Easy baked camembert for winter nights

Yes, it is cold outside. I feel you.

Yes, there is a curfew. I feel you.

Yes, you are spending the evening in…again… but it does not have to be boring. You can indulge yourself or your parter…or the friend who is sleeping over at your place with this great 15-20 easy but delish recipe to pair with the white wine you choose for this evening. Yes, because this time you choose white, like a good Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris or anything nice and dry. It as a great combo to warm up your heart, evening and the oven … 😉

So here you are, easy as abc.

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Ingredients

• 1 wheel camembert (in box)
• 1-2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoons fresh sage
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt
• Pepper
• Bread (for serving)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC .Leave the camembert in the box and cover it with aluminium foil to keep the melting cheese , in case it goes a bit over the top. 🙂 Only the side and the bottom, do not close it on top!
2. Score the top of the cheese in a crosshatch pattern.
3. Finely slice 1-2 peeled garlic cloves and poke them into the wholes on the top of the cheese with a few sage tips. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sea salt, pepper and / or pepper flakes then bake in the hot oven for 15 minutes.
4. Cut bite-sized pieces of any bread you like and lay them on a tray and pop in the oven to cook with the camembert for 5 more minutes.
5. Pour a glass of wine, sit down on the couch and enjoy the evening ❤

Tadddaaa… ENJOY! ❤

Cheese stor(ie)s – Fromage, Budapest

I thought it might be a good idea to to share my experiences with you guys in regards cheese stores around the globe, since now in Budapest I am telling you about Fromage on Pozsonyi street in the 13th district.

The place is just overall gorgeous with a quite nice variety of cheeses, wines, liquores, jams, Italian sweets, charchuterie and breads. So if you love small scale gourmet food then that is your place to go.

The store itself is not bigger than 8 square meters but it is full of goodies from floor to ceiling ( I love these kind of places), also the service is excellent.

This gem is not only for takeaway though, but if you have some time you can ask for a nice glass of Prosecco or whatever you want and a custom made cheese platter that you can enjoy just outside of the place since they have 2-4 small tables. And after that you might just go back and grab some more stuff the you can indulge yourself with.

Unfortunately, I could only ask for takeaway now some Italian salami, a CreMonte and a Gorgonzola Cremificato. I cannot help it, I just love all froms of bleu….

CreMonte is a pasteurized cow milk blue-brie originally made in Germany. It has a creamy, mild texture and mild, spicy flavour.

Gorgonzola Cremificato is smooth and creamy in texture. The cheese is mild and relatively sweet in taste with a rich and grassy aroma.

Both cheese could go well with fresh pears, apple and a sprinkle of honey.

If you would like to pair them with wine they would go well with Pinot Blanc, Sauternes and Moscato Passito or any kind of strong dessert wine that could match the strength and richness of the cheeses.

Enjoy 🙂

Transylvanian farm cheese #1

It is great to be back in Budapest for a short while since I have been missing not just my mom’s great dishes but good Hungarian farm-style cheese too as well as cheese making myself… but that is another topic.

Since my apartment is quite close to the farmer;s market I went down today to look around but I sadly had to realize that my favorite specialty stores have all closed due to the pandemic hopefully not forever.

This time I bumped into a cute cheese place serving mostly farm-style cheese from Transylvania and this is just what I needed that point. Lovely fresh cheese made with care and love 🙂

I did try 3 for this time that I would like to recommend some pairing with :

1.6 months old semi-hard Trappist monk style, cow mil cheese ( from Torocko)

6 months old Trappist Monk cheese made in the Transylvanian countryside. Creamy, buttery cowmilk cheese with some nutty notes.

& pairing : Pinot Grigio or Riesling.

2. 2 years old semi-hard cow milk cheese (from Tekerőpatak )

2 years old semi-hard cow milk cheese from Tekerôpatak, Transylvania. Great Swiss-style cheese with earthy and complex characteristics .

& pairing : Cava, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling

& pairing : Brown ales and Pilsners

3. Fresh sheep cheese

Fresh sheep cheese No unnecessary additives just a tiny pinch of salt and it becomes your best friend for the summer. Ideal for summer salads

& pairing : ideal with crisp, dry and young bottlings like Pinot Blanc, Verdejo, young Chardonnay and of my all time favorite Sauvignon Blanc.

Kaasbar Amsterdam, heaven for cheese lovers.

Finally, a place that I have been looking for. Stylish, great variety of local artisan cheese, good cheese-wine pairing recommendations ( thankfully not forced) and great service.

I love that finally a place could come over the idea of farm cheese presented on farms next cows, barns and the lovely land. Don’t get me wrong, I love farms and animals, but bringing a great variety of cheese, knowledge about cheese and the chance to choose really unique, tasty and rich cheese and enjoying them with great wines is something extremely important to create the demand for good cheese. As long as people are only given the chance to buy packaged, sliced cheese in supermarkets we cannot really expect them to have a better understanding of cheese or have the craving to try something new, something lot more of quality, lot more exciting.

That’s why I would highly recommend the Kaasbar in Amsterdam. If you are in town you got to try it.!

Here are some hints from the experience and the cheese I tried so far, although I am probably going to be back soon to try the whole variety.

What I tried ( from left to right) :

1.Brabants Blauw with medjool date & grasshopper (from Bastiansen)

2. Boeren Mulder Vergeten Kaas with red pesto & zucchini spaghetti (from Mulder)

3. Reade Jutter with onion chutney & red beetroot, seeds and pips ( from De Terschellinger)

4. Le petit Doruvael Truffel with lemon curd & red pepper fried spring rolls ( from Boerderij Doruvael)

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