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| The leaf-wrapped, brandy soaked, Rogue River Blue |
What do I mean by
well-paired? We all know that proper
cheese must be consumed with proper wine.
Generally, blue cheeses pair marvelously with sweet wines, especially
Rieslings or Voigners. Even maybe a
Sauternes, for which I would recommend starting your meal with a supreme foie
gras. That being said, my best recommendation
for the Rogue River Blue is the
great Marcel Deiss and his Altenberg
Grand Cru.
I’d recommend a vintage for
this wine no more than six years old. So
if you can get your hands on a 2008 or 2009 bottle, never mind the expense and
splurge for your own good.
Alternatively, if your pocket allows for less splurging, you can also
try a more mineral Riesling, but nonetheless great with cheese, like “Recas”,
from scary Transylvania. This wine has a
soft flavor of peaches and is also floral, with just enough body to pair with
blue and slightly strong cheeses, like a Comté or an Emmentaler.
For an exemplary plate of
blues, include also another version like a Bleu
de Gex, a creamy, semi-soft cheese from the Jura mountains, also made with
unpasteurized milk. Both of these
cheeses will benefit tremendously with a small topping of fruit compote or confit, made from Alsatian white wines
and fruits. Try those from L’Epicurien to impress your guests with
the talk of the evening.
Because it is
also made with pears, this confit
brings out the flavor of the Rogue Blue unlike anything else.
They are quite
addictive, and taste like heaven in your mouth.
You can double or triple the recipe and keep several logs in your
freezer. Then defrost in the fridge
overnight when you’re ready to bake them.
Blue-cheese-pecan
Icebox crackers:
Ingredients:
- ½ cup pecan halves
- ¾ all-purpose flour
- 4 Tbsp. very cold, very good, unsalted butter (I use Echiré)
- 3 oz. blue cheese, such as Stilton, crumbled
Preparation:
Place the pecans
on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool.
Transfer the pecans to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until
finely ground.
Add the flour to
the ground pecans and pulse briefly to combine.
Then add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse
meal. Add the cheese and process until
the dough comes together and is well combined.
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and shape into a 2” wide
log. Wrap the log in wax paper and
refrigerate for at least 24 hours or freeze for later use.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to
325F. Slice the well-chilled log into ¼”
thick slices. Transfer them to a baking
sheet and bake immediately, rotating the sheet half way through cooking, until
the crackers are golden brown and firm in the center, about 20 to 25 minutes
(the crackers should not get brown around the edges). Transfer to a wire rack to cool. |
| Homemade blue cheese cracker topped with Rogue River Blue. Pure heaven. |
