ffwd: lyonnaise garlic and herb cheese

This week’s post will be short and sweet. I actually made this back in November when the week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie was “Cook’s Choice”, and I picked this one. I went back and read my post from six months ago, but not until after I made this light and tasty cheese spread again. It was almost like déjà vu.

To change it up, I had intended to try making my own ricotta (which is on my “must try” tasks for 2012), but, as usual, I ran out of time. The herbs were straight from my back door herb garden, I boosted the garlic (two big cloves), and I remembered that this needed lots of salt, so started with a full teaspoon instead of a pinch.

The ricotta ended up draining for a full day, much more than overnight. About a half cup of whey landed in the cup, so I can only guess that it is drier than it might have been. Once again, I liked the texture, and this time, the flavors seemed to come through better. I think it was the extra salt.

There’s been lots of rushing around in my life this week, so I haven’t had this for an appetizer yet. It makes a lovely spread on toast for breakfast. I also think a few dollops on top of warm chunky pasta would be great. I have enough to try that later in the weekend, but haven’t yet.

I don’t have much else to say about this. Despite my lack of words, I do give it a “thumbs up” rating.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend – summer’s unofficial kickoff. We have grilling and outdoor activities planned. At the same time, don’t forget to remember those who lost their lives serving our country, which is what Memorial Day is really supposed to be about.

Happy French Friday! Check out other bloggers’ homemade Boursin experiences here. For the recipe, you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.

On the porch in Maine, where I’ll be enjoying the long weekend.

Advertisement

Posted on 25 May 2012, in French Fridays with Dorie and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 22 Comments.

  1. thekitchenlioness

    Betsy, I had seen your November post and was wondering whether I would find this Herb Cheese somewhat lacking in flavor as well but it turned out to be just what everyone liked – making my own ricotta was fun and maybe that influenced the taste a bit – who knows.

    I love the picture of your wonderful “green porch” in Maine, it looks so relaxing and reminds me of s.th. my beloved granddad used to say “green is good for the eyes”…

    Enjoy a relaxing weekend!

  2. Love your pasta idea… I might just have to try that this weekend! :) Happy Memorial Day to you!

  3. Have a great weekend!
    I used some of this as a calzone filling – yum…

  4. have a wonderful weekend

    looks great

  5. your the second one that made their own ricotta and it makes me want to make it for myself even more! :) Great job!

  6. Wow… I know it’s been a while because I missed your blog makeover. :)

    My ricotta barely rendered a teaspoon or two of liquid… yours looks so creamy!

  7. I’ve read a few posts where Doristas plan to make their own ricotta…nice idea. Thanks for inspiring me to look into this topic…we did make some cheese a couple of months ago and it turned out really great…but I was surprised that it took a couple of gallons of milk to make 1 pound of cheese…but I’m guessing there is a better return on ricotta. Yes, this recipe does need lots of salt.

  8. susanelester

    Betsy, thank you for the kind wishes! It took us ages to find each other, but I’m so glad we did! I agree, this was really good and has so much potential.

    Have a lovely holiday weekend!

  9. Oh my goodness, what a lovely spot! Enjoy!!

    I liked this too, and we found out that a little salt really brought out the flavors. Isn’t it lively to be able to pick your own herbs and use them right away???

    BTW, I ran across your original blog post about this too! :)

  10. yum. SO TEMPTING. Nom nom.

  11. Love your new look…very nice! Making my own ricotta has been on my list for a couple years…but this is the year! Your cheese spread looks so delicious and creamy! I let my ricotta drain in the refrigerator overnight and also got about ½ cup of whey….I also liked the texture. Have a great weekend, Betsy!

  12. I would love to be on that porch in Maine. It looks so inviting and beautiful, Betsy. Your spread looks great and I am glad that you enjoyed it enough to make it again. I think it would be interesting to make your own ricotta cheese. Have a lovely weekend!

  13. I meant to tell you last week – I also like you blog redesign. It’s pretty and so welcoming.

  14. Great idea to put it on toast! I always forget that stuff like that makes great breakfast!

  15. I always run out of time for my grandiose plans, too :) I think more salt would have helped with my review, too… Hope you enjoy your holiday weekend!

  16. Your herbs look so great and colorful in the cheese.

  17. Betsy, I love Maine. What a beautiful state and you seem to have some nice plans for the holiday. I want to try this spread again (your pasta idea is terrific) but I will make my own ricotta this time. The Kitchen Lioness posted a good ricotta recipe from Gourmet Magazine this week. I also asked my chef friend about a good recipe and she sent me the exact same one! So check Andrea’s site for a good ricotta recipe. We’ll compare notes. I think this spread needed lots more herbs and seasoning.

  18. Your cheese looks great on crusty bread – it’s the simple things, I think that are the best.

  19. What a perfect way to spend the long weekend….

  20. Betsy, I’ve nominated you for a brand new award! Please stop by my blog to “pick it up”. I so enjoy reading your stories!

  21. I agree this needed way more salt than just a pinch. I would like to try this again and “punch up” the flavors a bit.

  22. I added more salt too and love your idea of using this in pasta!

Thanks for visiting! Leave me a comment to let me know what you think. I love comments!

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: