Savory SarVecchio Tarts

You don’t have to be a trained pasty chef or a worldly traveler to experience a savory tart emerging from the oven, fluffy and fragrant with caramelized onions, herbs and the buttery smell of SarVecchio.

This simple variation on a French classic is especially easy when you opt for the store bought pastry short cut. With a sprinkling of briny olives, these tarts are tangy and meaty with a buttery finish. For obvious reasons, the anchovies are optional.

They are also great the next morning, warmed with a fried egg on top (although the French would bitterly disagree with this).

* Serves 2

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 pinch dried thyme

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

4 oz SarVecchio

1/4 cup Mixed Country Olives, pitted and chopped

2 or 3 anchovy fillets (optional), rinsed

All-purpose flour, for dusting

Extra-virgin olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper, freshly ground

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425. Melt butter with oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and thyme, and cook until onions are golden and soft, about 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry, and trim if needed. I made a 6x6 square. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, transfer to oven, and immediately reduce oven to 400. Bake until pastry begins to rise, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven promptly to add toppings.

Brush pastry with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange onions in a single layer over pastry, leaving a border around edge. Generously grate SarVecchio over onions. Top with olives (and anchovies if using). Reduce oven to 375 and bake for 15 minutes until puffed and golden. Cut into squares and serve.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: New Store Hours Edition

March 1, 2012 will go down in history as the day the Dairymaids expanded their warehouse hours, thus liberating hungry people from the confines of their cheese-less lives. If "history" were "Elizabeth's diary," anyway. From now on, we'll be hosting our regular cheese tastings every Tuesday through Friday from 10am-6pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am-4pm. Mondays we will rest and eat salads. 

You'll also notice that the shop is newly outfitted with the beautiful wine rack pictured above. We had it made for us here in the Heights and it has also conveniently made space in the cooler for more beer. 

Now that things are bigger and better, we have a few very "big" cheeses in store this week. The first is the Smokey Blue from Rogue Creamery, a raw milk blue that has been lightly smoked over Oregon hazelnut shells. The second is the Red Hawk, a washed rind from Cowgirl Creamy in San Francisco. Also on the plate is the Pondhopper, an aged goat cheese from Tumelo Farms that has been washed in Oregon beer, Veldhuizen Caraway Cheddar and the ever delicious brie-style Green Hill from Sweet Grass Diary.

Grilled Cheese Duo with Seasonal Soup

Nothing beats a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich dipped in a delicious soup on a chilly day. Since I’m not in the soup or bread making business, I went with the store bought variety. Wholefoods’ Rustic Italian is awesome for grilled cheese. Inspired by Go Texan Day, I came up with the genius notion of grilled cheese on corn bread with candied jalapeños. These flavors paired great with ginger carrot soup.

As you know, the Dairymaids are often contemplating their next mind boggling grilled cheese creation. Please take the liberty to come by the warehouse for your ingredients and come up with your own melted masterpiece! We would love to hear about your grilled cheese ideas. Submit below.

* Modify to serve as many as needed

Unsalted sweet cream butter
Fresh Italian sandwich bread
Fresh sweet corn bread
Vine ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced
Candied jalapeño
Green’s Creek Gruyere
Texas Gold Cheddar
Sand Creek Gouda
Cashew Ginger Carrot Soup

Directions:
Cut two slices of cornbread. Generously butter one side of each slice of both breads. Using a cheese cutter or plane, thinly slice each of your cheeses, enough for each cheese to make one layer on the bread. On the Italian bread, layer the Gruyere, Gouda and tomatoes. Salt and pepper the tomatoes. On the cornbread, layer the cheddar and jalapeños.

Toast sandwiches, butter side down on a griddle over medium heat until golden and cheese is melted. Serve with soup of your choice.

This Week's Warehouse Tasting: Winners Circle Edition

It's our firm belief that cheese is its own reward. It's also true that the warehouse is chock full of cheeses that have won awards and wheels that haven't yet had their moment in the spotlight but will one day get the recognition they deserve, just like Blade Runner. It was the Veldhuizen cheese that won the top prize in its category at the rodeo's Best Bites competition last weekend (you might have heard) so we're featuring them at the warehouse tasting this weekend. 

Connie and Stuart brought out the Texas Gold Cheddar, Paragon and Sharpshooter at the rodeo and it was the latter that earned the prize. The marigold colored cheddar is simply the Texas Gold aged an extra long time, giving it a sharper flavor and more crumbly texture. 

In addition to those cheeses, we'll also have a beautiful goat milk tomme-style cheese called Julianna, Reading Raclette and Pt. Reyes Blue. We're all winners here. 

Veldhuizen Cheese Won at the Rodeo Best Bites Competition

Last night, we joined the Veldhuizens at the Rodeo Uncorked and Best Bites Competition where hundreds of restaurants and wines showcased to a sold out crowd inside Reliant. We got to rub elbows with chefs and drink from petite wine glasses, making us feel very big league. Seriously, our hands felt oversized on those tiny stems. 

Stuart and Connie Veldhuizen came out to personally serve samples of their Paragon, Texas Gold Cheddar and Sharpshooter and ultimately accept the first place award in the Bread/Cheese/Dessert category. We were very excited, as you can see.

Thanks to all of you who came by the booth to say hi! Come by the warehouse any weekend for a taste of the winning cheeses--the Paragon and Texas Gold are always on our rain or shine list.