Maryland now has a sheep dairy!  Shepherd’s Manor Creamery is now producing a very nice tome style sheep’s milk  cheese.  They also have a sheep yogurt, which is very nice.

They’re designed to be used on an outdoor grill, but we used them on an indoor gas range, and they worked very well.  We used Raclette cheese.

We had it on potatoes, cornichons, and the pickled carrots we got for Christmas.  It was a good, quick, and easy meal.

We went to Lexington, Kentucky for Pablo’s wedding, and sampled some cheese during the trip.  Drew sent us a reference about an Italian deli there, but the link said that they mostly did goat cheese.  When we got to the deli (at 11:11 on 11/11/11), the girl there said that the goats were perturbed during the season and didn’t produce much milk, so they just had sheep and cow cheeses (darn!).  We liked them both, and we had a wine/cheese party in our hotel room before the wedding.

Then we had sheep cheese from Good Shepherd and some cow cheddar from Boone Creek that we got at the farmers market.  They were both good.

AT got tickets to the quartet at the Austrian Embassy.  After that we had some burrata cheese that she got ???? <AKT: add to this>

Burrata means “buttered” in Italian.  The cheese is made with mozzarella and cream.

We saw this on TV and had to give it a try. The chef said she had tried 100 different ways to make this, and this was the best. It sure was easy. It takes awhile to boil a big pot of water on my stove, and this recipe cuts the water in half — so the whole recipe only took about 15 minutes total, especially with the smaller pasta. Of course, we got the real romano cheese as they suggested, per Whole Foods. We didn’t grate the cheese as fine as they suggested, and but it sure didn’t seem to effect the flavor.

We used Barilla whole grain angel hair pasta (though ATC says whole wheat pasta is better for you than whole grain with only 6 grams of fiber, and the didn’t even use whole wheat in this recipe) and skipped the black pepper. We have a lot left over — and I am so glad.

From America’s Test Kitchen’s Spaghetti with Pecorino Romano and Black Pepper (Cacio e Pepe)
Serving Size  : 6
Categories    : Pasta & Pasta Sauces

Amount  Measure       Ingredient — Preparation Method
——–  ————  ——————————–
6             ounces  Pecorino Romano cheese — 4 ounces finely grated (about 2 cups) and 2 ounces coarsely grated (about 1 cup)
1              pound  spaghetti
2        tablespoons  heavy cream
2        tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
1           teaspoon  black pepper

Place finely grated Pecorino in medium bowl. Set colander in large bowl.

Bring 2 quarts water to boil in large Dutch oven. Add pasta and 1½ teaspoons salt; cook, stirring frequently, until al dente. Drain pasta into colander set in bowl, reserving cooking water. Pour 1½ cups cooking water into liquid measuring cup and discard remainder; return pasta to now-empty bowl.

Slowly whisk 1 cup reserved pasta cooking water into finely grated Pecorino until smooth. Whisk in cream, oil, and black pepper. Gradually pour cheese mixture over pasta, tossing to coat. Let pasta rest 1 to 2 minutes, tossing frequently, adjusting consistency with remaining ½ cup reserved pasta water. Serve, passing coarsely grated Pecorino separately.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 448 Calories; 15g Fat (30.8% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 58g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 36mg Cholesterol; 348mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 4 Grain(Starch); 1 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat.

NOTES : High-quality ingredients are essential in this dish, most importantly, imported Pecorino Romano—not the bland domestic cheese labeled “Romano.” Use the small holes on a box grater to grate the cheese finely and the large holes to grate it coarsely. Alternatively, a food processor may be used to grate it finely: Cut the Pecorino into 2-inch pieces and process until finely ground, about 45 seconds. For a slightly less rich dish, substitute half-and-half for the heavy cream. Do not adjust the amount of water for cooking the pasta. Stir the pasta frequently while cooking so that it doesn’t stick to the pot. Letting the dish rest briefly before serving allows the flavors to develop and the sauce to thicken.

Hurricane Irene is sending a lot of rain and wind here now, so we decided to have a cheese course.  We tried making buttermilk oat crackers from the recipe in this month’s Culture magazine, but they turned out more like cookies. (They taste good with tea. Not too sweet; not too salty).

Camembert from Delice de France, which was good, but I’m not sure if it was from France or not.

Caciotta Toscana, from the Italian deli in Cleveland Park, a nice cow and sheep cheese from Italy.  Caciotta apparently means farmhouse in Italian.

Gorgonzola, also from the Italian deli, was very creamy.

After the earthquake in northern VA, we all had adventures getting home from work, what with all of the issues.  I took the subway, which was _very_ crowded, but somewhat on time.  We rendezvous’ed at Angela’s, and went out for a local happy hour.

From the Dino’s menu:

Guffanti Erborinato { sharp ~ sheep } Francia

BEWARE OF THIS CHEESE! Served with honey to tame its fire – Cave aged cheese that blues naturally from the molds in the cave for a wild effect.  What roquefort would taste like if it could!

It was very good, but we’re not sure why we should beware of it.

Epoisse, a washed rind (that is, stinky) unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese.

Mimolette, the orange cheese, also from France.  Steve Jenkins says it is bland.

Blue D’auvergne, an AOC cow’s milk cheese.  Very smooth and very good.

We went to N.C. for the trip to Tweetsie (the steam train amusement park in the N.C. mountains) to see Riders in the Sky (America’s favorite cowboy band).  We took cheese from the farmer’s market by the Navy Memorial (near where I work on Pennsylvania Ave) and from the Whole Foods in Tenleytown.

Hudson Valley Camembert, a very nice soft sheep’s milk cheese from Old Chatham Sheepherding Company in New York.  This one is square, the Nancy’s one is round.

Clear Spring Creamery farmstead cheddar, a very nice cheddar from Virginia cows.  I got this at the farmer’s market, just because it was there.

Fulvi Crotonese, a very nice aged sheep cheese from Italy.  Hard, like Parmigiano-Reggiano, but different.

BellaVitano black pepper, from the Sartori family of Wisconsin, made from cow’s milk.  Yes, it was cheese with stuff in it, but we liked it anyway.

Buttermilk Blue, from Roth Kase of Wisconsin.  A very nice blue, which we both like.  We’ve had this before.