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Review of

Cheese, Glorious Cheese!

By Paula Lambert

Simon & Schuster,208 pages, $26.95

A few years ago cheese was discriminated against for its cholesterol clogging capabilities. It lurked humiliated on the sidelines of meals, abandoned until artisan cheese makers burst onto the culinary scene with European worthy delights tempting us back to embrace cheese again.  A new age of cheese appreciation had begun and Paula Lambert was in the forefront of this renaissance. In 1982, she opened the Mozzarella Company in Dallas, Texas. Her business is a testament to creating excellent products and passion for cheese. The Mozzarella Company has won numerous awards and sells a wide range of cow and goat milk cheeses all handcrafted in small batches.

Cheese, Glorious Cheese! is Lambert’s second cookbook sharing her zeal for delicious dishes using cheese. As a widely traveled home cook, Lambert is inspired by restaurant food and likes to translate these dishes into everyday recipes. “One point I would like to make is that this book should be only a guide to cooking. Please use my recipes as a springboard to create your own unique dishes. Try substituting various cheeses in the recipes. As long as you adhere to replicating the texture of the original cheese in the recipe, you can’t go wrong.” The recipes are very easy to follow and do not use exotic ingredients. All you need is a good cheese shop, and Portland is now sprouting several excellent stores, and an interest in playing with cheese.

I love soup and sometimes forget to make it in the summer. My repertoire leans towards heartier recipes for cold nights. Lambert has a Chilled Cucumber Soup with Feta, Cranberries, and Toasted Pecans that I had to try. The recipe is very straightforward using a yogurt, Feta, and sour cream mixture as thickener and garnish. A wisp of curry powder is added to finish the seasoning. The pale green color is a perfect foil for the dried-sweetened cranberries and toasted pecan garnish. I loved the different colors, textures, and tastes in this soup. Make the soup ahead for an elegant and easy way to start your al fresco evening this summer. There also is a gussied up version of gazpacho with chévre cream to garnish that is on hold for tomato season this year and I can’t wait for a cooler evening to try hot Mushroom Soup with Gruyére Crust. Sweet dried porcini mushrooms, shallots, and Dry Marsala are contrasted with peppery tarragon and the nutty flavor of melted gruyere atop a toasted baguette. 

I don’t know about you but every summer I haul out my trusty potato salad recipe and make it for the umpteenth time. Let’s face it after thirty years it has gotten a bit dull. Lambert has the perfect answer to my culinary conundrum. Potato Salad Spiked with Roquefort is no wall flower on the plate. Cooked red potatoes are dressed with an emulsion of Creole mustard, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Once the potatoes are cooled, chopped scallions, celery, fennel, drained capers, and crumbled Roquefort are tossed in. This is a burly addition to sit beside a perfectly grilled prime steak. The next evening I laid a bed of greens on a plate and topped it with leftover potato salad and a grilled chicken feta sausage. It was great!

With blueberry season just around the corner, I have dog-eared the recipe Lemon Blueberry Dream to try. I am a lemon curd fanatic and this recipe uses Mascarpone cheese in its custard as well as whipped cream. The blueberries are macerated with Grand Marnier and sugar. Served in parfait glasses I know this will be a summer winner! When it’s apple season I want to make Lambert’s Apple Pie with Roquefort-Walnut Crust. The trio of fruit, blue cheese, and walnuts are classic companions and to roll them into a pie sounds fabulous. The most unique dessert in the book is Toasted Pound Cake with White Cheddar Ice Cream and Apple Chutney. Lambert softens vanilla ice cream and mixes in well-aged sharp Cheddar cheese. Next she makes a spicy apple chutney. When she is ready to assemble the dish, she toasts slices of pound cake (store bought is fine but I like the excuse of making my own from scratch), tops it with ice cream, and warm apple chutney. What better way to indulge oneself in front of the fireplace?

Lambert sticks to the food and geography she loves with all of her recipes focusing on Europe, predominantly Italy, and the American Southwest. At first these areas appear to be unlikely partners in a cookbook but I think they illustrate the wide appeal and variety of uses for cheese. Fettuccine with Mascarpone and Fresh Herbs or Black Bean Ravioli with Green Chile-Goat Cheese Sauce? Gouda Bread Pudding or Tamale Tart? T-Bone Steak with Parsley-Pecorino Pesto or Pork Tenderloin with Smoked Cheddar-Tortilla Stuffing?

I have shunned cheese for many years, casting it out of my repertoire as an evil food, but no more! Cheese, Glorious Cheese! has reacquainted me with cheese and if I eat it in moderation- one or two bites-and savor each one, cheese and I can be friends again and I can enjoy this fun cookbook!

Read! Eat! Enjoy!

Judith Bishop

www.ingoodtastestore.com

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