"chevre" news and stories

In Paris, the end of summer means that some of the best cheese shops, including Fromagerie Barthélémy and Fromagerie Trotté, will re-open their doors for business after being on holiday for several weeks. American tourists and gastronomes alike should take up this opportunity to taste France's most celebrated cheeses -- varieties that are either unavailable stateside or poorly represented in American food stores. Here are five must-buy French cheeses travelers should try next time they're in France.

• When cheesy desserts go goaty, the results are light and summery.
• Italian whites go way beyond pinot grigio. Time to travel outside of your comfort zone.
• Dandelion Kitchen cooks up seasonal local fare, sans kitchen.
• Speaking of local and seasonal, why not have dinner at the farm tonight?

For food lovers, spring is synonymous with goat cheese. Over the past month, cheesemakers like Peter Dixon at Consider Bardwell Farm and Laini Fondiller of Lazy Lady Farm, have been busy milking their goats and producing cheeses that will be ready for customers to buy in just a couple of weeks. We can't wait to try them, but why is this time of year particularly good for goat cheeses? Not surprisingly, one of the main reasons has a lot to do with pastures rich with grasses, herbs and flowers.

"The young sweet spring grass gives the milk so much flavor and butterfat," says Sergio Hernandez, manager of Bklyn Larder in Brooklyn, N.Y. More butterfat means the cheeses are richer and creamier. "Grass-based herds begin to graze on pasture in April, and the variety of grasses and flowers available directly affects the flavors in the cheese made from this milk," says Michael Anderson, affineur at Murray's. In other words, the flavor profile will be more complex. For instance, take Nettle Meadow Farm's Kunik. In spring, the wide variety of forages on the farm produces rich and herbaceous flavors in this cheese that are less pronounced in other seasons.

Over the past few years, Japanese chefs have been coming to Paris and taking on several aspects of French cuisine, from hamburger d'escargots au foie gras to macarons. Instead of opening up mere fusion-type food establishments, they are creating innovative approaches to long-established French dishes. For instance, Makoto Aoki brings out the juicy flavors of roast pork by adding soy sauce and miso. At a different Aoki shop (not related to Makoto), Sadaharu Aoki, there's white chocolate with sesame and salted caramel truffles with green tea. Even cheese, a dairy product that does not even exist in traditional Japanese cuisine, is being given a new life thanks to renowned Paris-based Japanese affineur Madame Hisada. She creates a new take on the traditional French Banon, a goat's milk cheese from Provence, by aging it in cherry leaves instead of chestnut leaves.

When trying to get rid of leftovers, it's easy to throw them into a stew, salad, or some other bowled smorgasbord of flavor. It can be a bit trickier to make a meal out of them that doesn't look like leftover land.

Granted, these leftovers aren't the pre-cooked kind, but what remained after a week of cooking and a journey through the freezer. We've got an eye of round dry-rubbed with a mixture of random spices, fingerling potatoes tossed in olive oil, herbs, and shallots and roasted in the toaster oven, and garlic and shallot-based saute of chard and bok choy.

The roasted shallots came off crispy, which made them the perfect topping to cover some old chevre. Now, I'm usually not a big fan of masking steak with other flavors, but when you're talking about a thick piece of meat, one that's been frozen for a few months, a little cheese and shallots go a long way. They swim with the juice of the meat, and team perfectly with garlicky greens and herby potatoes.

For a quick and simple meal, it really can't be beat.