When I went shopping for goat cheese the other day, I picked up the one below without really examining the label. It turned out to be a cheese made with 30% goat's milk and 70% cow's milk —un fromage aux laits de mélange. The cheese comes from a fromagerie in the little town of Selles-sur-Cher. I decided to use it to make a grilled sandwich, as you see in the one-minute slideshow below.
This is a sandwich inspired by the French café-standard grilled ham and cheese croque-monsieur. The other ingredient besides cheese and sandwich ham is cooked Swiss chard. It's a sandwich you bake in the oven and then eat with a knife and fork.
To make two sandwiches, spread some soft, fresh goat cheese on two lightly toasted slices of bread. Next, lay down a layer of ham on each. Spread cooked, creamed chard (or spinach) over the ham — you can use cream or soft goat cheese to "cream" the greens.
Slice up a semi-hard (demi-sec) goat cheese (I used the mixed-milk cheese) and put a couple of slices on top of the creamed chard. Spread the top slice of bread with some more soft fresh goat cheese and lay on two more slices of goat cheese. Bake the sandwich in the oven with top and bottom heat until the cheese on top starts to turn golden brown. We ate our sandwiches with French-fried potatoes.
Did you try tasting the mixed cheese by itself and, if so, what is the verdict? Does the goat’s milk overpower the cow’s milk? Because of the proportion, it should not. Any difference in texture from goat’s milk only?
ReplyDeleteI just went to the kitchen and tasted a piece of the mixed-milk cheese that I had left over. It definitely tastes like goat cheese but is a little sharper than a pure goat cheese. A lot of cheeses are made with mixtures of milk.
DeleteKen, was that bread that you had made, or bought?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever had a croque-monsieur, I'm not sure why because I've had lots of opportunities. I think I would like yours because of the creamed chard which appeals to me. I like your slide shows a lot
ReplyDeleteAll your lovely posts about goat cheeses are making me rather sad. For sixteen years we had a lovely local company (Lake Erie Creamery) which made great chevre. But they just announced they are closing. Probably they are already closed. We can still get goat cheese, but it was special to have it locally made.
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