cheese – My Blog

Smashed Raspberry Grilled Cheese

Our challenge of savory seasonal eating continues!

Raspberry season is upon us, and we quickly discovered through our research process that there’s not a whole lot of savory raspberry recipes out there, which we found simultaneously disappointing and alluring. We found plenty of jams, jellies, cookies, pavlovas (Christ, so many pavlovas) and cakes, but no one seemed interested in figuring out how raspberries could make their way out of the realm of dessert.

But if there’s a way to make something savory, we will find it. As usual, the key was cheese.

Grilled cheese sandwiches are essentially a step below pizza ingredient-wise, so they’re near the top of the favorite food list for us. Few things can compare to crisp and thickly sliced rustic bread (Nate makes the best) with melted cheese. However, there is one thing that these sandwiches usually lack to create what is more commonly accepted as a “complete taste” on its own, and that’s acid. That’s why you see grilled cheese and tomato soup paired together all over the place.

So we thought…why not switch up the acid?

Berries and cheese go way back, so we weren’t too scared about them intermingling. Our acidic subject? Fresh raspberries. Our cheese? We eventually decided to go with a blend of chèvre for flavor and Jarlsberg for texture. So we smashed some raspberries we got from Sauvie Island Farms after a lovely day of berry picking onto some of Nate’s homemade 50% whole wheat sourdough bread and got cooking.

The results? Crunchy, fluffy, creamy, gooey, and tart. It was everything we hoped it would be and more. If you have any fruit laying around, especially incredibly fresh fruit, we wholeheartedly recommend you put your thinking cap on and find a cheese that’ll pair well with it, then immediately stuff it in a grilled cheese sandwich. You will not be disappointed. Sometimes it really is the simplest things that taste the best.

Smashed Raspberry Grilled Cheese Sandwich:

Makes 1.

2 thick slices of good rustic bread (whole wheat sourdough was magical with this, but if you wanna try something else, it’ll still turn out awesome)
About 1 tablespoon of butter, room temperature
8–10 ripe raspberries (enough to cover the surface of one piece of bread)
2 ounces of Jarlsberg cheese, grated
1 ounce chèvre, room temperature
A dash of freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, mix the grated Jarlsberg and chèvre together along with the fresh black pepper. Set aside.

Butter both pieces of bread on one side using ½ a tablespoon of butter each. On the unbuttered side of one of your pieces of bread, lay out your raspberries and smash them with a fork, moving the juices around until the entire surface of the bread is covered. Spoon the cheese mixture on top of the smashed raspberries and spread it until the cheese covers the surface of the bread. Put the other piece of bread on top, buttered side up.

Preheat a non-stick pan on medium heat and put the sandwich in the pan. Allow each side to cook for roughly four minutes, adjusting heat as needed to cook the sandwich through, or until each side of the bread is golden brown and the cheese is melted. To help the melting process along, you can put a lid on the pan, keeping the heat trapped in, though you should limit this because you will lose that deep crispness with too much steam.

Allow sandwich to cool, then go to town.

June 30, 2016

Leek Powder Pierogis

We are very often products of our upbringing. This recipe is a really fun blend of my mother’s culinary curiosity and my father’s Polish ancestry.
Leek powder was borne out of my mother getting sick of throwing out leek greens, so she found a way to use them and even make them keep for a long time. Gastronomically she was gifted with preserving things, and she was willing to give anything a chance. Anything.

My father loves feeling connected to his Polish roots, and one of the main ways that he returns to them is through food. It’s the little things like sauerkraut, a well-made kielbasa, or the richness of sour cream that take him back.

Naturally, I inherited both of these compulsions, so here we are. Pierogis are just about the most Polish thing I can think of, and I love the crap out of them. Crispy and cheesy potato dumplings. What’s not to like? To bring this to another level, I decided to try adding a little bit of my mother’s evil genius influence. The leek powder gives the dough a fun color and a wonderful herb-like flavor that’s perfect for its potato counterpart.

Leek powder pierogi dough

2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
½ cup lukewarm water
1 egg, room temperature
2 tbsp. sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. leek powder

Potato filling

2 cups mashed red potatoes (about 1 lb raw potatoes)
2 tbsp chives, chopped
1 tsp. salt
2 oz. cheddar, shredded
1 tbsp. butter
½ tsp. fresh ground pepper

Knead all the ingredients for the pierogi dough together until combined. The dough should be only slightly sticky, so add more flour as needed. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the leek flavor infuse and the flour bind to the moisture.

While the dough rests, boil quartered potatoes until soft. Strain and mash, adding cheese, butter, salt, and pepper. Mix until fully incorporated. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before adding the chives; they shouldn’t cook.

Roll out the dough to about ⅛” (thinner is okay) and use a cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out the dough. Use two pieces of dough per pierogi, spooning about ½ tbsp. (think half a ping pong ball) of potatoes on one. Wet your fingers and dab it around the edges, sealing it.

Heat a skillet with 1/2 tbsp. butter over medium heat. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Serve with sour cream, applesauce, fresh dill, or caramelized onions.

Makes 24 pierogis.

July 7, 2015

Pasta alla Carbonara

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“You don’t need expensive equipment to make pasta. All you need is a rolling pin and a sharp knife, and you’re good to go.”

Pasta alla carbonara is one of the easiest in the pasta canon, complete with echoes of the all-American breakfast: bacon and eggs. It is a great dish that finds a great compromise between rich flavors and inexpensive ingredients. It’s pasta tossed with whipped eggs, cheese, crisp bacon, and its rendered fat. When you combine the hot noodles and eggs, it cooks the eggs just enough to create a creamy sauce that bonds the bacon fat and melted cheese. Essentially what you’re making is a cheesy, bacon-flavored custard.

Want richness without meat? Replace the bacon with a cup of sliced raw mushrooms and add a smidgeon of olive oil and it’ll produce the same texture with a woodsy depth.

Pasta alla Carbonara:

1 batch of sexy pasta dough, ½ batch everyday pasta dough, or 6 oz. dry pasta
½ cup bacon (or pancetta if you prefer), minced
2 large eggs
⅓ cup parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tbs. Italian parsley, chopped
½ tsp. salt
Fresh ground pepper

Roll out pasta dough on a floured surface until thin enough for your liking. Cover dough with a light dusting of flour, fold dough in half, and cut into strips. Don’t worry about making them the same size!

In a big skillet, fry the bacon until crisp and the fat is rendered; then remove from heat. Keep everything in the skillet. Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat the eggs lightly until the yolk is mixed with the whites. Then add the cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Boil noodles for 1½–2 minutes (this depends on how thick you make them), until the noodles start to float. The next step must be done as fast as you can, so make sure you have your eggs ready. Strain pasta quickly in a colander and put in the skillet with the bacon and rendered fat. Immediately pour the eggs into the skillet with the noodles and stir them gently, constantly until the heat from the noodles begins to cook the eggs. Serve immediately garnished with parmesan cheese, parsley, and red pepper flakes.

Serves 2.

April 2, 2015

Tag: cheese