Sweet Creme Fraiche + Almond

    How to explain that Creme Fraiche is a not sour cream?  Ah, let me count the ways.  For starters it has a much more viscous, dreamy texture than American sour cream.  As you can see in the photo above it can be piled up in heaping decadent swirls.  Also, Creme Fraiche is typically much higher in fat content, about 14% fat in some cases.  The acidity can hover around 4.5 ph the result is a cultured cream less sour than sour cream.  All of these marvelous traits combined makes for a much richer product.  Creme Fraiche is a knock out replacement for heavy cream in recipes, soups, and makes one hell of a (insert favorite dessert here) topping.  

    Now that you feel all educated about why Creme Fraiche is so much more than fancy-pants French sour cream let me tell you a story.  Once upon a time Creme Fraiche was mixed with sugar and almond extract.  Making a laughably simple dip/frosting thingy and there was much rejoicing in the kingdom.  The End.  Good story, no?  Right, so no literary prizes for me.  However, this bit of sweet dairy I whipped up is no joke.  

    Having never really used Creme Fraiche for anything and staring at the copious quantities on my store shelf I decided to explore.  I admit, I'm really not a fan of unadulterated Creme Fraiche.  I know, I know.  All you other cheese-heads out there will tell me how vaguely nutty and lactic yogurty amazingness this cultured cream is.  Frankly I find it bland.  That is until it's mixed with other things.  Then BAM!  

    In this case mixing it with sugar and almond made what was formerly an almost  distasteful Creme into something, dare I say, magical.  (okay cliche. but it is!)  Suddenly the light sour yogurt flavors all harmonized into a sweet nutty topping for my breakfast toast.  But the real good part was finishing off the last of it after dinner with a big bowl of ginger snaps carelessly dragged through the fluffy almondy cream.

Sweet Creme Fraiche + Almond

8 oz Creme Fraiche ( I like VC's version)

2 Tbs granulated sugar

2 tsp almond extract

In a small chilled bowl whip all ingredients together until smooth and fluffy.

Eat at once and refrigerate left overs promptly.

Capricho de Cabra with Colorado Honey + Lavender Blooms

    A fresh half-puck of Capricho de Cabra lightly sprinkled with french lavender blossoms and local honey.  This is what springtime breakfasts are made of.  There's just something about the clean, lemony tang of goat cheese that lends its self so well to sultry lavender and vaguely astringent clover honey.

    Thanks to my dear friend Lyn, back East, I have harbored an obsession for lavender flavored anything.  This dense, cakey Capricho being no exception.

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Summer Food.

Ricotta Salata w/Watermelon & Mint

It is summer.  It has been summer here in Colorado since mid-April.  Actually, it seems that most places in America hold this to be at least mostly true (80 degree days in march anyone?).  Potential catastrophic weather patterns aside, this heat brings out my longing for cliche, classic Americana, backyard barbecue food.  The kind that dyes my fingers with artificial colors, is slathered in pickle relish and eaten off of floppy paper plates that at some point will drop a huge glob of baked beans onto my sandaled feet.  Naturally at my behest The Guy & I have been unabashedly consuming burgers and brats (okay, so turkey burgers & andouille sausage on buns. because i must be fancy) this week.  

In the spirit of our "fancy" cook-out nosh I decided to whip up a cool little salad to take the edge off of the heat.  I managed through some combination of luck and wizardry to pick a watermelon that was both sweet and crunchy (i.e. perfect).  The cheese to pair it with was more of a no-brainer.  

The Ricotta Salata I used in this dish is really not the milky soft cows milk cheese that you buy by the tub at the grocery store.  This one is sheep's milk, crumbles readily (though it can be sliced with a good kitchen knife) and is much, much drier in texture.  It's flavor is milky, lightly animal, and brine-y.  Bringing to mind more of a whiff of seaside spray than salt-lick.  

I tossed the sweet cubed melon and Ricotta Salata together with a few sprigs of freshly plucked mint.  The sugary melon made the perfect salty/sweet pairing with the cheese. While the mint lent a high singing chill cutting through any extreme cloying or briney-ness in the salad.  

The overall result was the culinary equivalent of standing under a cool waterfall on a scorching summer afternoon.  The refreshment (and the going back for more) was never ending. 

Preview Friday #1

A little look at what's coming up this week on The Board and Wire.  

I'm pretty stoked about what's in the works for this week.

Don't touch that dial.