Cook like a Cheesemonger: Bavette with Roquefort Sauce and Fingerling Potatoes

by Austin Coe Butler

Bavette is a little known cut of beef here in the states. It’s similar to a flank steak in that it comes from the bottom sirloin, but it’s a bit thicker and more marbled, giving it a deeper, beefy flavor and remarkable juiciness. With this in mind, some believe that butchers conspire to keep the steak for themselves, which has given bavette the reputation as “the butcher’s cut.” It’s rich, beefy flavor can hold up to a stronger cheese like Roquefort. This recipe is a combination of two classics, the French bistro classic steak frites, which often features bavette, and the American steak house staple of steak and blue cheese.

4 tbsp beef tallow or vegetable oil

2 tbsp unsalted butter

12 oz shallots, thinly sliced

11 oz fingerling potatoes

1 lb Bavette

1 sprig of rosemary

2 garlic cloves, crushed

125ml dry red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir

4 oz Vermont Creamery crème fraîche

4 oz Maison Carles Roquefort, crumbled

2 tbsp beef stock 

1 tbsp chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Season both sides of the bavette generously with salt and pepper. Allow it to temper while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Slice the fingerlings in half and place them in a pot of cold, salted water. Bring the pot to a boil then drop the heat to medium and cook for 8 minutes. Strain the potatoes and reserve.

Meanwhile, in a pan over medium heat, caramelize the shallots in a tablespoon of oil and a knob of butter. Reduce the heat and sweat, stirring often, until caramelized, about 20 minutes. If the shallots look like they are sticking or scorching, add a splash of water to release them. Despite what the internet may tell you, there’s no shortcut to jammy, caramelized alliums, so pour yourself a glass of wine, put on your favorite podcast, and enjoy your time babying those shallots.

Finish the potatoes. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the potatoes and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until lightly crisp and golden. 

To cook the bavette, place it in a pan over medium high heat with a tablespoon of oil and cook for 4-5 minutes on one side depending on its thickness. Flip the bavette and then add in the 2 tablespoons of butter, garlic, and herbs, and baste the steak for another 4-5 minutes. Remove the steak from the pan when its temperature reads 10º under your preferred doneness, for example, if you prefer medium rare you would pull the steak at 125º and allow the residual heat to carry the steak to 130–135º. Allow it to rest for a minimum of 5 minutes.

To make the Roquefort sauce, begin by removing the excess fat, rosemary, and garlic from the pan. Over medium heat, deglaze the pan with the wine and scrape up the fond, those crispy, browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the stock and then reduce the liquid by half. On low heat, add in the crème fraîche and Roquefort, stirring until the cheese is incorporated. Add the chives and cut the heat.

To serve, cut the bavette against the grain. Plate with a the caramelized shallots and fingerlings. Serve with a generous spoonful of the Roquefort sauce. And, of course, if you have any leftover Roquefort you can crumble it on top of the steak. Bon appétite! 

The Pairing: Chällerhocker + Roterfaden Terraces White

by Sophia Stern

Why we love the cheese 

This is the first cheese I ever learned how to sell when I was an 18-year-old cheesemonger! Iconic for its creepy ‘cellar dweller’ logo, Chällerhocker has gained international fame and is a true crowd favorite at our cheese counter. Try it and you’ll understand why. A Swiss original by Walter Rass, this creamy, richly nutty cheese from the Swiss Alps honors the traditions of Alpine cheesemaking that we’ve come to know and love. It is decadent and delicious, with depth that makes you crave piece after piece. The fresh wheels are washed in wine and spices and then aged for a minimum of 10 months in Alpine cellars. The resulting flavors are intensely umami, full of heavy cream, garlic, and beef broth 

Why we love the wine 

Roterfaden makes this white blend from ancient Germany terraces, a feature so significant to the final product, they named the wine after it. This “Terraces” white is bright, refreshing, and citrusy and is made up of Reisling, Weissburgunder, and Kerner. Producers Hannes Hoffmann and Olympia Samara biodynamically farm 4 hectares of grapes on steep, terraced vineyards of pure limestone. All work in the vineyards and cellar is done by hand. Winemaking is minimalist: native yeast fermentation, aging in old barrels, no fining or filtration and small additions of sulfur prior to bottling. Flavors of orchard fruits mixed with Meyer lemon are supported by a minerality that carries this wine to a dry and refreshing finish. 

Why we love the pairing 

Challerhocker is very rich and very flavorful, so the crisp acidity in the wine is much needed. The Roterfaden has enough acid to cut through the decadence of the Chällerhocker, while still letting both cheese and wine shine. The green notes in the wine also highlight some of the allium notes in the cheese, drawing out roasted garlic and caramelized onions from the Chällerhocker. The sweetness in the cheese is balanced with the minerality from the wine, offering a delightful and crushable combo. 

What else you should do with it  

Make a loaded baked potato! Use the Chällerhocker as your grated cheese topping. Roast some Russet potatoes in the oven and load them up with whatever you like, like sour cream, chives, crispy bacon, but most importantly grated Chällerhocker. The wine will both complement all the savory notes in your dinner and cut through the richness with its acidity. 

Cook like a Monger: Rarebit with Hafod Cheddar and a Shaved Fennel and Apple Salad

by Austin Butler

Hafod (pronounced “Havod”) is a feral little truckle of Cheddar made on Bwlchwernen Fawr in western Wales. It’s the perfect cheese to enjoy in that pub classic known as a Welsh rarebit, not only because of its provenance, but because of its flavors. This wheel of Hafod is beautifully cracked with blue veining, adding a rich umami to the smoky lard and Cheddar tang I pick up in the cheese. I enjoy having a rarebit alongside a salad, something to cut through the unctuousness with some herbaceous crunch. As apples are coming into season alongside walnuts, I can’t think of a better salad than one of shaved fennel, orchard apples, and walnuts with a tart and sweet dressing of apple cider vinegar and honey.

Makes 6 Welsh Rarebits

For the Welsh rarebit:

A generous knob (about a tablespoon) of butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup/200 mL beer like Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale or Guinness

1 tablespoon of mustard, either powdered Coleman’s or Dijon

½ teaspoon cayenne

2 tablespoons Col. Pabst’s Worcester Sauce

450 g Hafod Cheddar or other mature, strong cheese, grated

Crusty bread like Bakersfield’s Good ‘Wich of the North

For the salad:

1 small tart apple 

1 fennel bulb

30 g walnuts

25 g olive oil

25 g ACV

16 g honey

2 g salt

In a saucepan over low heat melt the butter. Add the flour to the pot and stir continuously to form a roux. Toast the roux until blonde and fragrant, about two minutes. Slowly add in the beer while stirring to prevent lumps. Add the mustard, cayenne, and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the Cheddar a handful at a time. Adding the cheese too quickly will cause it to split, so be patient, this can take a few minutes. Once a smooth sauce has formed, reserve it in a small bowl and cool until pastelike.

Toast the bread. No floppy rarebits here, please.
Heap a few generous spoonfuls of the thick, velvety cheese sauce right to the edge of the bread and broil it until smoking, bubbly, and browned. You want a few crispy edges to form.

Allow the rarebits to cool for a few minutes, then make a crosshatched pattern on the top and shake a few drops (or “lashings” as the Brits say) of Worcestershire on. Serve immediately with a pint. Top with a fried egg to make a “buck rarebit.”

For the salad, slice the fennel and apple thinly, preferably on a mandoline. Roughly chop the walnuts and add them to the fennel and apples. Dress with olive oil, vinegar, honey, and salt. Toss to combine, including any fennel fronds that may have come alongside the bulbs. You can make this salad in advance if you withhold the salt. I quite like this salad throughout the autumn, especially alongside pork chops and a celeriac purée.

Baron Bigod

by Benjamin Roberts

If you sells cheese long enough (16 years!) it is less and less likely that you will be surprised by how delicious cheese can be. I’ve tasted a lot of cheese over those years, I mean a lot of cheese, and so it seems that there might not be anything new under the sun.

So there I was in Northern Italy, it was September of 2019 and I was attending a party with the who’s who of the artisan cheese world. We had landed in Italy only hours earlier, and so, totally jetlagged, I walked into a packed Italian manor and a piece of cheese was immediately thrust into my hand. The warning was: You’re going to love this cheese but you can’t buy it….yet.

Fast forward a couple of pandemic years and then the word comes that this cheese is finally available in the USA. There I was again in a sweaty room brimming with cheese professionals and I stride up to a table and this time I know what I am about to try, yet somehow this time it was even more delicious than the first time I had it. How could a cheese surprise me this much two times?

Baron Bigod! This is what a brie style cheese should taste like. Sweet cream, savory vegetables, a pinch of salt, fresh hay. Milk transformed into an absolute kaleidoscope of flavors. This is what real French style brie should taste like—except this one is made in England. Exported by our friends at Neal’s Yard Dairy in London, there isn’t a more exquisite piece of cheese we can sell you at our counter. Want to learn more? Click HERE for the deets.

The Pairing: Sunny Ridge + Terre dei Buth

by Sophia Stern

Why we love the cheese 

Sunny Ridge is a newer customer favorite and a lovely addition to our cheese case. From the folks at Blakesville Creamery, this beer-washed cheese is well-balanced, fudgey, and tangy. Like all Blakeville goat milk cheeses, it’s made entirely from their own herd of Saanen and Alpine goats. This cheese melts in your mouth like butter and is complexly savory and deliciously bright.  

Why we love the wine 

Organic wine makers Terre dei Buth have created another stunner with their Frizzante Rosé. This light and bright sparkler is full of flavor and a delight to drink. Aromas of strawberry and raspberry jump out of the glass, followed by notes of redcurrant and gooseberry on the palate. This wine is predominantly made from the Glera grape with a touch of Raboso, a local red grape. This unfussy, straightforward wine is easy to love and enjoy.   

Why we love the pairing 

Despite the edge of funk from the goat milk and the beer wash, Sunny Ridge has a rather delicate flavor. The Terre dei Buth’s lightness keeps the cheese in the spotlight and there’s enough fruit in the wine to offer a relief from the savory notes of the Sunny Ridge. The wine’s bright fizz cuts through the goat cheese richness, matching acidity and offering a super refreshing mouthfeel with flavors of juicy watermelon.  

What else you should do with it  

Inspired by the classic Cuban pastry, introducing Guava and Sunny Ridge Pastelitos! Essentially, hand pies. Guava and goat cheese make a delicious sweet and creamy pastry, with just a little tang to keep it interesting. Sunny Ridge will offer an extra gooey, rich characteristic to the traditional pasty. You can find guava paste at many larger grocery stores or Mexican markets around the Cities. Acquiring some high-quality, store-bought puff pastry will make this even easier. You can follow this recipe from the New York Times, but substitute cream cheese for room-temperature Sunny Ridge, making sure you have 170 grams without the rind. Half a pound of Sunny Ridge should cover it.  

Cook like a Monger: Spaghetti all'Assassina

by Anna Glassman-Kaufman

Can you tell we love pasta around here? There’s just nothing quite like a big bowl of pasta after a long day.

For this recipe, I’m going to need you to forget everything you’ve ever learned about cooking pasta. There’s no pasta water to salt, no ‘al dente’ to achieve. This dish originating in Puglia, Italy has you cook the pasta in the method of risotto, low and slow with periodic additions of tomato broth along the way.

It’s aptly named “Spaghetti all’Assassina”, or the Assassin’s pasta - the dish is spicy, crispy, and keeps you on your toes.

All you need: spaghetti or another similarly shaped pasta, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, olive oil and garlic. This recipe serves 2, but feel free to double to feed 4. If you’re going any bigger than that, I’d recommend splitting it into two pans, to ensure maximum crispiness.

The recipe comes together in under a half hour, and you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry! But lucky for you, we carry them all in the shop too (even gluten free options!)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tsp tomato paste

8oz dried spaghetti

1 cup tomato sauce (we sell our house-made sauce in the refrigerator case, or pick up some San Marzano tomatoes and make your own!)

1 ¾ cups water

Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated

Combine the water and tomato sauce in a pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.

In a 12-14 inch skillet (the wider the better), heat up the olive oil on medium heat.

Add the garlic and chili, and a bit of salt and pepper. Stir until the garlic begins to brown and is very aromatic, then add the tomato paste. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook for about a minute.

Spoon about ½ cup of the tomato broth into your pan, and stir to mix all ingredients.

Next, add all your dried pasta in one layer into the pan. Spoon another ½ cup or so of tomato broth onto the pasta and move around with a fork or tongs to be sure that every piece of pasta is coated in the broth.

Now comes the hardest part - patience. Let your pasta cook for a few minutes at this stage. This is the one way the recipe differs from risotto. If you stir and agitate your pasta constantly, you won’t get the satisfyingly crispy bits at the bottom of the pan. Move around slightly just to ensure it’s not sticking, but let the hot oil and sauce do its job.

After about 4-5 minutes, or when the pasta has absorbed all of the liquid, begin adding the additional liquid, one ladle at a time. As the pasta cooks, you can move it around slightly to create a nice even layer on your skillet.

Continue this process until you’ve added all the broth. At this point, it’s time to turn up the heat a bit and flip over that pasta. Check carefully to ensure that you have a nice toasted, almost burnt base on your pasta, then use a fork or tongs to flip it all over, like a pancake. Turn the heat up and cook the other side to get a nice toasty crust on there as well.

Plate immediately and serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly cracked black pepper, and a nice glass of red wine.

Cook Like a Monger: Old Fashioned Pork Ribs

By Matt Gruber

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. Most of those times of day are when I like to enjoy some good ol' fashioned BBQ Ribs. Oddly enough, ribs haven't always been a "pit" staple. It wasn't until the 20th century that people started really dabbling with barbecued ribs. Part of this has to do with people neglecting the tougher and gristle heavy cuts of the animal. Most people were delighting themselves with the more tender and easier to deal with cuts.

I myself felt lost and confused that I couldn't recreate the delight I have had from smoked ribs in my travels down south at places like Papa Turney's Old Fashion BBQ in TN - and even right here at home at places like Ted Cook's 19th Hole in Minneapolis. I was stuck on the idea of needing a smoker to have tender, fall off the bone barbecue at home. Turns out all I needed was patience, acceptance of no smoke, and an oven that can hold a low temp (I think this one is pretty common).

Pork ribs are such an easy day off food that I believe everyone should explore. Leftovers for a breakfast hash, pull off the bone for a lunch sandwich, or a full on spread for a picnic inside dinner, this is how you start your new obsession.

Ingredients for homemade BBQ sauce:

1 cup chicken broth

½ cup ketchup

1 cup grated onion

2 tablespoon Worcestershire (highly recommended Col Pabst)

1 tablespoon mustard

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

¼ cup molasses

Optional - 2 teaspoons your favorite hot sauce

For the rest, all you need is pork ribs and your favorite sides

1. Salt and pepper pork ribs 24 hours ahead of time

2. Preheat oven to as low as 200, but somewhere between 200-215

3. In a small sauce pan add together all BBQ ingredients and salt and pepper to taste

4. Whisk together and reduce until sauce consistency and set aside

5. Place ribs in oven uncovered on middle rack, sit back and relax.

6. Once the ribs reach an internal temperature of 200, glaze with BBQ sauce and broil until internal temperature reaches 215 and has a nice bark.

There you have it, it’s mostly a waiting game until 215. You cannot screw this one up! Depending on the size of the ribs, allow yourself ~1 hour per pound, maybe even a bit more is a good rule of thumb. Also, don't be ashamed to just use some good old Sweet Baby Rays either (not a sponsor).

The Pairing: Montgomery’s Cheddar + Restoration Cider Co ‘Driftless’ Semi-Dry Cider

by Sophia Stern

Why we love the cheese 

You’ll smell grass, earth, and rich cream right away. Montgomery’s Cheddar, a 60-pound, clothbound cheddar made by hand by Jamie Montgomery, is the gold standard for traditional English cheddar making. The Montgomery’s cows graze on 1,200 acres of gorgeous countryside in Sommerset, England. Their milk is only used to make this standout cheddar, which is made seven days a week. Neal’s Yard Dairy hand selects each wheel they sell, picking wheels that are particularly beefy, savory, and bold.  

Why we love the cider 

Restoration Cider Co makes elegant, complex ciders inspired by the dry cider traditions in Northwest Spain. Hailing from the Driftless, Restoration champions local by using local apples and dedicating 5% of their profits to restoring streams in Southwest Wisconsin. This semi-dry cider, ‘Driftless’, is light and crystalline with a refreshing, crisp finish. It’s not too sweet and easy to drink.  

Why we love the pairing 

This is autumn in a pairing. Montgomery’s Cheddar needs a little sweetness to round out all the savory, earthy notes in the cheese. This semi-dry cider does the trick. The Driftless tastes just how you want: like fresh, crisp apples with lingering sweetness. The light fizz in the cider balances against the richness of the cheddar, making it easier to keep going back and forth between the two. 

What else you should do with it  

This is an ideal pairing to take on a fall picnic. Montgomery’s Cheddar makes an amazing sandwich cheese. Make two sandwiches: one with fresh sliced apples, Montgomery’s Cheddar, and honey. The other with mustard, caramelized onions, Montgomery’s Cheddar and roast beef on some beautiful rye bread. Bring the cider along and enjoy it all with that basket of apples you picked when you visited the apple orchard.  

Making Apricity with Alemar Cheese

By Joe Kastner

Last week, a team of our Cheese Shop staff had the awesome opportunity to do some cheesemaking with our friends up at Alemar Cheese Company in Northeast Minneapolis. Located in the Food Building, along with Lowry Hill Provisions and Baker’s Field Flour & Bread, Alemar is definitely the creamery closest to France 44, which makes for a great working relationship. We get their cheese delivered along with bread and salami from the same building, and when we need cheese in a pinch, Alemar is our first call! Head Cheesemaker Charlotte Serino has been with the company since 2021, and we are very grateful that she invited us to come make cheese with her!

Apricity has become one of our favorite soft cheeses at the shop, and for good reason! Charlotte just started making this cheese last fall, and it has already gained a lot of buzz. Apricity most recently won Best in Class at the 2023 American Cheese Society Awards, giving it national recognition along with our local appreciation. The name Apricity means “the warmth of the sun in winter”, which I think is just a perfectly romantic name for a new cheese to represent Minnesota.

Apricity is a “lactic-set” cheese, which works a little different than your typical curdy, rennet-set cheeses. This technique is seen frequently in goat’s-milk cheeses, which is where Charlotte learned it. Apricity uses very little rennet to coagulate the milk, instead relying on natural acidification and fermentation over a longer period of time to transform the milk into a smooth, creamy curd. This gives the cheese a great brightness and tangy flavor, along with an almost ricotta-like texture. To turn this curd into cheese, we as a team got to salt the curd, mix it up, and then scoop it into snowball-sized spheres and roll into perfect orbs.

The batch that we helped make is now on sale at our shop!

We thank Charlotte and the Alemar team for inviting us in and showing us around. Connecting with local, talented cheesemakers is one of the best parts of working in a small cheese shop, and seeing how cheese is made and where it comes from can only help us be better stewards of their products! If you’re looking for a new softy to fall in love with this fall, come give Apricity a try!

Hidden Falls + Union Sacre Pinot Noir

by Sophia Stern

Why we love the cheese 

We maintain that the cheeses coming out of Shepard’s Way Farms are some of the best sheep milk cheeses made in the United States. Hidden Falls is similar to brie, with a lovely bloomy rind and soft, creamy interior. So luscious, so buttery, with just enough earthy-tartness to balance out the richness. If you’re looking to branch out from your triple creams and classic brie, Hidden Falls is the way go.  

Why we love the wine 

The wines from Union Sacre are stars on our shelves. They make some of the most exciting and delicious wines in Santa Barbra and the country. Union Sacre winery is a project by lifelong friends, Xavier and Philip. Together, they champion accessible and dynamic wines that are usually too expensive or out of reach for most consumers. Their 2022 Pinot Noir is bright and fruity, with lively notes of summer strawberries, just-ripe cherries, and light licorice. It’s best served with a slight chill.  

Why we love the pairing 

What a treat that these phenomenal producers make products that go so well together. The cheese and wine together are a textural delight. Flavor wise, creamier, decadent cheeses like Hidden Falls scream for fruit forward wine, and the Union Sacre Pinot provides it. A little bit of sweetness is drawn out of the wine by the soft mushroom notes in the Hidden Falls. The Pinot Noir has a bright acidity that matches the delicate tartness in the cheese.  

What else you should do with it  

Ring in Minnesota fall with an end-of-season happy hour! Spread a layer of Hidden Falls on our France 44 crostini, top with a local Minnesota apple slice, and drizzle with some honey from Ames Farms. Enjoy with a glass of the Union Sacre Pinot Noir for a crisp and satisfying autumn patio party.