The Spanish say queso.
The French say fromage.
I say cheese and more of it, please!
This special feature follows a cheese-driven girl on her journey to try all of the sweet, creamy, sharp, stinky and spicy cheeses the world is lucky to devour. I’m the friend who is constantly tagged in those cheese memes on Facebook about drowning in grated cheese when the waiter/waitress asks you to “say when.” In queso emergency, just say cheese!
This month’s cheese feature can be found at Cooper’s Hawk. The menu listed “Candied Bacon and Artisan Cheeses,” and I was immediately sold … and maybe even drooling, I won’t lie. I could barely contain my excitement. Seriously … it’s a bit ridiculous how much I look forward to cheese.
The cheese plate found its way on to my table, and I was instantly delighted. Roughly eight pieces of candied bacon. I’m talking sticky, sweet deliciousness! Was it possible I was looking forward to the bacon more than the cheese at this point? POSSIBLY. The plate also adorned raw honeycomb (YUM!), black fig jam, grilled polenta crostini, and three different kinds of cheese: Buttermilk Bleu, Sartori Parmesan, and Stracciatella (a cheese I’d yet to discover). Let the digging in commence!
I grabbed some bread, smeared some raw honeycomb across it and paired it with the bleu cheese, added some candied bacon and VOILA! Pure bliss! I’ve always been a fan of pairing honey and bleu, as the sweetness of the honey is a nice contrast to the creamy, yet potent bleu. The parmesan was just the way I like it … crystalized salt balanced out by the sweetness of the bacon. The star of the show was the Stracciatella, the cheese I’d never heard of but quickly realized I’ve been missing out on. It has the appearance of a cottage cheese, but a little runnier, and the saltiness of parmesan, and it is now one of my favorite cheeses. I easily smeared it on bread, dressed it with honeycomb and bacon and sent my taste buds on an adventure of a lifetime.
Out of bread? No problem. I grabbed my spoon and went to town on the Stracciatella. That dish could have returned to the cupboards. No cheese went to waste that day…
For $17.99, it might seem a bit on the more expensive side, but for the wonderful taste experience you get out of it, I’d say it was worth it! Forgive the photos, I may have dug in a bit before taking them. Blame my excitement and the cheese obsession.
Is this article too cheesy? DEFINITELY. Send me your favorite cheese meme or joke to nicole@nonahoodnews.com and let me know your thoughts on your favorite cheese-filled meals! Is anybody else hungry all of a sudden?
