you need to get some life back into your limbs and your brain. In the past, I would turn to something sugary or a cup of coffee, but my new pick lately is a White Cow Dairy Tonic. What the heck is a whey tonic and why is it so good? Part yogurt whey, part yogurt solids, part delicious flavors like star anise or turmeric, these tonics contain lots of protein and are really refreshing. We already love fourth generation dairy farmer Patrick Lango’s amazing yogurts and custards that come in flavors as diverse as Chocolate Malt and Apple Pie, when Patrick mentioned the tonics back in January, little did we know how hooked our staff would get.

The whole Murray’s crew swears that there is restorative goodness in every bottle of Dairy Tonic. They keep us on our feet whether we’re running around the store or running 50 miles in the park.

Murray’s staff aren’t the only ones who think White Cow Tonics are incredible – check out write-ups from The New York Time s, Tasting Table and Serious Eats on these amazingly refreshing drinks. Yogurts and dairy tonics are currently available at our 2 retail locations only.

June 27, 2011September 26, 2012

I Fell In Love With Goat Cheese at Prairie Fruits Farm

… and now you can, too!

By Deena Siegelbaum

prairiefruitsgoats — The goats that stole my hear (Prairie Fruits Farm)

I came to work at Murray’s Cheese because of my love for slow food – and my work at Slow Food. For many years I worked for the sustainable food-loving organization, thrilled at every chance to meet food producers along the way — cheesemakers being no exception. A few years ago, while on a US tour with the organization’s founder Carlo Petrini, I fell in love with goats (and goat cheese) during a visit to Prairie Fruits Farm, the first farmstead cheesemakers in Illinois — whose cheese you’ll now find on our NYC and online cheese counters.

The Petrini entourage drove down to Central Illinois from Chicago on a warm May day. Having been on the road hosted in restaurants and lecture halls for days, a farm day was a welcome stop, and we were about to be hosted by farmers who had been making and selling cheese for less than 2 years. We arrived to meet Leslie Cooperband and Wes Jarrell and their kids – I mean their goats – who were joyfully running and playing on the lawn safely inside of a little fence. Named for the fruits on the property, Prairie Fruits grows apples, peaches, pears and berries in addition to cranking out farmstead cheeses using milk from their goats, and also sheep’s milk from a neighboring farm.

What I remember from that day four years ago: tasting the most exceptional, sweet and creamy chevre; cuddling with goats; touring their small, well-run cheesemaking house; and savoring a farm-fresh meal with the inspired cheesemakers. Leslie and Wes left academia to make cheese and to help build a vibrant food community in Central IL — they were welcoming, knowledgeable, and had the cutest kids on the planet.

Flash forward a few years, and Leslie and Wes have continued expanding their operation. Their cheese is available in fairly limited quantities, so we’ll be selling a variety as we’re able to get ’em. The two all-goat, gooey bloomy rinds are Angel Food and Little Bloom on the Prairie. Angel Food is 3 weeks old with a thin, edible white rind – it’s a ladled curd cheese. A bit stronger, Little Bloom is a cut curd that has ripened for four weeks. Turning to sheep, we’ve got Ewe Bloom, a Camembert-style square cheese that’s pleasantly pungent. Black Sheep is ash-covered and soft-ripened, reminded us of Selles-sur-Cher. Not surprisingly, Prairie Fruits picks are really enjoyable with fresh or dried fruit. Perfect for your summer picnic of a fun way to end your next BBQ!

Murray’s Cheese currently has select Prairie Fruits cheese in limited quantities in our New York City stores and online. Not all styles are available at all times, so check back soon or give us a call if you don’t find what you’re looking for.

June 24, 2011September 26, 2012

What’s in a Name? Pawlet from Consider Bardwell

By Robert S

consider bardwell cows — Photo from Consider Bardwell Farm

Rupert isn’t the only cheese from Consider Bardwell that’s creating buzz around Murray’s. The recent arrival of Pawlet has our mongers going crazy! Named for its hometown in Vermont, Pawlet is a raw Jersey cow’s milk treasure, one of a handful of cheeses made at the farm. Originally founded in 1864 by Consider Stebbins Bardwell, it was the first cheesemaking co-op in the state. Little more than ten years ago, new owners Russell Glover and Angela Miller began to revitalize the traditional farm, spanning 300 acres from Vermont’s Champlain Valley all the way to Washington County, New York. With 100 Oberhasli goats, and using cow’s milk from a neighbor’s herd, their handmade cheeses are all named after local towns and mountains.

So what’s got us so jazzed about Pawlet? Quite simply, I think it’s a perfect cheese to eat right now because it works well for all of my summer eating: sandwiches, snacking and BBQing. This 4^th of July I’m going to shred it over grilled local vegetables from my farmers market. I’ve already paired it with a red ale while snacking, and I know it’ll be amazing with any crisp wine – try a robust Sauvignon Blanc. Creamy, nutty and rich, you’re going to love how Pawlet melts – either over a burger or on a grilled cheese. It’s as versatile as the town of Pawlet itself, which the cheesemakers tell us is home to syrup, timber and slate!

June 13, 2011September 26, 2012

NEW CHEESE ON THE BLOCK: RUPERT!

by Sydney Willcox, head monger at Murray’s Cheese West Village

Everyone is talking about Rupert! Rupert has just arrived at our shop and is causing a lot of excitement behind the counter. Rupert is a raw Jersey cow’s milk cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet, VT and is named after Rupert, Vermont, one of the state’s oldest towns. The aged cheese is formatted in large wheels, around 25 pounds, which sport a super cute whale carved into the top. It’s an alpine style cheese, meaning it’s based on the big guys coming from the Alpine mountains of France and Switzerland like Comte, Gruyere, or Beaufort. This also means you’ll find the same kind of firm but easy-to-melt texture and similar sharp and nutty flavors in Rupert as you do in those classic cheeses. I find an added level of complexity in this cheese- sometimes I can taste strong berry notes, other times I taste buttered toast. Despite the range of flavors this guy tends to be loved by all – nuanced enough for the connoisseur, but never too overwhelming for the more timid cheese lover. The American Cheese Society agrees – they awarded Rupert 3rd place in the 2009 Best In Show category!

As for the best way to enjoy this award-winning cheese, let me count the ways… Rupert is an outstanding snacking cheese, delicious all on its own, but for those looking to take it to the NEXT LEVEL I have more than a few recommendations. Alpine style cheeses make perfect melters; one of my favorite ways to eat Rupert is on a classic grilled cheese. I find the cheese stands out perfectly on its own, sandwiched between two golden brown and completely buttered pieces of sourdough. If you want to get a little wild go ahead and throw on some bacon or Surryano ham – the smokiness perfectly complements the apricot-like sweetness and cuts through the heavy mouthfeel from the fat. When I’m trying to go for a lighter route I use grilled vegetables as my vehicle instead of bread- rupert is perfect for grating over charred asparagus and zucchini: it adds a touch of saltiness and a nice gooey layer over the crispy veggies. If it’s too hot to think about melted cheese, slather on some sweet fruit paste, like membrillo or a tangy plum mostarda.

Rupert’s stand-alone tastiness and versatility makes it one of the best new additions to our cheese case, hands down. Inspired by well-known cheeses, it seems comfortingly familiar, but there’s also something refreshing and unexpected about it – just the sort of thing people look for when they come to Murray’s. It’s the kind of cheese that’s just different and exciting enough to bring out enthusiasm from those who never knew they were cheese lovers. What are you waiting for? Give it a try!