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Rossini cheese - al la carte and in a roast
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Rossini cheese anticipatyes the arrival of a cracker
Rossini, a blue-veined cheese from the Lombardy region of Italy is like the good-looking guy in your senior class who was captain the football team, starred in the class musical, and went on Yale after graduation. He’s amazing but you’re suspicious.
And so it is with Rossini cheese: too good to be true? Rossini is a cow’s milk cheese, and so, for a blue, it has a milder and rounder buttery flavor. And it has, predictably, the classic, salty bite of a blue.
But Rossini pulls away from the pack with the fruity, sweet, punch it packs on top of the classic salty bite you’re anticipating—the product of a three-month curing process during which it is washed in the sweet must of passito grapes.
To really appreciate the complexity of Rossini, try it plain on a cracker, and let its personality wash over your palate in waves: first, the lovely creamy texture of the cheese, then its sweetness, and then the salty bite of the blue veins. Think about it for a minute and let the flavors of the fruit collect in the back of your mouth.
After that you can just lick it off the cheese knife.
It seems a shame to adulterate Rossini with anything, but with honey it’s amazing. It may have been invented with pears in mind. Some web sites suggest bitter orange marmalade or fig jam as an accompaniment. Sounds good to me.
Rossini would be wonderful before dinner because it makes your mouth water, and after dinner with candied or dried fruits and a nice port it offers a mellow coda to fine meal.
Although Rossini seems too complicated to work well as part of a main dish, websites suggest that it makes an interesting substitute in recipes calling for a blue cheese. The guys at the cheese counter (AG Ferrari on Solano Avenue in Berkeley) thought (among other things) that it would be wonderful in a stuffed loin of pork. I thought so too.
Here’s the recipe, see what you think.
Pork Roast with a Stuffing of Chard, Pine Nuts, Raisins and Rossini Cheese
2-3 pound boneless pork loin roast
3 cups chopped chard (about 120 grams)
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (20 grams)
2 tablespoons raisins (20 grams)
55 grams grated Rossini cheese
olive oil
Heat the oven to 450F
- Cut the roast open lengthwise, leaving it “hinged” in the middle as though it were a book. Season the surface of the meat with salt and pepper.
- Sauté the chopped chard in a small amount of olive oil until it’s wilted (it will cook down to about 3/4 cup), then spread it over the open surface of the roast.
- Sprinkle the raisins and toasted pine nuts over the chard; distribute the grated cheese evenly over all.
- Roll and tie the roast.
Roast 10 minutes at 450F, then reduce the temperature to 350F and roast about 20 minutes per pound, or, to 145F on an instant-read thermometer.
Let the roast rest for about ten minutes before serving, slice, and serve with the pan juices.
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