Who Needs Butter?
With cheese like this, who needs butter? This chevre is lovely.
Playing with my Food
So, I went in search of some “prosciutto crudo” today and found a little shop, Fratelli Giancola, selling “salumi e formaggi” (meats and cheese). I told him, in Italian, that I wanted to eat some melon wrapped with prosciutto and asked for a recommendation. He pointed, pulled a whole hock off a shelf, shaved some of the fat away, then started slicing paper thin. I could easily and readily buy prosciutto prepackaged at the grocery store, but I wanted to try walking into one of the many specialty stores. There was much he said to me that I didn’t understand, but at least I walked out the door with what I came for!
He also had yet another cheese that caught my eye. It’s a smokey knot! OK. I had to have some of that. I gestured the quantity and ended up with about 8 “knots”. They’re kinda like a string cheese, tied in a knot, then smoked. Mmm, mmm good! The thing is, they’re great for “playing with my food”. You can actually UNTIE the knot and then retie it! What fun, AND smokey, salty, tastey.
I’d better start discovering some fabulous fruits and vegetables instead of cheeses and meats (with a half inch layer of fat on them). What will my doctor say!? (OK. In a year, I’ll check my cholesterol level and make a decision then.) Right now, it’s “no holds barred”. Try it all. Jump in. EAT!
Hey! It’s an “M” when untied!
Cheese Heaven
There’s a really great grocery store that I walk to about a mile away. It’s a good thing that it’s two miles there and back and that I walk because I keep finding really delicious cheeses to try out! (Uh oh! I’m much more of a sucker for the cheeses than the photogenic pastries here. Either one’s a danger!)
Here’s one that I just had to test: tomino prataiola mignon. It’s got a thin, brie-like exterior, with a subtly-flavored center and firm as if brie had aged and dried.
(I can see I’m going to need to learn some descriptive foodie terms to describe what I’m eating!)
Scamorza Affumicata
Mmmm. I discovered this cheese last summer and loved it: Scamorza Affumicata. (“Scamorza” is the kind of cheese. “Affumicata” means it’s smoked.) So I found it again at the store yesterday and had a chunk this morning with some fresh tomato. Good breakfast?
From a Wikipedia entry:
Scamorza is an Italian cow’s milk cheese. It can also be made of other milks, but that is less common. It is a close relative of mozzarella.
Scamorza is a plastic curd (or stretched curd) cheese in which the fresh curd matures in its own whey for several hours to allow acidity to develop by the process of lactose being converted to lactic acid. Artisanal cheesemakers would generally form the cheese into a round shape and then tie a string around the mass one third of the distance from the top and hang to dry. The resulting shape is pear-like. This is sometimes referred to as “strangling” the cheese. The cheese is usually white in color unless smoked. When smoked, the color is almond with a lighter interior.
It is reputed to melt better in baking than mozzarella. It can be substituted for mozzarella in most dishes. If using the smoked variety (scamorza affumicata), it adds a nice background flavor in replacement of mozzarella.
In Italy, scamorza is more commonly made in the south rather than the north. Technically, scamorza is a product of Puglia, where it is made throughout Bari province (Slow Food Editore. 2005. Italian cheese, p. 372.) However, it is available across the country, both in the unsmoked and smoked forms. Mario Batali cites grilled scamorza as a traditional dish in Neapolitan cooking. (Batali, M. 2008. Italian grill, p.33.) Scamorza in Bari is made from sheep milk. This is not necessarily true of cheeses called scamorza outside the EU.