Exposure to air causes cheese to dry out. If your apartment is not equipped with a pantry or cellar, the best place to store chèvre is in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Keep pieces wrapped in plastic wrap or wax paper, or place in a sealable bag and squeeze out the air. Fresh cheese can be enjoyed straight out of the refrigerator. Soft-ripened and aged cheeses should come to room temperature for an hour for optimal flavor.
A well-arranged board should be tasted from the mildest to the strongest. Accompaniments can include fresh baguette, crackers, jams, honey, fruit and nuts.
For a dinner with friends, instead of dessert:
Pair with a crisp white wine or a light-bodied red.
For a romantic dinner:
Pair with Champagne.
For appetizers during the Holidays:
Pair with an aromatic white wine and a light-bodied red that you will serve with the turkey as well, or a gin cocktail.
A well-cut cheese looks better and keeps longer. Make firm, clean slices to avoid
squashing the cheese.
To experience the cheese properly, each slice should have an equal amount of
rind, where the flavor is strongest.
Remember these golden rules of cheese-cutting:
A round cheese should be
quartered.
A log should be sliced into
discs.
A pyramid or Camembert-
shaped goat’s cheese should be
cut in slices, like a pie.
Cut cubes of chèvre to toss into salad
for easy serving and a chic
look.
Whip chèvre with a little cream to
make it easily spreadable for toast.
Thicken and enrich soups with
softened chèvre.
Warm chèvre slices or crottins in
the oven for an elegant touch to
salads.
For a sauce, risotto or soup it’s
best to add the cheese at the end
of a recipe.
Aged cheeses have more
concentrated flavor than fresh, so
when you use them your dish may
require less seasoning.
You can grate soft chèvre, if you
freeze it for 10 minutes
beforehand.
Use chèvre instead of cream
cheese or ricotta in dessert recipes
for a tangy, complex flavor
infusion.
Whisk plain yogurt with white wine
vinegar, then fold in crumbled
chèvre for a classic salad
dressing.
Blend softened chèvre with
buttermilk, minced chives and
cream to make an easy Nordic-style
salad dressing.
Chèvre melts quickly and evenly for
a delicious grilled cheese
sandwich.
White wines tend to be the best pairing for goat
cheese, but light, fruity reds work just as well.
Some of the best wine pairings include:
Gin and sparkling wine-based cocktails go particularly well with French goat cheese. Gin and chèvre both have complementing herbal qualities. Bubbly goes well with the lushly soft texture of the chèvre. Try these:
Negroni
Gin, Campari, sweet vermouth, orange zest
Ramos Gin Fizz
Gin, lime juice, cream, orange flower water
French 75
Gin, Champagne, lemon juice
Southside Fizz
Gin, mint, lemon juice, club soda
