Now a recpie from my hero ... Alton Brown

I don't care what all the haters say about him - he's an amazing guy with some awesome ideas that either he or his team of writers come up with.


This fine Sunday afternoon, I was digging around my fridge when I stumbled upon some really old cheese that I got from Cowgirl Creamery. If you say that you are a cheese lover that lives in DC or, where all amazing food comes from, California, you need to find your local Cowgirl Creamery and sample their cheeses. Their Mt. Tam is a classic, Red Hawk is amazing, well I can continue on about their award winning cheese. The first time I went into their store in DC on a Friday – I think I spend around $100 on cheese and ate it all by the end of the weekend. It was one of the most amazing 5 pounds I ever gained.

So when I stumbled upon the moldy treasures, I was trying to figure out a way to salvage it. After I cut off the mold on the assortment, I wasn’t left with enough to do much with. Then I remembered the cheese episode of Good Eats and saying, “Wow, that sounds like amazing cheese spread, I should make that some day.” Well some day turned out to be Sunday!

Fromage Fort

Ingredients
• 1 pound left-over cheese*, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley leaves
• 1 small clove garlic

Directions
Remove any rinds from hard cheeses. Grate hard cheeses and cut others into 1/2-inch cubes. Place cheese, wine, butter, herbs, and garlic in a food processor and blend until smooth, approximately 2 minutes. Serve immediately or refrigerate for at least 1 hour for a firmer consistency. This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/fromage-fort-recipe/index.html  

I halved the recipe. I used mostly soft cheeses and used some low fat cheddar cheese to make up the weight difference. My spread turned out very very blue-y because there was a very blue cheese block that was thrown in, as well as a Humboldt Fog. I also used oregano instead of parsley. And It turned out fine. I think I should have put in a little extra wine because my mix after being refridgaged turned out to be crazy hard. And no, I don’t have the patience to wait the 30 minutes for the cheese spread to get to room temperature when I just want to snack on a cracker. But super tastey! It's easy and fast and a little different from the normal cheese plate that you might bring to a party.


Cowgirl Creamery
www.cowgirlcreamery.com/
919 F Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 393-6880
M-F 7:30am-7pm; Sat 11am-7pm