cheese is magic
When I was younger, I tried to give up dairy. I thought it was going to be the ice cream that would make me break, but no. It was cheese. (This was before all the tasty alternatives we have now, by the way.) I don’t know what I was thinking, the idea of giving up cheese. Grilled cheese, pizza, lasagna, nachos. I am helpless when it comes to cheese, and I have decided I prefer my life that way. More cheese, more better. So I was excited to see an entire cookbook that celebrates the cheesiness and all it has to offer us.
If you’ve ever felt intimidated by cheese shops or wanted to put together a successful cheese board and didn’t know where to start, then Cheesy is here to help. It’s filled with insights and information, recipes and real-life suggestions for seasonal grilled cheese sandwiches. and (of course) how to put together a cheese board that will be loved by family and friends.
Author Farideh Sadeghin bridges the information gap, offering suggestions of cheese by style and by season. She teaches how to talk to a cheesemonger, what to ask and what to know, to find the best cheese options for what you need. She talks about how best to store your cheese, how to use the various cheese knives, and what you need to have on hand for a successful cheese board.
That doesn’t mean that you need to keep several kinds of nuts, crackers, pickles, olives, dried or fresh fruits, and cured meats on hand at all times. If you keep a handful of them on hand, then you can throw together a successful cheese board when friends drop by unexpectedly.
There are recipes that help round out the cheese board, like Red Onion Jam, Tomato Jam, Homemade Sesame Crackers, Marinated Olives, Vinegar Peppers, Sour Cream and Onion Spiced Nuts, and Pickled Radishes. But if you’re looking for more than just cheese boards, then just keep reading.
Broken down by season, Sadeghin offers up the ooiest and gooiest cheese recipes for an entire year. Autumn brings flavors of nutty and earthy cheese to complement the gourds and squashes that fill the stores. Favorite fall recipes include Four-Cheese Nachos, Three-Cheese Mac and Cheese, Beet and Ricotta Gnocchi, and Apple-Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting.
Winter brings coziness and holidays, soups and citrus. Recipes include Italian Wedding Stew, Fried Meatball Sandwich, Fondue, or Cottage Cheese Grasshopper Chocolate Pudding. Spring is a time of warmth and new energy, so you can try the Fried Mozzarella Balls, Lemony Asparagus and Snap Pea Salad, Grilled Lamp Chops with Whipped Goat Goddess Dressing, or Black Sesame Basque Cheesecake with Brownie Crust.
Summer is all about fresh fruit and vegetables, and fresh cheese can enhance these flavors. There are Crab and Corn Rangoon made with cream cheese, Grilled Provolone with Olive Chimichurri, Potato Chip Spanish Tortilla with Manchego and Chorizo, Sesame Chicken Cutlets with Tomatoes and Vinegar Peppers, and Mascarpone and Pistachio Tart.
Reading through Cheesy made me hungry, but it also inspired me to open myself to the cheesy possibilities. It’s a great cookbook for cheese beginners and intermediates, offering strong basics of cheese knowledge and encouraging growth and exploration. Cheesy is a great gift for anyone you know who wants to learn how to better incorporate cheese into their lifestyle and entertaining. Perfect for holidays and big family dinners.
Egalleys for Cheesy were provided by Chronicle Books through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
