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As life has thrown us all a curve ball and we're advised to stay inside as much as possible, I'm heeding that advice. With that, I'm being extra conscious about not wasting food (something I will definitely be better at in the future!) and being creative with what has been lurking in my kitchen cupboards. I also, like so many others, have a lot of time on my hands to cook. It's rare that I follow a recipe to the letter. When I cook I feel pretty comfortable swapping a minor ingredient or two if I don't have what the recipe calls for and if I don't think it will change the flavor of the final dish. Last night I needed to use up some fresh goat cheese and zucchini, and after looking in my cookbooks and searching online, I found this tart recipe that looked interesting, but I still felt the urge to tweak it. I thought about swapping the walnuts for toasted almonds and omitting the honey entirely, but in the end I made it almost exactly as it was written (I used dr...

1) Our neighborhood 2) Enzo really needs to learn to chill out 3) Drinks on the terrace at Treize au Jardin 4) Evening light in Saint-Germain-des-Prés 5) Goat cheese - ash covered and sprinkled with sarriette

I've always loved the subtle flavors that leaves ,  bark ,  ash  and  herbs  lend to cheese. Montrachet is no exception. It is wrapped in a chestnut leaf and is one of a handful of goat cheeses produced in Burgundy, a region that is famous for its wine, bien sûr , but also for its cow's milk cheeses, especially of the washed rind variety. Cheeses like Époisses, Abbaye de Cîteaux , Soumaintrain and Ami du Chambertin . But the popularity of cows in Burgundy doesn't mean you should disregard the wonderful goat cheeses from this region, such as Mâconnais and Charolais, both of which can be made entirely from goat's milk, and sometimes from a blend of cow and goat's milk. Montrachet is made by a sole producer located in Saint-Gengoux-le-National, a tiny town about an hour north of Mâcon. It is a semi-firm, unpasteurized goat cheese shaped like a squat little barrel. The chestnut leaf keeps it moist and adds a slight note of earthiness. It is tied with a strip...

Walk into any fromagerie in France during goat cheese season (April to November) and you will be faced with a tempting array of wrinkly rectangles, fresh drums, blue mold covered cylinders, two-toned cones, grey pyramids, white diamonds, discs wrapped in leaves, and a distinctive four-leaf clover,  le Trèfle du Perche. In the French cheese world, this one is fairly recent creation. Back in 1999 a group of 7 artisan cheesemakers in the northern part of the Loire Valley and the southern part of Normandy established  l’Association des Fromagers Caprins Perche et Loir  (after numerous meetings involving copious amounts of local cheese and wine I like to think) and created a new goat cheese. Their goal was to come up with a fromage de chèvre that would be instantly recognizable and that would become associated with their region. During its inception, one of the members spotted an unusual, four-leaf clover shaped clay cheese mold in a local rural museum and the rest is h...

Let's talk about mold. When it comes to food, mold is a major turn off. But when it comes to cheese, it has a purpose. Mold* imparts flavor and gives cheese its texture, its tang, its aroma and its ability to ooze across a plate, among other things. Roquefort is the example that immediately springs to mind. Mold, specifically the  penicillium roqueforti strain that makes up those delicious veins of blue, is what gives Roquefort its raison d'être . On that note, I would like to introduce you to a delightful little moldy goat's cheese from the  Deux-Sèvres  department called  le Sauvaget . There is the obvious appearance of a bluish-gray mold on its surface, which is a wonderful thing. This mold means flavor! Le Sauvaget is earthy, grassy, somewhat sour, salty and lactic. Its texture is dense, crumbly and coats your mouth with rich,  fromage de chèvre  deliciousness. Goat cheese season is upon us, so enjoy this one while you can! A crisp, mineral w...