A professional eater's amateur thoughts on cheese

Did you know that August is National Goat Cheese month? In celebration of this month long holiday, I thought I’d say my piece on cheese plates.

Now, I’m no expert on cheese, but I have had (way more than) my fair share of it throughout my cooking career. Until relatively recently, cheese plates were something of a novelty on American restaurant menus. Within the past ten years, it seems that just about anywhere you go to eat offers artisan cheeses either as an appetizer or a dessert. Of these artisan cheeses that are being offered, there are now a wide variety of fantastic domestic cheeses available. Ten years ago, this wasn’t the case. This year at the American Cheese Society Awards there where over 1300 domestic cheeses being shown! I’d say that’s quite an accomplishment for America.

I’ve worked in restaurants where it was looked down upon to start the meal with a plate of cheese, and also in restaurants that had it under the heading of “appetizers” or “starters”. My answer to the stuffier places that think that the only time to eat cheese is after a meal is this: Who cares when you eat it? All that really matters is that you are enjoying it.

There are countless ways to enjoy cheese. Whether it be on a cracker or a crusty baguette, an apple or with a little mostarda, no way is the wrong way. For me a nicely balanced cheese plate would consist of the following factors:

1) a buttery, spreadable double or triple cream cheese such as CowGirl Creamery's Red Hawk or Old Chatham Sheephearding Company's Hudson Valley Camembert
2) a firmer, slightly nutty cheese such as Ewephoria or Abbaye de Belloc
3) a blue cheese such as Tilston Point or Fourme d' Ambert
4) something sweet
5) something salty
6) bread or crackers
7) all cheese at room temperature

Within these requirements on my dream cheese plate there would be a cow’s, a goat’s and a sheep’s milk cheese (and a stinky one! But that’s just me.). I like to mix and match flavors; like a slightly warmed piece of bread spread with a little of Jasper Hill’s creamy Constant Bliss, topped with a dollop of peach-hazelnut chutney. Or a toasted slice of fennel bread with a hunk of Tomme Crayeuse and a smidge of ratatouille relish….or my all time favorite, just about anything with mostarda.

What is mostarda you say? Well I’ll tell you my friend; it’s the ultimate condiment. If you’ve never had this sweet, tangy and sometimes spicy Italian concoction, I recommend that you do not pass go, you do not collect $200, and that you go directly to your nearest specialty or cheese shop and ask for some. Mostarda, also known as mustard fruit or mostarda di frutta is condiment classically made of fruit and a mustard flavored syrup. In my version, I like to use dried fruit and add in a little prepared horseradish for an extra kick. At Market, it’s used not only on the cheese plates, but also as the perfect accompaniment to the rich, crispy duck confit.

This recipe is a combination of a few different recipes that came up when I googled it. From there, it has been tweaked time and time again. And now I present you, my friends:

Golden Raisin Mostarda
makes about 3 cups

1 c sugar
3/4 cup water
2 Tbsp whole yellow mustard seeds, slightly toasted
1 cup golden raisins
2 Tbsp high quality dijon mustard
3 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon juice

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, bring sugar and water to a boil. Add mustard seed and raisins and return to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until mixture has reached a syrupy consistency, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Let cool. This can be stored in a sealed container for a really long time.

Family Meal Cinnamon Rolls

It’s summer time and the Del Mar Race track is in full swing. For us, this means everyday is busy and the kitchen is not only hectic, but also sweltering. There are a lot of bodies in our tiny kitchen, bumping into each other constantly with no apologies, and trying to maintain their manliness by not complaining about the heat. We’ve come a long way from when we opened three years ago with three of our own cooks and also the ones that were provided to us from the previous restaurant. What a long transition period that was! During that time we were going through cooks like most people go through underwear, a new one everyday. Some of them couldn’t handle the heat, some of them just didn’t understand our philosophy, and most of them were just down right bad cooks.

When we are looking to hire someone new, we always have them come in for a stage, or working interview. In hindsight, we probably could’ve saved ourselves a lot of time and paperwork had we just asked our stages to make family meal. Ahhh family meal…the test of a truly good cook. There is no recipe, no step-by-step instruction, you just make something and everyone sits down together and eats it. Usually we have a stage peel carrots or make ridiculous amounts of oven dried tomatoes, mostly to test their patience and commitment to the task, but having them actually cook a meal for everyone using minimally desirable ingredients, probably could’ve saved us some time in the hiring process. We could weed out those who can’t season, sear, or blanch properly, and also those that crack under the pressure. This could’ve been really entertaining to watch too. The day-to-day grind can become rather mundane: you need some disastrous event to break up the monotony.

When we aren’t using it as a test, really it’s just sustenance; stomach wadding, to get us through the day and nourish ourselves on some level. Not all family meals are created equal. I’ve seen some hilarious and terrible ones; even from employees that I would consider to be really good cooks. There was the time that an otherwise stellar employee made tuna salad sandwiches on toast so dried out that it cut the roofs of our mouths and left us extremely parched. Or when a cook known for his heavy hand with rich ingredients made something that he called “Mac and cheese with hot dogs”. Now, this wouldn’t have been all that bad if it weren’t the middle of summer, and something like 102 degrees in the kitchen. Also, the macaroni itself was swimming along side the luke warm hot dog chunks in a sea of cheesy, salty cream. The whole concoction was not worthy of the name “Mac and cheese”.

All joking aside, there are more good ones than bad ones, mostly because now we have killer cooks. Family meal is not an assignment. It’s made by whoever can get to it, and during the long hot days of summer, it’s amazing that anyone has time. There are days when we throw a frozen lasagna in the oven and hope for the best, and then there are the days, like Sundays, when everyone pitches in a little something and we have brunch. A tradition around here has become the sticky buns. They’re so easy to make, we might even trust a stage to do it.

Make 15 large cinnamon rolls in a 200 pan.

Dough

2 1/2 cups flour
1 T salt
1 cup milk, warm, not hot!
1 T instant yeast
1/4 cup sugar
zest of one orange
1 egg yolk
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 TBSP butter

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar
2 TBSP melted butter

Combine flour and salt
Combine milk, yeast, sugar and orange zest. let stand until yeast foams up on top of milk
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine flour and milk mixture and mix for 10 minutes on medium speed.
Add egg yolk and vanilla, mix until incorporated. Add butter in small pieces until incorporated. Let dough rest 20 minutes in refrigerator.

Roll into rectangle ¼” thick and brush with melted butter.
Cover with cinnamon sugar. Roll up jelly roll style, cut into 8 pieces.
Lay cut side down in buttered a 9” x 13” pan and proof until doubled in size.
Brush with melted butter
Bake at 350' for 20 minutes, rotate at 10 min.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
4 TBSP butter, room temperature
¼ powdered sugar
¼ cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, mix all ingredients until smooth.

Frost cinnamon rolls while still warm. Serve immedialety.

Voila! Tomato Water

One of the best things about being a chef is the instant gratification that comes from feeding people. It's the oohs and ahhs, the smiles on peoples faces, and the full house on opening night of the Del Mar Racing season that make the 13 hour days all worth it. I often relish in the fact that some of the simplest things that we do here at Market are the ones that stir up wonder within in our guests. Of course, having access to some of the best produce around from farms like Chino's and Valdivia make doing my job a little easier. When the ingredients you are using are already stellar, they don't take much tweaking to create something that makes people say "How did you do that?". Take tomato water for example...made simply from pureed tomatoes, basil, and a little seasoning, this clear tomato "consomme" is almost an afterthought at the end of the night. It literally takes about 5 minutes to throw it together, and then just a space in the refrigerator to hang the cheesecloth sack and allow it to drip. Patience, my friends, it won't be ready until tomorrow, but it will be worth it in the end. We serve this as a chilled soup, use it in martinis, and sometimes, with a few adjustments, spin it into a savory sorbet.

You too can impress your friends and be instantly gratified with our not so secret recipe and method for Tomato Water. Go ahead, try it. Mix a little vodka into it and kick back on the patio. Put your feet up. You've worked really hard for it, right? At least your friends will think so.

Tomato Water makes about 3 cups

2# heirloom tomatoes (use a good mix of sweet ones and acidic ones)
2 tsp kosher or sea salt
5 basil leaves

In batches, so as not to loose too much juice, dice tomatoes and place in the bowl of a food processor with the salt and basil. Pulse until tomatoes are a little more ragged than chopped. Do not over process.

Line a large mixing bowl with a double layer of cheesecloth that hangs way over the edges, about 3 ft. long total. Pour processed mixture into cheescloth and tie into a knot. Still over the bowl, tie bundle to a rolling pin or wooden spoon and hang from a rack in the refrigerator. Allow to hang for at least 8 hours or up to 12 hours. The tomato water will drip into the bowl. Before using, adjust seasoning to your taste. You can use the leftover "guts" in the cheesecloth sack to make a tomato sauce.

To serve as a chilled soup: Serves 4
Dice:
1 large english cucumber, seeds removed
1 avocado
12 poached, peeled and deveined shrimp
good quality extra virgin olive oil, for garnish
4 basil leaves, juliened

Arrange all ingredients (except olive oil) into a "salad" the center of 4 chilled shallow soup bowls. Ladle tomato water around the "salad". Garnish with olive oil, serve immediatley.

Summer Stone Fruit

This is our favorite time of year at Market, not just because it’s spear fishing season, but also because of all the amazing produce that’s at its’ peak. From salads to sorbets, summer stone fruit is all over our menu right now. Currently we’re using a few varieties of peaches, nectarines, and plums from Lone Oak Ranch, an organic farm out of Reedley, California. We met these folks at the La Jolla Farmer’s Market. They grow everything from peaches and pluots to Asian pears and tangerines, depending on the season. Owner and Farmer Dale Simmons is a fourth generation farmer keeping alive the organic farming techniques taught to him by his father with the help of his sons. We’re getting both yellow nectarines and white peaches from Lone Oak. The range of flavors between yellow and white fruit is remarkable. White stone fruit tends to be sweeter and less acidic, with slight honey and vanilla undertones, while yellow fruit is more tart, with a slight floral quality.

Nowadays stone fruit can get confusing with hybrids like apriums, pluots, nectarcots, and plumcots. If you don’t know what these are, don’t worry…my spellcheck doesn’t even recognize the words. It’s almost impossible to keep up with all of the different varieties once summer is in full swing. You may ask yourself, “Whatever happened to the old fashioned peach, plum and apricot?” The truth is, hardly any of the fruit that we see today is the original version of itself. Horticulturists are constantly creating different hybrids to withstand the ever-changing climate and environment. Some of these varieties have such short seasons, it’s no wonder they’re virtually unknown.

Some tips for choosing and using summer stone fruits:
*The flesh should be firm, but not hard, giving slightly to gentle pressure.
*The skin should be tight, not saggy or wrinkly. This signifies fruit that was
picked too early.
*Fruit should seem heavy for its’ size.
*Let fruit ripen on counter until soft, then store in the refrigerator.
*If it’s ripe, you should be able to smell it without cutting into it
*To easily cut fruit in half: Using a pairing knife, cut on the opposite side
of the seam, and twist to release the pit.

Summer Stone Fruit with crispy Bacon and Goat Cheese
Serves 4

¼ cup Banyuls Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
2 Santa Rosa plums
1 White Saturn Peach
1 yellow nectarine
¼ cup candied almonds (recipe follows)
2 loosely packed cups wild arugula
2 loosely packed cups mache (available at Whole Foods)
6 large basil leaves, chiffonade
4 strips crispy bacon, crumbled
4 oz. crumbled goat cheese, such as Bucheron
salt and pepper to taste

Wash and dry greens. Slice fruit into 6-8 wedges each, depending on the size of the fruit. Toss greens, fruit, nuts, vinaigrettes, and basil in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Divide onto four plates. Top with crumbled bacon and goat cheese. Garnish with extra virgin olive oil. Serve immediately.


Banyuls Vinaigrette
Makes about 1 cup

¼ cup Banyuls Vinegar
1 TBSP water
2 tsp Dijon mustard
½ shallot, minced
¾ cup olive oil or vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl except oil. Whisk to combine. Slowly pour olive oil in a steady stream, whisking to slightly emulsify. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper. This can be stored in the refrigerator, covered for up to 10 days.

Candied Almonds
Makes 1 cup

1 cup sliced almonds
1 egg white
½ cup super fine sugar (also known as baker’s sugar)
1/8 tsp cardamom
pinch salt

Mix all ingredients until sugar feels dissolved. Lay in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with a nonstick liner or parchment paper. Bake 25 minutes or until slightly brown and crispy. Store at room temperature in airtight container.