Steven Lamb
MORE RECIPES
Raw asparagus and radish salad; Cauliflower clafoutis with ham and parsley; Potato and cep dauphinoise; Garlicky pea ravioli with brown butter; Hazelnut and cheese biscuits
SOURCING
mediterraneandirect.co.uk; thehamandcheeseco.com
This unique cheese, one of only three foreign cheeses to which we’ve granted a stand-alone entry, originates from Northern Italy. No producer outside a defined area within Emilia Romagna and Lombardy may call their cheese Parmigiano-Reggiano. It carries a PDO, protecting its name and enshrining its distinguishing features.
Those features are very special indeed. With its dry, crystalline, granular nature and wonderful, salty flavour, Parmesan is in some ways the ultimate cook’s cheese. Whether you’re dissolving it into a batter or sauce, or scattering it over a dish before serving, it is both an ingredient in its own right and a superb seasoning. Its complex, nutty flavour, rich with a glutamic savouriness (umami), puts it in the same arena as soy sauce, flaky sea salt and peppery extra virgin olive oil. It finishes dishes – pasta, risottos, soups – exquisitely.
For salads and bruschette, using a vegetable peeler to produce fine ‘shavings’ of Parmesan can be particularly successful – spreading the flavour of the cheese in a subtle but delectable way. Generally, however, it is finely grated, forming a light dust without the gooey-stringy meltiness of most cheeses. This makes grated Parmesan particularly easy to work into mixtures such as pestos or doughs, where ‘fleshier’ cheeses become sticky and pasty.
Parmesan is made from unpasteurised, partially skimmed cow’s milk. The cows must be fed on fodder from the correct region, but they are almost invariably housed indoors and fed dried grass, even for organic Parmesan. Free-range Parmesans don’t really exist – nor vegetarian ones: it is made with animal rennet.
Once curdled, the milk curds are cooked until they coalesce into a mass. These solids are placed in huge, wheel-shaped moulds and tightened with a belt embedded with the name of the producer (which transfers to the rind of the cheese). The wheels are submerged in brine for up to a month and then removed to ageing rooms to mature for a year. On a cheese’s first birthday it is inspected and given an official stamp. Or, should it be deemed not good enough, the markings on its rind are erased and it is sent away for grating – an ignominious fate.
Some Parmesans are eaten between 12 and 18 months, but many are aged longer. Historically, it might have been fair to say that older was better, with 3-, 4- or even 6-year-old Parmesans offering a magnificent eating experience. But these days, most Parmesan is made from the milk of Friesian cows which does not stand up to ageing quite so well.
Parmesan between 24 and 28 months old is generally at its peak and excellent as a table cheese. Try serving nuggets and crumbs of such Parmesan sprinkled with a few drops of balsamic vinegar or trickled with honey. The traditional way is to ‘open’ the cheese, breaking off shards with a knife, rather than attempt to slice it cleanly. Parmesan is vastly better when freshly grated or pared. Pre-grated Parmesan is almost dustily dry, with none of the complexity and sweetness of the original cheese.
So useful and versatile is Parmesan that it has become a little over-worshipped. There are other grainy, Parmesan-mimicking cheeses that can do a similar job and are ideal if you need a vegetarian substitute. But often a better choice is another hard, matured, salty cheese – good British alternatives include Berkswell and Quickes hard goat’s cheese. These will never mirror Parmesan’s unique, almost mineral texture and salty sweet flavour but they can be just as good in their own ways.
LITTLE GEM WITH CRUSHED BROAD BEANS AND PARMESAN
This delicious little dish makes a light and flavoursome starter and you can also serve it as part of a mezze spread or before drinks as a canapé. Of course, other hard, salty cheeses work just as well as Parmesan here. Makes 10–12; serves 3–4 as a starter
About 1kg broad beans in the pod (400–500g podded weight)
2–3 tbsp crème fraîche
100g Parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp chopped mint, plus extra to serve
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
2 Little Gem lettuces
Bring a pan of water to the boil while you pod the beans. Drop the beans into the boiling water, return to a simmer and cook until they are tender – a minute or two for young beans, up to 10 minutes for mature ones.
Taste a couple of beans: if they are quite big and mealy, or the skins seem a little bitter or tough, you can skin them. With small, sweet beans, this shouldn’t be necessary.
Use a fork or potato masher to break up all the beans – don’t go mad, you’re looking for a roughly crushed texture, not a smooth mash. Fold in the crème fraîche, Parmesan, lemon zest, mint and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Trim the bases from the Little Gems and discard any damaged outer leaves. Separate the leaves; you want 10–12 of the best-shaped larger leaves for this dish (save the small leaves from the centres for another dish). Wash them and spin or pat dry.
Arrange the lettuce leaves, hollow side up, on a platter. Spoon some of the crushed broad beans into each leaf, allowing a good mouthful for each one. Scatter over a little more grated Parmesan and some extra chopped mint, trickle over a little more olive oil and finally squeeze over the lemon juice before serving.