I was super thrilled when Tiffany from Thyme of Taste shared that there was a special event for Melt: The Art of Macaroni & Cheese occurring at Steve Jones’ Cheese Bar. First of all, I love cheese, and I will take any excuse/rationalization necessary to go to cheese.

I also love Steve Jones, as I have enjoyed all the cheese education he has been imparting on me since the best cheese extravaganza I have ever experienced, his Cheese Bar Spectacular with Ten 01 back in 2010 with its 101 cheeses. That was a one time event, my first time meeting Steve, and was an important jumpstart of my cheese knowledge as it really upped my familiarity with local cheeses. Thankfully, there are still Steve’s annual pairing of beers and cheese (recaps of Portland Beer & Cheese Fest 2012 and Portland Beer & Cheese Fest 2013 as examples, and has done events with Lardo and Raven & Rose, among others). He also helps curate cheese plates for so many of the amazing restaurants in Portland.

Cheese plates are a great way to try lots of cheeses affordably, rather than buying them by weight $7-10 at a time – instead, you have the opportunity to taste several cheeses for the same price. You can never go wrong with a cheese plate curated with Steve’s Cheese- such as this one below of 11/17/2013, a Cheese Board of Remeker Pure Borenkaas (Raw Cow – Holland), Gran Cacio Etrusco (Sheep – Italy), and the Crottin (Goat – France). This was my first crottin! I’m a big fan of Borenkaas as they go wonderfully with beer with its nuttiness- this is true of most Dutch cheeses I think. The sheep cheese went best with the chutney you see on the board, and the Crottin’s grassiness was balanced out by the glass of red wine I was having.

If you want to appreciate cheese more, the key thing I would suggest you do is keep notes of what cheeses you had- particularly ones that you really love, or really hate. This will help you understand your tastes. An easy way to do this is to just have one document on your phone/cloud that you can use to make your notations. I often take photos of the cheese and the label if I’m dining out so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time typing into my phone instead of socializing. BTW this same trick works with wine!

The Cheese Bar is Steve’s place, a great cheese shop where you can procure marvelous exquisite cheeses from around the world, plus get access to the genius award winning knowledge of cheesemonger Steve or whoever is behind the counter to help select cheeses (and often sample as well to help make decisions!). But you don’t have to just subsist on the samples of cheese alone. Cheese Bar is also a beer/wine bar and cafe, offering multiple types of cheese plates (a cheese plate of the day, soft ripened cheese plate, blue cheese plate, etc) as well as other small plates of food varying from pimento spread to grilled cheese or fondue in order for you to try lots of kinds of cheeses.

Even more enthralling for this last visit for me however was the fact that Stephanie Stiavetti of the Culinary Life blog was hosting the Portland launch party for the book Melt: The Art of Macaroni & Cheese (co authored with Garrett McCord of food blog, Vanilla Garlic) at Cheese Bar. At the book launch party, she was offering two examples of the mac dishes from the cookbook! Amazon link: http://bit.ly/meltmacaroni. And this was a free public event!

PS. Stephanie has cut her hair and is even more adorable than the photo below. Check out her Facebook or Google+ for more updates and photos from the tour.

I was so there!

The first sample was a cold pasta salad of Drunken Goat with Edamame, Fennel, and Rotini. I was surprised how fresh and salady with herbaciousness this take on mac and cheese was, with only the cubes of Drunken Goat cheese and a light lemony oil dressing.

The second sample she offered was the Lincolnshire Poacher with Cotija, Chorizo and Penne. Of course she used real chorizo meat, but based on the flavor profile I think Soyrizo would work just as well- they key is the grassy contribution of the Lincolnshire Poacher cheese with the salty crumble of the Cotija.

Although that sounds so specific to pick out Lincolnshire Poacher or the Drunken Goat as the cheese to utilize, the book does suggest several other alternate cheeses that can be substituted in, and she’s great at pointing out the specific flavors of the cheese she was looking for, so you can also chat with your local cheesemonger.

The key differentiator here for me is that Stephanie and Garrett really focused on highlighting the unique exquisite flavors of high quality artisan cheeses, and they prepare them in a large variety of kinds of dishes to really expand the what you can do with these cheeses besides enjoying them on a cheese plate. Though, nothing wrong with a cheese plate of course, brimming with multiple cheeses.  🙂

The recipes really run the gamut, from salad to stovetop baked and casserole to dessert, and also bring in influences of flavor profiles internationally, such as Greek, Mexican, Indian, and even Asian! That’s what really drew me to the book- even though the book title starts out with “Melt”, it’ s not always about throwing in cheese and cream over pasta into the oven. The recipes are a lot more diverse than that so that you could possibly be making more than one of these dishes in a week without feeling like it’s a repeat, since the recipes can be so unique in taste.

Some examples that I am so so excited to make:

• Pumpkin stuffed with sausage and fontina recipe,
• Raclette with Farfalle, Cornichons, and Sauteed Onions
• Turkey and Robusto Mac and Cheeselet (perfect after Thanksgiving as a way to use up some leftover turkey!!)
• Chicken Breast Stuffed with Leonora Goat Cheese, Star Pasta, and Gingersnap

Photo Credit: Matt Armendariz, courtesy of Little, Brown and Company

Each recipe also suggest wine pairings, as well as other snacky pairings with the cheese (such as certain fruit) in case you are assembling a cheese plate or perhaps brainstorming another recipe. The book, which has about 75 recipes, is chock full of gorgeous, enticing photos that make you want to cook everything in the book. After only flipping through a few chapters I was already ready to throw out the Pumpkin Mac and Cheese recipe I had earmarked for Thanksgiving this year in order to try some of the recipes above.

Thankfully, wiser minds prevailed, and instead my friend and I discussed how we could just ADD another recipe for another day during our Thanksgiving vacation instead.

Also, maybe I bought 4 cheeses from Cheese Bar for the cheese plate on Thanksgiving Day. Until Thanksgiving early dinner is ready, a bottle of wine and a cheese tray and vegetable tray are the snacks to keep us fueled during our Thanksgiving meal is ready. I said I was going to buy 3, but I bought 4. This seems to always happen. I mean, it only added up to 1.25 pounds of cheese. For four people. And that’s only half the cheese plate.

I’ll report back on what I make from the Melt: the Art of Macaroni & Cheese cookbook, but meanwhile, here is a bit more on the book, including their cookbook trailer! I am SO RECOMMENDING THIS BOOK. And this is not a sponsored post- I just really love it!

Melt: the Art of Macaroni and Cheese – The Official Trailer from Stephanie/SJS on Vimeo.

MELT: THE ART OF MACARONI AND CHEESE is a cookbook that reinvents the American classic, macaroni and cheese, with gourmet ingredients, handcrafted artisan cheeses, and unique flavor combinations. It is the first book to marry the American standard, macaroni and cheese, with handcrafted artisan cheeses and a wide array of pastas, producing dishes that are both classic and chic.