An Evening at Feedfeed Brooklyn
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| Cheeses Featured: Chabichou du Pitou, Goat Brie, Le Chevrot, Petit Billy, and Bucherondin |
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At FeedfeedBrooklyn, we had the extreme good fortune of kicking off the Autumn season with a multi-course dinner celebrating the delicious range of cheeses produced by Goat Cheeses of France. We couldn’t have been more proud and delighted to enjoy a meal with this long-time friend and partner of Feedfeed, and our senses were ever happier as the evening progressed.
The evening started with varied hors d’oeuvres featuring various goat cheeses. An oversized cheeseboard showcased the rich flavors of a baked Florette goat cheese, while perennial favorite Fleur de Chevre transformed a goat cheese log into creamy, sweet and savory bites. Crudites with whipped goat cheese, plus roasted pear tartines with honey-thyme goat brie and Le Chevrot rounded out the opening spread.
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Tia Keenan, cheese expert, book author and writer of the only cheese-dedicated column in the States (check out her feature “Cheese Wisely”, in the Wall Street Journal) joined us for dinner. It was our good fortune that she also let us through a goat cheese tasting course. (Making it even more fun were the personalized tasting plates at each place setting!) Keenan explained the muli-generational heritage of cheese-making in France (covering more generations than even exist in the U.S.!), and how centuries of acquired cheesemaking knowledge, practices and understanding of terroir and the nuances of goats’ behavior positions French goat cheesemaking at the forefront in world goat cheesemaking. In fact, U.S. producers regularly look to French practices when honing their own craft. Tia also helped us understand the range of qualities found throughout goat cheeses, namely that a more aged cheese will be drier and firmer, with sharper notes, while a younger cheese will be softer, even runny, with milder, grassy notes.
The tasting included the following cheeses and accompaniments:
- Fleur Verte paired with tarragon wine jelly
- Selles-Sur-Cher paired with roasted baby carrots
- Chabichou du Poitou paired with curried cashews
- Le Pico paired with lemon relish
- Bucherondin paired with French honey
Personal favorites were the Chabichou, easily recognizable by its firm center and softer edge, and the soft Le Pico, with its especially grassy, hay-like notes. One of my favorite takeaways however was the reminder that all of these French goat cheeses are easy to source, whether at Whole Foods, Market Basket, Safeway, Kroger, or a local cheese shop. |
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| As dinner was served, the variety of uses of French goat cheese really came to life. Chicken thighs with creamy goat cheese and sweet onion sauce paired with a pasta bake featuring Petit Billy (cheese), plus a brussels sprouts and kale salad with Délice du Poitou and roasted butternut squash wedges with caramelized onions, toasted Macadamia nuts, and crumbled Bucherondin. When it came to the sweet finish for the meal, we used Valencay (cheese) in mini phyllo shells to create lemon-honey cheesecake bites, plus topped the chocolate cake with cinnamon goat cheese frosting. |
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All told, when it comes to enjoying goat cheese, the sky’s the limit in terms of ways to enjoy it. Look for the goat silhouette on the packaging and / or ask for French goat cheese to know that what you’re about to bite into is the world leader in goat cheeses. But don’t take our word for it - your tastebuds won’t lie!
Want to know more about the different varieties and textures of French goat cheese? Click here!
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