Sunday, 19 July 2015

Cheese Party - IL Secondo Piatto

Now the big cheeses.

First aroma out of the oven is the crushed Sicilian olives in olive oil - Heated at 45 degrees.  A range of stronger cheese came out on their new wooden board.  On the boards were Sicilian olives and they were to accompany the provolone piqante.

Provolone Piquante, the strongest of the soft cheeses but the most delicate of the strong cheese.

Ann's Special Blue cheese is is next, a ripe Roquefort mould on a paler cheddar like cheese. Very strong Roquefort flavour and more pleasing and delicate than the traditional blue. (I think)

A triple decker from Southcape.  This one has three stripes top stripe filled with Sundried tomatoes, the second stripe, a vintage cheddar and the third, summer herbs.

Vintage Cheddar - A mainland extra aged cheddar, accompanied by spiced pears.  That is a match made in heaven

Blue Cheese - Traditional. Very robust  may also be accompanied by the spiced/pickled pears. Not for the fainthearted.

In the middle of the cheeseboard were matchsticks of pecorino.  A sheep's milk cheese, like a Parmesan, parmeggiano- reggiano, but milder and more pleasant eating, I think.  A provocative accompaniment  was a large deep purple shiso or perilla leaf. - just to scratch and sniff.  I was curious as to whether people could pick up the "umami" flavour in both the leaf and the pecorino.

The last big aroma from the oven.  at the very end of all the cheeses  was a warmed piece of dark chocolate. 70% proof. Just to smell, not to eat....
The bread  In keeping with the tenet of the day - mostly local and not too much processed junk. The bread was a beautiful sourdough, wholemeal baguette from the local baker.

Outside for a silly game.  We trooped outside and Don organized a game of Finska.  It is a kind of skittles with numbers.  Everyone stayed in their teams and there were lots of laughs.

The Elizabethan dessert was a kind of strawberry shortcake, but the pastry was Maggie Bier's sour cream pastry.  A very delicate flaky pastry topped with a baked ricotta and glazed strawberries which are at the peak of perfection right now.  Thanks, Elizabeth.
.
Thanks for coming, everyone. Thanks for making the journey up the range and making your own cuppa'.  We had a ball putting this together and enjoyed your company.  So grateful for the good weather.  Today, it is raining and cold.


1 comment:

  1. How amazing. Such thought and effort had gone into the planning, preperation and execution of this magnificent feast.

    I will never, never decline an invitation from you again! Never.

    Well done. Love Robin x

    ReplyDelete