Cheese is such a versatile food that it deserves special attention. Most cooking cheeses are of the hard variety—Gruyère, Parmigiano, Piave, but there are soft cheeses as well, such as cream cheese and blue cheeses. Smelly cheeses are rarely used in cooking, probably because their aromas just become too strong. When buying cheese for cooking, don’t scrimp. Flavor nuances that come through when you taste the cheese will most likely be preserved during cooking (unlike the complexity of wine, which is lost).
Most of us are familiar with the kind of quesadillas served in inexpensive Mexican restaurants where they appear with the frozen margaritas. Typically cheese is melted in a folded tortilla and the tortilla then cut into wedges. To make a more authentic version, fill tortillas with onions and grilled poblano chiles, fold the tortillas over, and cook them on both sides in a little oil.
Makes 4 first-course servings
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 jalapeños or other chiles, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
2 poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, and seeded
4 corn tortillas
½ pound mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Sour cream, to serve
Spicy Guacamole, to serve
Pickled jalapeños, to serve
Pico de gallo, to serve
Sweat the onion and jalapeños in a skillet over medium heat in 1 tablespoon of the oil until the onion turns translucent, about 10 minutes.
Cut the poblano chiles lengthwise into thin strips.
Add another tablespoon of oil to a new skillet, heat over medium heat, and add a tortilla. Top half of the tortilla with onion, poblano chiles, and cheese; fold the tortilla. Cook it for about 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board. Repeat with the remaining tortillas—use the rest of the olive oil—and fillings. Cut the tortillas into three wedges each. Pass the sour cream, guacamole, pickled jalapeños, and pico de gallo at the table.
It’s not essential to use Gruyère for this quiche—aged Gouda and good Cheddar work just as well. But don’t buy generic Swiss cheese, which has little flavor.
Makes 8 first-course or 6 light main-course servings
½ pound thick-cut bacon
2 cups grated Gruyère (about 8 ounces)
Baked Tart Shell, homemade or store-bought (see note)
2 eggs
1½ cups milk
Salt
Pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cut the bacon crosswise to make ¼ by 1-inch strips. Cook over medium heat in a heavy skillet until they render their fat and just begin to turn crispy. Drain on a paper towel–lined plate.
Fit the tart pastry in a ceramic quiche pan, not a tart pan with a removable bottom.
Sprinkle the bacon and cheese in the tart shell, then set the tart shell on a baking sheet. Beat the eggs in a bowl and whisk in the milk. Season the mixture with salt and pepper, going easy on the salt since the bacon and cheese are both salty. Pour this custard mixture over the bacon and cheese in the tart shell.
Bake for about 1 hour, until the quiche doesn’t slosh at all in the center when you very gently move it back and forth. Let cool for 15 minutes. Serve in wedges directly out of the pan.
Note: While it’s convenient to use a store-bought pie shell for any number of preparations, the store-bought version will never have the flavor of homemade because it’s not made with butter.
Grilled Country Ham and Aged Gouda Sandwiches
What we think of as a banal diner snack—the grilled cheese sandwich—has been largely replaced, at least in certain circles, by the croque monsieur. Grilled cheese can, however, be transformed by using good cheese and, if you like it, ham, in such a way that it transcends all but the most sophisticated croque monsieur. The choice of bread is really one of personal preference, since white bread has its charms as does crusty, country bread. What does impose itself, unless you’re making a sandwich for one (and in fact a grilled cheese sandwich makes a perfect single meal), is a large skillet, large enough to hold four sandwiches. Said skillet should also have a lid, although in a pinch you can get by without one. Grilled cheese sandwiches are great with cold sherry—a fino or old amontillado.
While the approach to cooking a grilled cheese sandwich may seem obvious, the cooking of these sandwiches requires more finesse than one might think, since the heat has to be closely controlled so the sandwiches brown at the same time the cheese melts. If you’re in doubt, just check the bottoms of the sandwiches and the cheese (if it is melting, it will be oozing out the sides of the sandwiches) and control the heat accordingly. If the cheese is melted but the sandwich isn’t browned, the heat is too low; if the sandwich is browned, but the cheese isn’t melted, the heat is too high.
Makes 4 light main-course servings
½ pound aged Gouda or other firm cheese, such as Cheddar or Pyrenees sheep’s milk cheese
4 slices country ham (the saltier the ham, the thinner the slice should be) or deli ham
8 slices country white bread
½ cup (1 stick) butter
Slice the cheese between ⅛ and ¼ inch thick. Arrange half the bread slices on the counter and arrange the cheese on top. Place a slice of ham on top of that and then put on the second piece of bread.
In a large skillet with lid, melt half the butter over medium heat. Rotate the pan around so that the inside is well coated with butter. Arrange the sandwiches inside. Cover the pan (this is to create a kind of oven to melt the cheese) and place it over medium heat. Reposition the pan every few minutes so the sandwiches brown evenly. Check the sandwiches (look underneath to see if they are browning) every few minutes after you hear them sizzling or smelling good, and cook until the sandwiches are well browned, about 12 minutes. Turn them over in the pan. Cut the remaining butter into 4 pieces and put these around in the pan. Cover the pan and turn up the heat so the sandwiches brown on the second side in about 5 minutes, repositioning the skillet every few minutes for even browning. When the undersides of the sandwiches are well browned, take the sandwiches out of the skillet and serve immediately.
This soufflé is easier than most since there’s no need to make the basic béchamel sauce called for in classic recipes. Simply combine some of the egg yolks with the goat cheese until the mixture has the consistency of a thick paste. Then fold in the beaten egg whites.
A lot of fuss is made about beating egg whites in a copper bowl. In fact, egg whites beaten in copper tend to be more stable than those that have not—a copper insert to the Kitchen Aid mixer is the perfect solution—but in lieu of copper, adding a pinch of cream of tartar to the whites helps do the same thing. When you’re beating, don’t stop in the middle, or you can cause the egg whites to “break.”
Makes 4 first-course servings
½ pound medium-ripe goat cheese, such as Bûcheron
6 eggs
Pinch of cream of tartar (optional)
Pepper
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour the inside of four 8-ounce ramekins.
Trim off any rind from the cheese and put the cheese in a large mixing bowl.
Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a large bowl, preferably copper (see note below). Add three of the yolks to the cheese and use a heavy wooden spoon to mix well; if the mixture is too stiff to work, add a fourth yolk. If the mixture is still too stiff to work, add a fifth yolk. Set the cheese mixture aside.
Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites if you are not using a copper bowl. Beat the whites until they form stiff peaks. Beat one-quarter of the egg whites into the cheese mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Divide the mixture evenly among the ramekins. Set the ramekins on a baking sheet.
Note: A copper bowl must be rinsed with a few tablespoons of distilled white vinegar and salt to remove tarnish each time it’s used. The bowl must then be rinsed and dried completely.
Turn up the oven to 400°F (this causes the oven to ignite and supplies heat to the underside of the soufflés) and slide in the soufflés. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the soufflés rise up above the ramekins and are at least half again as high as they were in the molds. If you’re in doubt, reach into one with a spoon to see how it’s doing. It should be runny inside but firm near the outside. Serve immediately.
Note: Many soufflé recipes call for collars—strips of buttered aluminum foil—wrapped around the soufflés to prevent them from expanding and running out of the ramekins before they’ve had a chance to set. This recipe, if cooked in 8-ounce molds, doesn’t require collars, but if you find yourself using smaller molds— 6 ounces, say—you might want to use collars.
To make each collar, cut a sheet of aluminum foil that’s at least 4 times as long as the diameter of the ramekin. Fold it in thirds lengthwise to form a strip that’s about one and a half times as wide as the ramekin is tall. Butter the strip on one side and wrap it around the ramekin, buttered side in; pinch the two ends together to get it to hold in place.
The problem with a lot of Roquefort-based dishes, including Roquefort dressing, is that often they’re made with generic blue cheese instead of real Roquefort. While this is easy to understand—Roquefort is expensive—the results are unfortunate. If you do substitute another blue cheese for the Roquefort, be sure it’s a blue cheese you like to eat. I sometimes make this soufflé with Gorgonzola, Stilton, or one of the very high-quality American blue cheeses that have recently appeared on the market.
Makes 4 first-course servings
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup milk
¼ pound Roquefort cheese
4 eggs, separated
Pinch of cream of tartar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter and flour four 6- to 8-ounce ramekins.
Combine the flour and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth and smells toasty, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk and stir until smooth. Bring to a simmer so the flour thickens the mixture, add the Roquefort and stir, off the heat, until smooth. Allow to cool slightly, then whisk in three of the egg yolks. Set aside.
Put the whites in a large bowl. Add the cream of tartar if you are not using a copper bowl and beat to stiff peaks. Whisk one-quarter of the egg whites into the cheese mixture, then fold the cheese mixture into the egg whites. Divide the mixture evenly among the ramekins. Set the ramekins on a baking sheet.
Bake until almost doubled in height, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
Don’t despair if you sold your fondue set at a garage sale long ago. They’ve started to come back and are easy to find or easy to improvise with a saucepan and some bricks set to hold the pan up and a can of Sterno set underneath.
Be sure to have plenty of crusty French bread, preferably in the form of baguettes, so each little piece ends up with some crust. And don’t skimp on the cheese. Use authentic Gruyère and Emmental (which is the kind of Swiss cheese with the big holes in it). Don’t buy generic Swiss cheese, which won’t have the right flavor. Tradition has it that fondue should be eaten with a glass of cool kirsch, definitely a good idea, but not essential.
Makes 4 main-course servings
2 cups dry white wine
1 clove garlic, peeled and halved
¾ pound Gruyère cheese, shredded
¾ pound Emmenthal cheese, shredded
Crusty French bread
In a small saucepan, combine the wine and garlic and bring to a simmer. Remove and discard the garlic. Add the cheese to the simmering wine and stir until the cheese melts. Serve right in the saucepan or transfer to a fondue set. If you’re being formal, serve everyone two forks, one for dipping and one for eating. In this way the fork for eating is never dipped into the collective pot.
