Day 35: Fromage Fort

     I am not joking.  I am not exaggerating.  I just counted and I currently have 15 different cheeses in my refrigerator.  I can't help myself.  I love cheese.  Jamie loves cheese.  Cate loves cheese.  Everytime I am at the grocery store, whether or not cheese is on the list, I still have to take a swing by the upscale cheese section.  Sure, I have standard cheddar in the bin and mozzarella and pepper jack.  But I also have wonderful, local goat cheese.  I have Comte, which is a favorite.  And I ALWAYS have Gruyere on hand.  My favorite trip downtown is to head to the cheese section of Penn Mac.  I got downright giddy in January when I realized that they had my favorite, L'Etivaz.  They only have it once a year...Google it and you will learn why it is so special.

     But what do you do when you just have a nob of a certain cheese left?  Sure, you could pop it in your mouth and savor it until the next purchase.  I take that nob and place it in a bag...my cheese bag.  When I have about 8 ounces of nobs...of all different kinds...I make Fromage  Fort.

     My favorite recipe comes from Jacques Pépin.  While you can serve it cold on bread, I like melted on a baguette.

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/fromage-fort

     And NEVER throw away the rind of Parmesan...never.  Throw a small nob into your batch of homemade soup.  Your soup will never be the same.

    The other item I save is bread.  There is always a "bread" bag in my freezer which contains slices of stale bread - any kind of bread - an old baguette, a stale everything bagel, italian bread, hotdog buns - anything.  When I need breadcrumbs, I get out my bread bag, toss cubes of bread into my blender and make breadcrumbs.  Then I place the crumbs on a cookie sheet and into a 275 degree oven until they are crisp - mixing it up several times.  Crumbs go into a jar and are ready to use.

Stay healthy and safe.