Monday, October 12, 2009

Cheese-y Moments

If 2 years ago someone had told me I would be experimental in the kitchen and throwing things together without a recipe or even a real idea I would have laughed at them!  Now, I can be found happily tossing things together because hey, I have a decent palate, and I know what we will think tastes good.  So when we got the munchies today (as in, we are just kind of throwing together things to eat rather than meals, but don't worry, we still sit out butts at the table) and I realized our Brie might be going bad and holy crap was it 10 times more expensive here than it was in England so we cannot wait it, I decided to make a dip for our ciabatta bread (that we picked up from the cheap past date section of the commissary, and I can happily say days later is still perfectly fresh and tasty).  I took that little wedge of Brie and melted in in my saucepan (mainly because, well, let's be honest I was worried it was going bad, so I was killing off anything that might be on it) added some chopped up tomato and crushed garlic, then threw in some dried parsley and a tiny bit of cayenne just to be daring.  

It turned out amazing.  G nearly licked the bowl clean!  


Which leads me to what I need to admit.  I have a love/hate relationship with brie.  I always, always, think it tastes horrible with my first bite.  But by the third I am fighting G, throwing in my elbows and occasionally biting to get the rest of it!  It's just one of those foods that takes a few bites to adjust to.  Kind of like cardamom, but that's for another day.  So please, if you've told yourself you just don't like Brie, please give it a chance.  If the rind is too much for you, be shocking and cut it off!  And remember to leave it our for an hour or two before eating so it's soft and gooey.  


And as always, if you have some to-die-for brie recipes, let me know!  

2 comments:

  1. How funny - this happened to me too! (The not liking brie and then falling in love with it, I mean). I had guests over for dinner and as I was focusing on a tricky main course I wanted a simple, but delicious appetiser to keep guests away from the kitchen whilst I wrestled with the last minute details. I found this Baked Brie and Sundried Tomatoes - it was so easy (just put in the oven and forget about it, then pull it out - so I could keep working on the main meal at the same time....) And it was the hit of the dinner party! (Which was a big lesson, after all the hard work (over 4 hours of cooking) I had done on the main course!!

    Anyway - here is the recipe, and another brie one from the same site that I have been dying to try! I will now have to add your recipe to my list!

    J


    http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2009/03/baked-brie-with-sundried-tomatoes.html

    http://closetcooking.blogspot.com/2008/12/baked-brie-with-cranberry-sauce.html

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  2. J, oooh, I am going to try these! As soon as I find a supplier for Brie. I paid 8 dollars for a little wedge of it the last time, and compared to England I nearly had a heart attack! (and yes, I know it's cheaper there, but still)

    I need to e-mail you soon! Life has been crazy, but I miss our "chats".

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