We’ve been eating a lot more cheese here in Italy than we do back home. One reason is the wonderful variety of cheeses you have available to you in the Central Market. There are all kinds of cow’s and sheep’s milk cheese from hard, aged varieties perfect for grating to soft, almost runny, varieties perfect for smearing on a baguette. I’ve already spoken about the fresh mozzarella di bufala, creamy burrata, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the varieties of pecorino cheeses in previous blogs. We just don’t have enough time, money, or room in our waistbands to try them all, but we have found a few we really like.
One night this past week we decided to just make a dinner out of some of these cheeses. We picked up the cheese that morning at the Central Market as well as 2 types of pears, 3 types of plums, and the sweet Italian grapes that Cinzia has discovered. Later in the day I picked up a fresh baguette at the bakery. We still have our little bottle of 9 year old balsamico and that jar of homemade fig jam we purchased in Pisa.
Ok, on to the cheese. What did we get? Well, our first choice was some asiago fresco. We tried this one before. It’s soft, but not spreadable, and has a mild flavor. We always buy from the same kiosk and oftentimes the same girl behind the counter helps us. We usually buy one etto of each cheese. Maybe it’s tedious for her to estimate the weight on each piece of cheese, so this time she just held up the little wheel of asiago fresco, put the knife on it, and moved it until I gave her the go ahead to cut us off a wedge.
Ok, on to the cheese. What did we get? Well, our first choice was some asiago fresco. We tried this one before. It’s soft, but not spreadable, and has a mild flavor. We always buy from the same kiosk and oftentimes the same girl behind the counter helps us. We usually buy one etto of each cheese. Maybe it’s tedious for her to estimate the weight on each piece of cheese, so this time she just held up the little wheel of asiago fresco, put the knife on it, and moved it until I gave her the go ahead to cut us off a wedge.
The next cheese we picked was the taleggio. Like the asiago fresco we’ve had this one before. It’s softer and milder than the asiago fresco and goes very well with fruit. Again, she held up the rectangle of cheese and used her knife to measure out the size we wanted.
With those two cheeses in the bag it was time to pick a couple new cheeses. We had watched someone buy some gorgonzola dolce the previous week. The wheel was so runny inside that it oozed out after the girl cut a wedge and replaced it in the cheese case. It looked interesting. I’m not a big fan of the gorgonzola cheese back in the States, but I figured I’d give this one a try. We probably bought more than we needed, but that’s easy to do when you’re in the Central Market.
The last purchase was Imbriago del Piave. This came in a medium sized wheel with a distinctive purple rind. We asked for a taste. The girl said it was made with wine. That probably accounted for the purple rind. This was the firmest of the four cheeses, but not so hard that you could grate it. You could taste the fruitiness from the wine too. She cut us a wedge and added it to our bag.
That evening around 8:30pm I sliced half of each type of cheese. From our final bill I figured that we bought closer to 2 etti of each cheese rather than our standard one – smart sales girl. By the way, an etto is about 3.5 ounces. I cut one of each of the 3 types of plums, 2 of the small pears, and one of the huge pears. The huge ones are big. You can easily get 16 good size pieces from a single pear. I sliced half the baguette into thin rounds. The fruit went onto a serving platter, the baguette rounds in a bowl, and the cheese on the cutting board (with the gorgonzola dolce in a plate as it was very mushy). I washed Cinzia’s grapes and put them in a bowl and brought this out to the table with the fig jam, balsamico, and Cinzia’s wine.
The pears went well with all the cheeses. The taleggio and gorgonzola dolce spread nicely onto the baguette rounds. After a while we were creating little tasty combinations: baguette round, smear on some taleggio, top with fig jam and sliced pears, and add a few drops of balsamico. Yummy! In no time I was back in the kitchen slicing the rest of the baguette and bringing out more taleggio. The gorgonzola dolce was great – not too tangy and very creamy. I’d never seen anything like it. You have to love runny cheese. The Imbriago del Piave went perfectly with the grapes.
We stuffed ourselves with our cheesy treats. Cinzia was in her element – cheese, wine, fruit, bread. I can already tell she’s going to miss Italy, and so will I.
The pears went well with all the cheeses. The taleggio and gorgonzola dolce spread nicely onto the baguette rounds. After a while we were creating little tasty combinations: baguette round, smear on some taleggio, top with fig jam and sliced pears, and add a few drops of balsamico. Yummy! In no time I was back in the kitchen slicing the rest of the baguette and bringing out more taleggio. The gorgonzola dolce was great – not too tangy and very creamy. I’d never seen anything like it. You have to love runny cheese. The Imbriago del Piave went perfectly with the grapes.
We stuffed ourselves with our cheesy treats. Cinzia was in her element – cheese, wine, fruit, bread. I can already tell she’s going to miss Italy, and so will I.