Month: August 2017
Have You Ever Tried Brie Pie?
This rich and luxurious pie is not your average pie. In fact, pies in the U.S are usually eaten for dessert, but Brie pie is more of an appetizer or entree.
Luckily, like a lot of the delicious appetizers on offer, this one is fairly simple to create and has an amazing payoff. It may look quite difficult, but it only entails wrapping a wheel of brie in a thawed sheet of puff pastry and cooking it until golden. Even if it was difficult to create, the combination of warm melted cheese inside of a crispy pastry is impossible to resist and worth every effort.
The type of Brie you get isn’t too important, a rule of thumb would be to buy one that fits your hand and looks good to wrap in pastry.
Let’s get right to it and create this cheesy masterpiece!
Recipe
What You Need
8 oz of Brie
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
All-purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten
What To Do
Firstly, preheat oven to 400 F, making sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven. Now line a baking sheet with parchment and set it aside.
Start by rolling out the puff pastry, using the flour to dust out on the counter and then sprinkle some more flour on top to the pastry to aid rolling further. Roll the pastry so that it measures around 11 x 11 inches to make sure it fits around the Brie.
Now it is time to wrap the brie in pastry. Place the wheel of brie in the middle of the pastry and fold the corners over the brie, creating a neat package. Press against the edges gently and neaten the sides up.
Brush the pastry over with the beaten egg, making sure you get the sides and transfer the pie to the baking sheet.
Bake the pie for around 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Now allow cooling for 5 to 10 minutes which will give the hot cheese time to firm up.
Transfer it to a serving platter and serve it warm.
Try Something Deliciously Different: Baked Tomatoes Stuffed With Goat Cheese Fondue
This simple recipe is perfect for the summer, combining fresh goat cheese and mascarpone in a fondue melt with ripe, juicy tomatoes. Just imagine sitting out in the sunshine having a cookout with all your friends and family, this will be the perfect dish to bring! It is different, impressive and easy to make, so give it a try and enjoy!
Recipe
What You Need
3 large, firm tomatoes
3 tbsp. mascarpone
3 tbsp. goat cheese at room temperature
Kosher salt
1 tbsp. virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 anchovies, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
Ground black pepper
1/4 cup panko or other bread crumbs
What To Do
Firstly, preheat the oven to 500 F.
Now slice a thin layer off the bottoms of tomatoes so they will easily stand upright and then remove the insides of the tomatoes, carving them out to up to about 3/4 inch from bottom and sides. Be careful not to take out too much of the insides so that the tomato will stay upright when cooked.
Now, using the salt, season each tomato. After this, mix the goat cheese and mascarpone together in a small bowl.
It is now time to prepare the topping. Firstly, melt the butter with the oil over medium high heat. Add the anchovies, garlic and cook for 30 seconds while stirring. Now stir in the bread crumbs and cook for 2 minutes. Season with pepper.
Fill the tomatoes with the mascarpone mixture and top them off with bread crumbs. Now place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes or until golden.
7 Rules To Live By When Dealing With Cheese
1. A very important and fairly obvious rule is to not put unwrapped cheese in the fridge. The cheese would not only be exposed to potential bacteria, but it would become hard and dry out, making it inedible.
2. Don’t wrap your cheese in saran wrap! Although it is a very common practice to wrap cheese in saran wrap, with it being the easiest way to repackage food, replacing it with cheese paper or baking paper is the best way to go. This is because the paper allows the cheese to breathe and it won’t dry out.
3. It is also important to use separate utensils for each cheese. It may not seem very important but when you are eating a variety of cheese from a board, it can definitely affect the taste and ruin the experience of all the delightful flavors to offer.
4. Never serve cheese straight from the fridge. Like red wine, you just simply are not getting all from that expensive treat you bought if it is consumed straight from the fridge. It’d be an unpleasant, stone cold rock, with a lack of flavor, aroma or texture. For example, if you were to eat brie straight from the fridge, it would be hard and lacking flavor, whereas after being left out for around an hour, it is soft and delicious.
5. Don’t freeze fresh cheese. Fresh cheese is volatile as it is and just after one day, fresh cheese like feta and mozzarella will start to lose their moisture and become rubbery. The best way to remedy this is to soak the cheese for an hour in warm, salted milk. This will bring back the moisture and burst of flavors you lost while refrigerating.
6. Buying grated cheese isn’t the best idea, nor the cheapest. When you buy a full block of cheese, it keeps fresher for a lot longer and is a lot cheaper. Not only that but a block of cheese tends to be a lot better quality than grated, with more flavor and aroma and no artificially added extras.
7. Try to keep cheese in a block for as long as possible. Cutting cheese into slices allows the cheese to dry out fast. Even when serving it on a platter, it is best to keep it in a block so the cheese can be enjoyed in its best form, especially since the most flavor is at the center of the cheese.
