Cheese Curds

I was at the fair yesterday. Keep an eye on this spot, there will be more to come.

St. Paul Cheese Shop

Her exact words escape me, but when the sign in our neighborhood first went up for the St. Paul Cheese Shop, my daughter said something like, "God must really like you." I don't know how God feels, but the cheese shop has been opened for about two months, and I've eaten some very good cheese.

Twin Citizens and residents of the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood probably know the St. Paul Cheese Shop is a new extension of the France 44 Wines and Spirits store in Minneapolis - a destination I rarely could make, and when I could arrange the logistics, the prices limited my shopping. The extension location worried me. Situated about equal distance from Kowalski's and Whole Foods, two good places to shop for cheese, I doubted the viability of a third cheese monger within a mile.

Perched near the intersection of Grand and Snelling, the location's visibility is great. The shop is small, but doesn't require much. Currently, there are about thirty cheeses, each measured and sold to order. They also make a short list of delicatessan sandwiches, and sell gourmet crackers, jams, pate, and other charcuterie. While these items are not in short supply in the area, Kowalski's decided to aim their marketing in this direction about two years ago and Coastal Seafoods across the street targets a gourmet crowd too with condiments etc., all of my visits to the St. Paul Cheese Shop have been a pleasant surprise. The store is always busy.

My daughter's words stem from the fact that our fridge typically has twelve to twenty cheeses, usually a few riper than I care to admit. If I can try a few cheeses, I'll invariably buy the one I like most, and then eat as much as I can. I work it into omelets or quiches at breakfast, sandwiches or macaroni and cheese lunches and sometimes cheese plates at dinner. Unfortunately, my family's enthusiasm doesn't match mine. Most of our cheese selection is in tiny cubes, some trimmed to preserve for another a day.

My taste in cheese runs to mild bleu (Roaring 40's Bleu is a favorite), and nutty hard cheeses, especially Gruyer and Italian hard cheeses (Parmesan Reggiano is a component of all my Mac & Cheese recipes). The St. Paul Cheese Cheese shop is not the place to seek the most obscure cheeses, space limits selection. What is available are some of the best cheeses, e.g. Cowgirl artisan cheeses, and a few novelties. Fans of Wallace and Gromit can pick up Wensleydale (check availability).

My one caveat about the St. Paul Cheese Shop is price. Everything I've gotten there has been fresh and of top quality with good service, but when looking at cheese prices, be careful to note the prices are given in 1/2 lbs, i.e. $12 for 1/2 = $24 per pound. The store is geared to the serious cheese fan, not bargain hunters looking for something to make nachos with.

Insert Cheese Here

My father-in-law likes to joke that roast chicken uses the oldest recipe in the world: add meat, apply fire. Last week I stumbled upon a recipe for rotini and bleu cheese. By the time I started to put it together, I realized that this was a macaroni and cheese recipe -- substitute rotini for macaroni, bleu cheese for cheddar. Add cream (no butter). A few minutes later, I realized the same was true of a fettuccine alfredo recipe I make (instead use fettuccine, Parmesano Reggiano, and lots of butter). I have not seen bleu cheese in a macaroni & cheese recipe, though Mac & cheese has almost as many variations as there are recipes fitting my father-in-law's joke.

I decided to give it the Mini Chef challenge: She loves Mac & Cheese, but thinks bleu cheese is disgusting. The recipe I found gave a 3-1 proportion of cream to bleu cheese. I used a fairly strong bleu, Roth Kase -- and wound up using 4 or 5 - 1 cream to cheese ratio. In my two iterations, she went for it once, but rejected a second. Either she was on to me or I didn't disguise the offensive cheese with enough Parmesan in the rejected batch.

Perhaps this is only kid friendly to the French. I hated bleu cheese as a child, but it has grown on me over the years. The recipe is nearly as simple and quick as any box variety. By itself, this dish is big on flavor, but low on contrasts. I've added Parmesan and vegetables. I recommend peas, carrots, celery and green onions for texture and color. A dash of cayenne may cut the cloying creaminess.

The site I found this on was Frugal Cuisine. Frugal Cuisine looks like a good place to browse when payday is still a few days off . . .

Rotini & Bleu (4 servings with salad)

1 pound of Rotini
3/4 C of Heavy cream
2 Tbls of Bleu Cheese (adjust with strength of variety)
1 Tbls of grated parmesan
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Diced vegetables of your choice

Directions:
1. Boil water with a lot of salt (I use a tablespoon per 2 quarts of water).
2. Cook rotini for about 7 minutes.
3. While rotini cooks, gently heat heavy cream and bleu cheese until well combined. You can do this on the stove or in the microwave.
4. Drain rotini, add cheese sauce, parmesan and vegetables.

The Cheese Man

My romance with the Cheese Man comes up a lot. More than once I've gotten in hot water by coming home from the grocery store, having spent $45 - 50, but with nothing for dinner. I used to be baffled too. The problem was the grocery list. I was faithful to the list (and my wife, no offense Cheese Man). Maybe a $4 chunk of Drunken Goat found its way into the cart, but that wasn't the problem. The list was a replacement list, not a meal list. If we ran out of mustard, it went on the list. Chunky peanut butter (aka scratchy) and milk always made the list. Dinner did not make the list.

I started putting "dinner" on the list, without specifics. But that demanded internalizing recipes and the kitchen inventory. In addition to mustard, scratchy, milk, and cat sand, I had to be aware of everything involved with whatever "dinner" I tried to imagine. We had spaghetti, but how much sauce or canned tomatoes did we have? Did I have time to a sauce? I'd never hear the end of it if I came home with another block of Parmesan!

Becky Home Ecy would undoubtedly advise me to not go to the store hungry and to write a meal plan. Becky must have iron-fisted control of her kitchen. Does she get any "feedback" on those meal plans? Does Becky ever hear, "Yuck, I don't want to eat that"? or "I'm not really hungry, maybe I'll just have ice cream tonight"? Allowing democracy at the dinner table means that train doesn't always run on time. There are also wrecks -- everyone is excited about that garlic, toasted nuts and pesto leftovers, but there is exactly one serving. What about the squash? C'mon, someone has to eat the squash!

Somewhere between shopping for the meal I will cook in the next hour and replacing our larder staples, meals happen. I manage to sneak in cheese too.

Current Cheese stock: Parmesano Reggiano (lots), Romano, Drunken Goat, Brie (lots of cheap), Colby (my daughter's choice), Gruyere, Kraft Taco something, Domestic Fontina, Feta, Black River Gorgonzola, mysterious gift-for-babysitting bleu cheese, pre-shredded mozzarella, Welsh Powerful Cheddar [it really is labeled that way], regular sharp cheddar, misc. odds and ends too small to specifically remember.

The Cheese Man really has power over me!