Cheese Pairings in honor of Seattle Cheese Festival

Here are some cheese-cheese condiment pairings from some of

Ritrovo cheese friends, all in honor of this weekend’s Seattle Cheese Festival.

Read more also at today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer food section

CHEESE CONDIMENT	CHEESE	FRIEND
Pecatti di Ciacco Mint flower honey	Aged pecorino	Foster & Dobbs, Portland, Oregon
Dr. Pescia sulla honey	Roquefort	Foster & Dobbs
Dr. Pescia blackberry honey	Zamorano from Spain	Enoteca Vespaio, Austin, TX
Dr. Pescia heather honey	Ossau-Iraty from Pyrenees	Enoteca Vespaio, Austin, TX
Casina Rossa Abruzzo Piccante	Fontina cheese and scrambled eggs	St. Killian’s Cheese Shop, Denver
Peccati di Ciacco Grilled Fennel	Pizza bianca with prosciutto	St. Killian’s Cheese Shop, Denver
Radici of Tuscany White Beans	Over arugula with pecorino romano	St. Killian’s Cheese Shop, Denver
Peccati di Ciacco Truffle Honey	Robiola Due Latti	Cheese Shop of Healdsburg, CA
La Bottega di Chiassaia Panforte	Layered with sliced Taleggio cheese	Tulio Ristorante, Seattle
Casina Rossa Saffron & Honey	Aged pecorino cheese	DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine, Seattle
Radici of Tuscany Chestnut-Orange	Delice de Bourgogne	Shannon Thorne, Ballinger Thriftway
Radici Quince Jam and San Basilio	La Perel from Spain	Shannon Thorne, Ballinger Thriftway
raw Sicilian almonds
Il Mongetto Mostarda d’Uva	Beecher’s Flagship cheddar	Thirst Wine Bar, Portland, OR
Casina Rossa Mosto Cotto	Estrella Chevrette	Stumbling Goat, Seattle

Burrata and the Seattle Cheese Festival

In over fifteen years of exploring Italy’s hinterlands, back roads, and mountain trails we are continuously amazed by its vast diversity of food and drink. To date, upwards of 1,500 different wines can be found in the Italian market (one in five Italians makes his/her own wine), each one of them conceived as part of a regionally significant, flavor-balanced combination of wine and food.

The most common basic accompaniment to Italian wines are its cheeses. From the high mountain pastures of Alto Adige to the southeaster tip of Sicily, we have found delicious local cheeses, each one with its own story. As an example, in June 2007 we had the opportunity to visit the Caseificio Olanda in Puglia, a renowned artisan maker of burrata, a fresh, pliable, cow’s milk cheese similar at first glance to fresh mozzarella. Though burrata (“buttery”) is a regional specialty in southeastern Puglia, Caseificio Olanda now uses optimum quality, fresh cow’s milk trucked in every morning from mountain pastures in the north. Upon arrival at the caseficio the milk is heated, then it is formed into curds. The curds are fashioned into large, pearly sheets, then, at this point, artisan magic occurs: The pearly sheets are sliced into pliable sections, immersed in basins of whey, then masterfully transformed into small, open-ended “cheese pouches,” each pouch containing a drop of fresh milk in its center and a knob-like tag of fresh cheese at its top. The tags are used to tie up these pouches, sealing in their creamy centers and giving the burrata a creamy finish from its absorption of the fresh milk.

These cheeses are like soft versions of Carrara marble—ivory-white, yet as silky and smooth as the velvety milk from which they are made. Suggestion: Cut open a burrata over some fresh greens and drizzle with some peppery extra virgin olive oil. This is simple, regional Italian food that exalts the rich flavors of its pure, raw materials. Or do as Chef Walter Pisano of Tulio Ristorante in Seattle does and elaborate a bit by arranging some fresh heirloom tomato slices beside the burrata, and sprinkling with basil-infused salt.

Join Ritrovo in its exaltation of simple regional Italian food at the Seattle Cheese Festival where we will feature fresh (American) burrata with condiments such as:

• Tenuta Cocevola DOP Terra di Bari Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Taralli Crackers
• Michele Ferrante Controne Hot Pepper
• Mastri di San Basilio Organic Sicilian oregano
• Casina Rossa “& Salts” including the debut of “Fiori & Salt”