Putting together a cheese plate- not pictured is the Brillat Savarin (but you saw a photo of it in an earlier post in the box), and also a guest brought a Fra Roussel Cantalet, the ancestor of British cheddars and one of the oldest cheese in France. The cheese in the back is a mixed goat/sheep cheese Causse Noir from the Portland Farmers Market vendor Monteillet Fromagerie which I can remember the location at the market and their cheese and what the guy looks like… but I always seem to mess up their name and substitute other random syllables after “Mont”.

These are also all from the Portland Farmers Market: the seedy bread from Fressen, specifically Vollkornbrot, made of Dark Rye and Whole Wheat flours with cracked rye, Sunflower, Flax and Sesame Seeds; a duck truffle pate from Chop; and kielbasa from Olympic Provisions. I often cut up bread into cracker size pieces rather then serve crackers (although a guest also brought a nice baguette from Grand Central)

I prepared the kielbasa two ways. First I sliced them. Then, on the left I just put it on a pan and let it cook in its own juices til it got a bit crispy on the edges. On the right, I simmered a bottle of beer with I think 1/3 cup of brown sugar until it was bubbly, added the kielbasa and simmered for 30 minutes with an additional 4-6 teaspoons of bbq sauce I think- I did it mostly to taste, and depending on what beer profile you use it will vary. The simmer mixture adds a bit of sweetness to the outside of the sausage- you can add cornstarch to make the sauce stick to the meat like a glaze, but I didn’t want to cover up the already well smoked and flavorful meat too much.

I can never get tired of having cheese, bread, and a little meat with wine. It’s nicer to throw in a little pickled something and fruit as well to round out casual snacks- but since the day before I had gone to the market on my own and brought back several bottles of beverages, there’s only so much I can carry on my own, and uphill to boot. Someone needs to buy me a little cart- not so big that it gets in the way of others at the market, but that way I don’t have to have all the weight in my arms and shoulders. On the other hand, knowing I need to carry everything does keep me in check as I walk around the market on how much I get as well- sometimes I get a little overexcited about what I see without thinking about how quickly I need to eat it to really enjoy it at its peak and take advantage of freshness.  Next Saturday is a special “Bacon Time” edition where I’ll be fancying snacks up with a bacon theme, hopefully the bacon tart will be photogenic.