Manchego!

As promised, here is the second post of the day!  Today’s cheese is one that I purchased on my trip to Boushey’s Fruit Market last Friday.  And if you haven’t read that post, go ahead and do so now… yes, now.  We’ll wait.  Yes, I know some people have already read that one.  They can wait here.  Or better yet, go read it again.  Or think about this…  What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?  Oh look, they’re back, guess you’ll have to wait for the answer.

Today’s cheese is a Spanish cheese called Manchego.  It is another cheese imported by Agropur and is part of its Agropur Import Collection.  It is a firm, ripened cheese made from sheep’s milk and is aged between 60 days and 2 years.  The particular one I bought was aged 3 months.

Other requirements for cheese to be labeled Manchego are:

• It must have been produced in an area that is restricted to designated parts of the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Toledo that lie within the La Mancha region.
• It can be made only with the whole milk of sheep of the manchega breed that are raised on registered farms within the designated area.
• The cheese must have been aged for a minimum of 60 days and a maximum of two years.
• The cheese must be produced by pressing in a cylindrical mould that has a maximum height of 12 cm and a maximum diameter of 22 cm.

Also, be aware that the rind is not edible.  So don’t eat it!

This is the first sheep’s milk cheese that I’ve had and I have to say that I found it to be rather pleasant.  A word I’ve heard used to describe it is creamy and I think that applies quite well here.  It’s definitely creamy and doesn’t have very much of an aftertaste.  Overall, I don’t think it has enough flavour to eat it on its own or even just with crackers.  However, if you were to grate it and serve it on pasta, I think that would be a welcome addition to a dish.  I would also try it in a caesar salad instead of parmesan. A solid choice that I would also incorporate into a cheese tray for a party to give it a little variety and exotic flair.

By the way, the answer is carrot.

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Afterthoughts Week 5: Fiveterthoughts

Hello Constant Readers!  I hope you had a good weekend.  The Captain’s was busy as he has little captains (and captainettes) visiting from out of town.  Fear not, however, for today is now a 2 posts day!

First up, a recap of the last week in cheese…

Monday:  Oka swiss cheese (close to the Captain’s hometown, pretty good but not a first choice)
Wednesday: Red Leicester (the one month anniversary post, an excellent cheese!)
Friday:  Instead of a recipe review, a review of Boushey’s Fruit Market (very impressed with it)

Cheese in the news:

I know that I like some older cheeses but this is ridiculous…  3600 year old cheese was discovered along with mummies in China.  And it’s even lactose-free:  Old cheese

And a punny joke to get your week started off right:

A little boy went to a birthday party in a very nice suit. When he returned home, his suit was full of holes, and his mother was mortified. When she asked him what they had done there, he replied that after pin the tail on the donkey they were playing store and he was the Swiss cheese.

Ba-bum-tish!

A review of what I hope is not a baaaaaaaaad cheese to come :) Stay cheesy! Captain Cheese

Boushey's Fruit Market

I know what you’re thinking, Constant Readers.  Isn’t today Friday, Captain Cheese?  Don’t you usually have a recipe review on Fridays?  Boushey’s Fruit Market is a weird name for a recipe, don’t you think?

The answers to those questions are yes, yes and I’ve seen weirder.  But you’re right, it’s not a recipe.  Boushey’s Fruit Market is a local Ottawa business, located right downtown on Elgin Street.  I’ve passed by it several times as I’ve run errands and visited other establishments but I had never stopped in and shopped there.  However, what really caught my eye this time was the sign outside that said “Cheese of the World, Over 150 Varieties”.  How could any self-respecting cheese blogger have a cheese shop literally blocks from him and not try it out?

The store has been owned by the Boushey family since 1946.  They have a wide variety of cheese, as indicated on their sign, as well as grocery items, fruits, vegetable and a hot buffet section.  They also provide catering services and prepare gift baskets. So this morning, I took a walk over to Boushey’s to see what they had to offer.  I must say that I was impressed.  Many cheeses that I had not seen elsewhere and quite an international selection. Cheeses from the UK, France, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, etc.  They have cheese made from cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk  I even saw some cheese products that I’m unsure I would ever want to try (I’m looking at you unripened cheese twists in brine).  In the interests of being a complete cheese blog that tries all kinds of new things, though, I will probably at one point try them.

Did they have 150 varieties, as advertised?  Well, I didn’t count them all but there certainly was a lot. I’ll let you know as I work my way through them.  The first one will be reviewed on Monday.
Visit their website at bousheys.com, and... Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

One month (Red Leicester)!!!

Today is a milestone at Cheese Cheese Everywhere.  One month today, Captain Cheese started this blog.  In that month, we’ve gone through a name change and a schedule change.  We’ve had 21 posts, 731 page views and visits from 12 countries.  Thank you to all our visitors from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine, Costa Rica, India, Syria (?!?), Germany, Hong Kong and Qatar.  Here’s to at least one more month and hopefully many more months and years to come.

In honour of this milestone, we’re going back to a cheese that the Captain tried at the very beginning of the blog but did not have a chance to review…

Red Leicester (pronounced Lester) cheese is a cow’s milk cheese from Leicestershire, England.  An interesting fact is that the cheese was originally made on farms in Leicestershire with milk that was surplus once all the Stilton desired was made. It was originally coloured with carrot or beetroot juice. The Red Leicester cheese that I tried was from Oak Manor: Red Leicester


Over the course of this past month, I’ve come to the conclusion that I provide firm cheeses with strong flavours over soft “smelly” cheeses.  Red Leicester is one of the ones that I loved.  It’s simply excellent.  I could easily sit down with the whole block and eat it, haha.

Red Leicester is very similar to cheddar but makes a nice change if you’re getting tired of eating cheddar.

In summary, I’m an investor for Red Leicester!

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Monday's post

Welcome back, Constant Readers, to another week here at Cheese Cheese Everywhere!

As you’ll notice, the title of today’s post is Monday’s post.  But, you might say to yourself, isn’t today Tuesday?  Aren’t there only 4 days left till the weekend?   Not 5?  Please tell me there’s only 4 days!  Please, I’m begging you!  I can’t handle two Mondays!!!

It’s ok, you’re not all losing your minds.  Well, not about which day it is.  I don’t know about the other stuff.  Today’s post was supposed to go up yesterday but the life of a Captain is jam-packed and there are many adventures to go on.  So the Captain apologizes for the delay.

On to the review…

As many of you know, there is a Sobeys not far from the Captain’s abode.  Recently, there have been several cheeses on sale at not insignificant discounts.  2 weeks ago, it was brie at 50% off.  This week, Oka L’Artisan is 40% off.  If there’s one thing the Captain loves just as much as cheese, summer, cruises and Disney, it’s saving money.  Also, I noticed I hadn’t yet reviewed an Oka cheese.  It’s a well-known brand so I thought it was time.

First, a little history on the cheese because I actually think it’s quite interesting…  Oka cheeses are named after the town of Oka, where they were first produced.  Oka is a small town about 60 kilometres (or 45 minutes) northwest of Montreal (the Captain’s hometown).

Oka is known for two things.  One is its cheese and the other, especially for those who grew up in Montreal, is the Oka crisis.  I remember the Oka crisis quite vividly and invite you all to read up on it.  It’s a fascinating story that, to this day, I believe has not yet been completely resolved and involves a lot of issues that should be important to us as a society (urbanization, gentrification, inequality, relations with First Nations, etc, etc).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oka_Crisis

*steps down from soapbox*

As I mentioned above, the other thing Oka is known for is its cheese.  In fact, the cheese is named after the town.  It was first produced in 1893 by monks who had established a monastery in Oka.  The monks created an agricultural school, through an affiliation with the Université de Montréal, and started producing cheese as well.  In 1996, the monks sold the rights to the cheese to Agropur, a Quebec company.  So no, the cheese in Oka is no longer made by monks.  Although, research shows that monks at Our Lady of the Prairies Monastery in Holland, Manitoba produce Oka brand cheese as well.

Agropur’s website for Oka L’Artisan cheese: http://www.pleasureandcheeses.ca/cheeses/oka-lartisan

Oka cheese is a cow’s milk cheese that is ripened for about 5 weeks.  It’s very similar to Swiss cheese and even has holes in it.  I had 3 of my coworkers try it with me and their comments were as follows:

Clementine:  Like a creamy, smoky, Swiss cheese
Vanellope Von Schweetz:  Strong cheese with a subtle aftertaste
Morgans Grant:  Brah, that’s good.  You get some red wine with that and you’re good, brah.

For myself, I liked it.  But there are other similar cheeses that I like more.  Also, it was expensive (even with the 40% off).  So I don’t think I would buy it again.  There’s not enough that’s special about it to make me choose it over other cheeses.

Come back tomorrow for a milestone event at Cheese Cheese Everywhere!

Stay cheesy :)

Captain Cheese

Afterthoughts - Part 4

Another week in the books, another week closer to summer.  Last weekend was SO COLD!!!  As much as the Captain loves cheese, he loves summer just as much.  So this winter business is getting old.  Not to mention that, one year ago today, the Captain was headed to New Orleans for a one week cruise to Honduras, Belize and Cozumel.  Yes, in addition to cheese, the Captain is an aficionado of cruises and anything Disney theme park related.  So don’t be surprised if you see a lot of cruise related info over the course of the next week.

This week on Cheese Cheese Everywhere was an interesting one.  We didn’t actually review any particular cheeses, just cheese dishes and products.

Monday:  Tostitos Salsa Con Queso (“cheese” dip that is handy in a pinch)
Wednesday: Elgin Street Diner’s 4 Cheese Poutine (guest review that was given 3 out of 4 cheeses)
Friday: (Cheese) Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole (simply amazing and delicious)

Cheese in the News

A sad article this week, brought to us by Miss Lebanom-nom-nom: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood

Basically, what it comes down to is that while we shouldn’t be afraid to try new things and types of cheese, we still need to be careful.  Not everyone has our best interests at heart.

Something on the lighter side, this funny:

I hope everyone has a grate week :)

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese  

(Cheese) Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

TGIF, Constant Readers!  Thank Gouda it’s Friday!!!

Fridays are the best day of the week for 2 reasons.  1)  It’s the last day of the work week, and 2)  It’s Recipe Friday here at Cheese Cheese Everywhere

This week’s recipe is something that combines cheese along with several other foods that most everyone loves.  It’s got protein, carbs, spices and cheese.  How can you go wrong?  

And it smells D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S while cooking.

So, without further ado, I present to you the following recipe from allrecipes.com, which doesn’t actually have the word Cheese in the title, so I’ve renamed it…

(Cheese) Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

The ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked white rice
• 2 2/3 cups water
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups mild salsa

The directions

1. Place rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place chicken breast halves into a large saucepan, and fill the pan with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from water. When cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-size pieces.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a medium bowl, combine Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, onion, and salsa. Layer 1/2 of the rice, 1/2 of the chicken, 1/2 of the soup and salsa mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese mixture in prepared dish. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly.

As usual, a few notes after making this.

I couldn’t find any block Monterey Jack cheese so I bought the already shredded mix of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Queso Quesadilla.  It’s expensive but does save on time spent grating the cheese.

I used the mild salsa but if you like it hotter, you could use the medium or hot salsa and even throw in some diced chilies.

This works really well as a meal that you can make and eat for a couple of meals.  Usually, when I’m making a dish I make too much of it and get sick of it before I finish it all.  This doesn’t make too much so you won’t have that problem.

That being said, I only made one of each layer so it’s not as nice presentation-wise as it would be with two layers each.  Still, an excellent dish and well worth the time it takes to make it.

Hope you all have a great weekend,

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Guest review: 4 Cheese Poutine

Happy Hump Day, Constant Readers!

Let us travel back in time, to an era before our nation’s capital (and the City That Fun Forgot) had 51 centimetres of snow dumped on it.  That’s 20 inches for you imperial people. 

Let’s go all the way back to Sunday.  Captain Cheese was at home, enjoying a relaxing evening watching Garfunkel and Oates (who are hilarious, by the way). Check this video out to work out your post-Super Bowl blues: Sports Go Sports! 

So the Captain got a text and the conversation went like this:
Miss Lebanom-nom-nom: Have you had dinner yet?
Captain Cheese:  If by dinner, you mean am I eating chips and salsa right now, then yes.  If you mean actual dinner, then no.
ML-N-N: I really just want poutine.
CC: Elgin Street Diner then?

Regular readers of Cheese Cheese Everywhere (which should be all of you) know that the Captain has a weakness for poutine, and for Elgin Street Diner in particular.  Although usually I’m there at 3 in the morning, not 6 in the evening.  What you may not know is that, until Sunday, I did not know that ESD is shorthand for Elgin Street Diner.  Mind blown!   Also, for those of you who have never been to ESD, it was featured on The Food Network’s You Gotta Eat Here.  You can watch the video here: You Gotta Eat Here

So off we trekked to ESD for some delicious, delicious poutine.   I now pass the blog mic over to Miss Leba-nom-nom-nom....

As a person with a dairy sensitivity who LOVES cheese (perhaps more than Captain Cheese himself), I decided to be adventurous and order the 4-Cheese Poutine from ESD - Fresh cut fries, ESD's gravy, St. Albert's curds, Mozza, Cheddar and Swiss!

 
It was as cheesy as it sounds and so worth the discomfort. I give it a solid 3 out of 4 cheeses, mainly because I didn't like the gravy they used and the cheddar chunks weren't completely melted through. The 4 cheeses tasted great together, and it wasn't too heavy or greasy, which is always something to consider when consuming copious amounts of melted cheese. There are two other cheeses that can be added into the mix: Monterey Jack and Gouda (delish) and would make it a 6-Cheese poutine! I really hope they change the gravy so that I can try it..... *drops mic*

OK, thank you Miss-Lebanom-nom-nom.  Kind of an awkward silence at the end of the review there.

Two points:
1) No matter how much she loves cheese, it is simply not possible for her to love it as much as the Captain

2) 6 cheese poutine!  Can you imagine???

And for those of you wondering, I got the home fry poutine.  This leads to another story, which is only slightly cheese related in that it’s about poutine but is still extremely awkward/confusing/funny.

Captain Cheese:  I’ll have the home fry poutine
Waiter/Server Dude:  Have you had the home fry poutine before?
CC: No.
WSD:  Just to warn you, it’s not regular home fries like you get at Denny’s or Perkins.
CC: OK
WSD:  It’s more like mashed potatoes with garlic and butter
CC: OK
WSD:  Are you sure you want it?
CC: Yes
WSD:  Because once I punch it in, I can’t cancel the order
CC: OK
WSD:  Some people think they want it and then when they get it, they don’t want anymore
CC: No, it’s fine
WSD:  It tastes amazing but it doesn’t look very appetizing and some people let that affect what they think it tastes like
CC:  It’s ok, I’ll still take it
WSD:  You’re sure
CC: Yes

By this point, I was no longer sure at all.  Either this guy really didn’t want me to get it or he really wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t blame him if I didn’t like it.  In the end, it was very good and didn’t look much different than any other poutine I’ve ever had.  Gravy, cheese curds, potato product, it’s pretty hard to screw up the way it looks.

Hope you all enjoyed reading about Elgin Street Diner’s 4 cheese poutine.  Don’t forget to visit them and check out their website at elginstreetdiner.com

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese

Queso!

Welcome, Constant Readers, to the inaugural post under our new name, Cheese Cheese Everywhere!  As mentioned in this weekend’s Afterthoughts post, this new name is more professional, more marketable and lines up better with our web address, cheesecheeseeverywhere.blogspot.com. In addition, it’s also more reflective of our mission, which is to celebrate cheese in all its forms and all its locations.  Cheese cheese everywhere, indeed!

With that out of the way, I hope that everyone had a fantastic Valentine’s Day weekend and that the warmth of your hearts was more than enough to overcome the cold, cold weather.  Seriously, -45 with the wind chill?  Whazuppwitdat???

There was an original plan for today’s post but it seems to have fallen through.  That’s ok, though, because Captain Cheese always has a back-up plan (except when he doesn’t)!

The Captain did some entertaining on the weekend and always enjoys serving chips and salsa when he has company over.  This time, in addition to the salsa, there was guacamole (which was not a big success and which we will leave for a guacamole blog to review).  There was also queso, in the form of Tostitos Salsa Con Queso.

Some of you may be reading this and thinking, no way is that queso.  That “queso” is a fraud.  And that’s a valid point.  It’s obviously not home-made, it has tons of preservatives and additives and weird names you can’t pronounce, etc, etc.  But, in a pinch, when you’re already at the store, it’s easy to grab this when you’re in the chip aisle.  And that’s what I did.

All that being said, I happen to enjoy this “queso”.  It can be eaten cold, like a dip, or it can be warmed up.  I prefer it warmed up.  I like the consistency.  It’s not so thick that you dip a chip and it comes out without anything on it and it doesn’t break your chips.  But it’s not so thin that it’s dripping off your chip and onto the floor either.  

As for flavour and heat, it comes with Monterey Jack cheese and jalapeno peppers and is labeled “medium”.  Everyone has their own preferences as to spiciness and what they can handle comfortably.  For those of you familiar with the Scoville scale, my research indicates that Tostitos salsas usually fall in the 25-50 range.  A Jalapeno pepper by itself can be anywhere in the 1000-4000 range.  I’m kind of a wimp so something that is 40 to 800 times less hot than a jalapeno pepper is fine by me.  It’s like the Goldilocks of dips for me, just right.

I think that, if you have time to make your own, then go with that.  But if you’re planning a get-together and running here, there and everywhere, trying to get everything done, the Tostitos Salsa Con Queso is a good choice in a hurry.

If you are thinking of trying to make your own queso, this recipe looks very good.  Disclaimer:  I have not tried it but it may be featured on an upcoming edition of Recipe Review: http://www.aspicyperspective.com/the-best-queso-cheese-sauce/2/

One final note:  You will be seeing some additional changes to Cheese Cheese Everywhere in the coming weeks as we tweak it to where we want to be.  Be patient!  And if you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Stay cheesy!

Captain Cheese