From The Daily Meal:
A Five-Course Lunch to Celebrate New York’s Cheese Week
By
Staff Writer
A celebratory meal at Bar Boulud welcomes the French Cheese Board to New York
The start of the French Cheese Board’s Cheese Week in New York City, running from Feb. 21 to Feb. 26, was celebrated with a five-course lunch. Chefs from Les Mâitres Cuisiniers de France came together at Bar Boulud to celebrate the event with dishes they will feature for the week. Every one featured cheese in familiar — or unfamiliar — form. And each course was accompanied by French wines.
Chef Alexander Burger of the host restaurant, Bar Boulud, was responsible for two courses. The first, passed canapés, included a glorious black truffle goat cheese from artisanal California cheesemaker Laura Chenel, a petite breakfast goat cheese from Marin French Cheese of California, and finally a Gabietou from Mon Fromagerie in Roanne. These rich cheeses were accompanied by Champagne Brimoncourt Régence Brut, Château de Berne’s Côte de Provence rosé, and a red Bordeaux from Légende, the venerable Château Lafite’s entry into more moderately priced wines.
Chef Hervé Malivert of the International Culinary Center (ICC) presented his take on a smoked duck, goat cheese, and potato tatin. To accompany the dish was a relative newcomer to the International wine arena: Château Tourril Minervois, showing both their 2011 Panatella and their 2016 Helios.
The main course followed. It was a tour de force for Burger again. He served a braised pork shank with broccoli rabe and garlic jus, but the surprise was his pommes aligot. This potato purée got its intense creaminess and richness with the addition of comté juraflore fort des Rousses from Fromagerie Arnaud. This genre of cow’s milk cheese has the distinction of having the highest production of all French AOC cheeses, at 64,000 tons annually. The Arnaud family makes one of the best, as it has since it was founded in 1907. The wines were two more under the Légende label, a St. Émilion and a Pauillac.
What would a cheese lunch be without a cheese platter? The task of making this one fell to hef Anna McGorman of Bar Boulud (she was one of the creators of Dominique Ansel’s madly popular cronut). She chose to spotlight the work of two French cheesemakers who have taken to making cheese in America with a passion. Alouette, a brand familiar to supermarket shoppers, was represented by its Etorki Reserve and Saint Agur L’Intense. Etorki is a sheep’s milk cheese originally from the French Basque region; Saint Agur l’intense is a mild double cream blue cheese. California’s Marin French Cheese was represented again, this time by its petite cendrée, a triple crème cheese that is dusted with ash before it develops a bloomy rind. The cheese course was accompanied by Château Massot, one of the first organic wines from Bordeaux. With it was Château La Dauphine’s Cuvée Delphis from Fronsac.
The pièce de rèsistance of the lunch may very well have been the dessert created by chef Bernard Liberatore on Manhattan’s CORE Club — a Roquefort terrine, combining a cream of the emblematic blue cheese with a remarkable flavor of spice cake and pear and a quenelle of walnut ice cream. The pear and Roquefort flavors were a great match. (The chef was kind enough to give The Daily Meal the recipe.) The perfect accompaniment to the final course of a memorable meal was a glass of Boulard Grand Solage Calvados VSOP.
Recipe for Chef Bernard Liberatore’s Rouquefort Terrine with Walnut Creme Glace
To Make the Walnut Ice Cream:
2 Ounces walnut halves 3/4 Cups milk 1/4 Cup heavy cream 12 Ounces egg yolk 2 Ounces sugar
To Make the Spice Cake:
1/4 Cup Guinness 1/4 Cup molasses 1 Teaspoon baking soda 1 Egg 2 Tablespoons sugar 2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar 3 Tablespoons grape seed oil 1 1/2 Teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder 1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 Teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 Teaspoon nutmeg
To Make the Pear and Roquefort Crème:
3 Bartlett pears 4 Ounces sugar 3/4 Cups water 1 Vanilla bean 1 Star anise 1/2 Cinnamon stick 8 Ounces Roquefort 3.5 Ounces mascarpone 3 Sheets of gelatin
To Make the Pear Gel:
2 Halved, poached pears (see above)
Pinch of agar-agar
Pinch of agar-agar
Directions
To Make the Walnut Ice Cream:
Toast the walnuts, then rough chop them.
Bring the heavy cream, milk and the rough chopped walnuts to a boil then remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes, covered.
Blanch the egg yolks and sugar.
Bring the cream, milk, walnut liquid to a boil.
Temper the yolk mixture and add it to the cream, milk, walnut mixture.
Chill the mixture for an hour then follow ice cream maker directions to make the ice cream. Store in the freezer overnight.
To Make the Spice Cake:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bring beer and molasses to a boil in a large pot. Remove from heat. Add the baking soda which will foam up. Whisk and set aside.
Whisk sugar and eggs together until they form a yellow ribbon. The slowly pour in the grape seed oil.
Add beer and molasses mix to the sugar and egg mixture.
Fold in dry ingredients, mixing carefully to eliminate any lumps.
Line 1/4 sheet pan with parchment paper.
Pour the cake mixture, tapping down the sheet pan.
Bake for 12 until cake is done but still moist.
Once cake is baked, weight it down using 2 quarter sheet pans. Let cake cool completely.
To Make the Pear and Roquefort Crème:
First, poach the pears. Peel the pears, cut in half and core the pear. Bring the water, sugar, vanilla bean, star anise, cinnamon stick and the pears to a boil. Simmer on low for 25 minutes or until the pears are fully cooked and soft. Reserve the pear cooking liquid to use later. Cool the pears.
Use 2 half pears for the gel and dice the rest into 3/8 inch pieces for the terrine.
Next make the Roquefort Crème. Crumble the Roquefort and using the paddle on a stand mixer, blend in the mascarpone.
Make the Pear and Roquefort Crème. Soak the gelatin in ice water. Fold the diced pear into the Roquefort crème. Warm 1/2 cup of the pear cooking liquid, melt the gelatin and add it to the pear and Roquefort mixture.
To Make the Pear Gel:
In a blender or food processor, purée the pear halves to a smooth consistency.
Put them in a pot and bring the purée to a boil, whisking in the agar. Cook for 1 minute.
Wrap the pot in cling wrap and set aside.
When the pear purée has set, mix in the blender or food processor again. Put the puree into a squeeze bottle to be ready for use.
To assemble the Terrine:
Cut the sheet cake into pieces, one 2/3 of the thickness and one 1/3. Put the 2/3 piece onto a plate or flat surface.
Cover the entire surface of the cake with the pear Roquefort crème. Cover with the 1/3 cake, pressing down. Let set overnight in the fridge. Cut into squares.
To finish the cake, apply a swirl of the Pear Gel on the plate from the center. Put a slice of the terrine slightly off center. Place randomly Fennel Blossoms on the Pear Gel. Put 2 pieces of Opaline on 2 of the blossoms. Quenelle the ice cream and place on the pear gel.
