Honey and The Cheese Course
Frequent diners and food cognoscenti are the beneficiaries of a recent
menu phenomenon. The cheese course, a European tradition, has arrived
on American shores and in your local restaurant. Offered at the end of
the meal (quite often offered in lieu of dessert), the cheese course is
being enthusiastically embraced by diners as a flavorful and satiating
concluding course.
Not just a passing fancy, the cheese course has all the earmarks of a profitable trend. According to a recent survey conducted by the California Milk Advisory Board of 57 restaurants in San Francisco and the Napa/Sonoma wine region, two out of three fine dining operations currently feature some form of cheese course on their menu. Out of 57 restaurants surveyed, 65% offer some form of cheese course on the menu, most on a daily basis. Among the restaurants offering a cheese course, most offer the traditional service in which the guest chooses one or several cheeses from a thoughtfully selected list. Another form of service is the cheese pairing—a single cheese plated with complementary foods such as honey, nuts, fruit and/or preserves.
Janet Fletcher has been observing the gathering momentum of this cheese
revolution in the cheese shops and restaurants in and around her Napa
Valley home. An award-winning food and wine writer, she realized American
cheese lovers needed a guide to their expanding options. The result is
her new book, The Cheese Course, which celebrates the newly available
array of superb cheeses and features them in sweet and savory salad, bread
and fruit dessert recipes.
Introducing the notion of the cheese course, Fletcher credits restaurants
for providing inspiration. "At restaurants around the country, chefs
are presenting cheese in enticing ways. This book began to take shape
when I noticed their efforts to make the cheese course more inviting.
By adding a special nut bread, a complementary salad, or perhaps a chutney
or fruit compote these chefs could seduce people into ordering cheese." (Or,
a full flavored varietal honey, we might add!) Spottings of cheese and
honey pairings on Bay Area menus include Napa Valley destinations Tra
Vigne and Bouchon (the French Laundry’s bistro cousin); each pairs
cheeses with honeycomb. Belon, a San Francisco brasserie, serves Great
Hill blue cheese with figs and honey. Finally, Zuni Café, San Francisco’s
wellspring of California cuisine, plates Medjool dates along with honey
and Parmesan cheese.
Janet Fletcher trained at the Culinary Institute of America and at Berkeley’s celebrated Chez Panisse restaurant. She is a staff food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, where her writing won the 1999 James Beard Award and the 2000 Bert Greene Award. Her food and wine articles have appeared in numerous national publications, including The New York Times, House Beautiful, Barron’s, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Fine Cooking, Country Home, Metropolitan Home, Travel & Leisure and National Gardening. Her previous book, Fresh from the Farmers’ Market, was nominated for a Julia Child Award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. For more information about The Cheese Course, visit www.chroniclebooks.com.
Photo and recipe courtesy of Chronicle Books.
Cabècou with Honey and Walnuts
Makes 4 servings
1/2 |
cup walnuts |
1/2 |
cup honey |
4 |
(1 oz.) young Cabècou cheese or other fresh, small goat cheese rounds (Alternative cheese: another soft, young goat cheese or Gorgonzola) |
Put the walnuts in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes, then drain and pat dry. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a heavy baking sheet with a triple thickness of paper towels. Put the walnuts on the paper towel-lined tray and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 250°F and continue baking until the walnuts taste completely dry inside, about 20 minutes more. Let cool.
In a small bowl, stir the walnuts into the honey. Put one Cabècou on each of 4 small plates. Spoon the walnut-honey mixture over the cheese, dividing it evenly. Serve immediately.