Spanish Goat's Cheese

Just eaten a midnight snack. It was 1.00 am when I started so I suppose technically I can't call it a midnight snack. Very enjoyable! I do not make a habit of having late night snacks but just this once I thought why not. There was a whole round of Spanish goat's cheese in the fridge and a packet of savoury biscuits in the cupboard just making the temptation too great.

What has this got to do with supermarkets? Nothing directly but I wanted to cover the subject of enjoying good food and bad attitudes.

I have always had a bad attitude towards food. I shudder to think of the trouble my mother had feeding me. If I did not like something, I did not like it . . . even if I had never tried it. As a child, and even into my teenage years, I was very reluctant to try any new foods. The usual reaction on coming to the table would be “Yuk, I'm not eating that”. To make it worse my mother would pander to my fussiness and often cook me something different to what everyone else was having.

Spanish Goat's Cheese with Garlic

These days I like to think I am a lot more adventurous with food, and will try anything once. But there lies the problem. I will often try something once and then dismiss that particular food just on the basis of one tasting or one example. I am probably not alone in having this attitude to food and it makes you wonder how many of us miss out on some really great foods just because we are too narrow minded.

It was the recent arrival by courier of a Spanish goat's cheese that set this train of thought in motion. Can you imagine my reaction if my mother had tried putting goat's cheese on the table - if it was not Cheddar or Cheshire cheese it was not cheese!

Before saying anything about this particular cheese I should give you some idea of my attitude towards goats cheese.

I blame Raymond Blanc! It seems like a long time ago now - I worked as a kitchen assistant for Raymond Blanc when his brasserie, le petit Blanc, opened in Cheltenham. One of the most popular starters was Goat's Cheese in Filo Pastry deep fried. (I think it had tapenade on the cheese as well.). It was never something I would have ordered when eating there but as I often got to cook it I did get the opportunity to taste when one went wrong. As I said they were one of the most popular starters but they really put me off eating goats cheese ever again . . . until last year.

"Very nice served simply"

Last year I came across Blue Goat's cheese when visiting La Hogue Farm shop near Newmarket. Now that is something really special, the cheese that is, although La Hogue is impressive too. The texture is far firmer and the taste . . . well, you try it and see. It is a really classy cheese. I do not remember the name but I have tried other blue goats cheese and they are all good if you cannot make it to La Hogue Farm shop.

Suddenly blue goat's cheese made me more receptive to the idea that perhaps all goats cheese was not the same. So when the opportunity to try a wheel of Goats Cheese with Garlic came along I jumped at the chance . . . and I am really glad I did. This was a real class act all the way from Spain. Totally different from anything I have tried before. It is a hard cheese and what a lovely flavour. I am not good at putting into words how something tastes so will not even try, but this is something you should try for yourself.

The Goats Cheese with Garlic came from Orce Serrano Hams and this is how it is described on their web site:

“For lovers of goats cheese and stronger cheeses this combination is well suited to bossy red wines or to compliment mature reserva hams. A delicious goats cheese with strong yet balanced hints of garlic resulting in a unique Spanish flavour. A cheese for the adventurous and connoisseurs alike.”

Does this make me a connoisseur? You certainly feel like one when eating it. My wife tried it whilst I was out and she had it with some of the new Bon Maman lemon marmalade and said it tasted really good. (Going to sneak off and try that myself in a minute!)

The moral of this story is not to have tunnel vision when it comes to food and try everything you get the chance to try. You will not like everything but imagine how many good things you might be missing out on.

If you would like to try this particular cheese you will find it on the Spanish Tapas page of the Orce Serrano Hams web site. (Plenty more to choose from as well.)

Editorial note: This site is not paid to promote any of the products or places featured in this newsletter.

from Around the Supermarket (May 2012)

There is always something happening in supermarkets - new products, product demonstrations, shelves reorganised so you can't find anything. Not always interesting, quite often boring and sometimes a chore but just occasionally something catches your eye, something is interesting . . .