Original Blue Endive Boats
Ingredients:
- Red and/or green endive
- Original Blue cheese crumbles
- Walnut or Pecan halves, toasted
- Honey
- Separate endive into single leaves.
- Fan out on a platter.
- Fill each leaf with about one tablespoon cheese crumbles.
- Place a walnut half on each and drizzle with honey.
Original Blue Cheese Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- 1 quart premium vanilla ice cream, softened
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (3 oz.) Original Blue cheese crumbles
- Blend the cream and cheese crumbles in processor or with whisk until almost smooth.
- Fold the cream mixture into the softened ice cream until well blended. Return ice cream to freezer and freeze until firm.
To serve:
- Place 3-4 melon ball scoops on a dessert plate.
- Top with Balsamic, Brown Sugar Glazed Strawberries, Spiced Poached Pears or sandwich between two ginger snap cookies.
California's Artisan Cheese Festival is a highly anticipated 4-day event held at the Sheraton Sonoma County-Petaluma from March 26-29, 2010.
The non-profit festival celebrates the artisan cheesemaking community by bringing cheese lovers together to support, enjoy, and learn more about handcrafted artisan cheeses.
In addition, the festival helps the artisan cheesemaking community by contributing 10 percent of all ticket proceeds to nonprofit organizations who support the cheese and agricultural industry.
Beneficiaries include the Sonoma Land Trust, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, California Artisan Cheese Guild, and the Future Farmers of America, Petaluma branch.
The festival also supports the Redwood Empire Food Bank, which is working to eliminate hunger in Sonoma County.
The Artisan Cheese Festival's action-packed weekend boasts a line-up of top artisan cheese experts, authors, chefs and winemakers conducting seminars, pairings, tastings, and cheese-filled demonstrations.
For more information about the festival, go to www.artisancheesefestival.com
The Giacomini sisters will be holding a seminar at the festival called "The Blue Course" -- in which they will showcase that blue cheese can be used for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.
They'll also unveil their new cows milk semi-hard aged cheese. This is a brand new release.
A quick snapshot of the weekend events includes:
Friday, March 26: A full day of Creamery and Farm tours, followed by a Restaurant Dine Around with special Artisan Cheese Festival-inspired menus.
Saturday, March 27: A full day of educational seminars, tastings, and cheesemaking demos.
The evening's event "Artisan Grand Tasting: Cheese, Chefs and Wine", led by Chef, Author, and Radio Personality John Ash, is an evening filled with fabulous dishes and interacting with the cheesemakers, winemakers and chefs who prepared them.
Sunday, March 28: Artisan Marketplace -- over 60 vendors, artisan cheesemakers, vintners, craft brewers and chef demos.
New this year: Learn Cheesemaking at Home with expert and author, Mary Karlin, on the demonstration stage.
Monday March 29: The California Artisan Cheese Guild will host an all-day workshop for industry professionals: cheese retailers, chefs and cheese professionals.
About Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese:
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company is a family-run dairy known for their Original Blue. They are a member of Marin Organics, have been named the Marin / Sonoma County Dairy of the Year, and have won numerous awards for their Original Blue.
Point Reyes Farmstead has just completed an expansion of the cheese plant operation as well as including a Culinary and Educational Center for industry and consumer classes. Robert Giacomini Dairy has recently installed a methane digester to reduce their carbon footprint and provide renewable energy on the farm.
Robert Giacomini Dairy certified their land Organic in 2006 as well as certified a portion of the cows.
About Jill Giacomini Basch, Managing Partner:
Jill Giacomini Basch, together with her sisters and their father Bob, launched Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company in August, 2000. On their family dairy, 1 hour north of San Francisco, they produce Original Blue, California's only classic-style blue cheese. The Giacomini's commitment to tradition and excellence is clear with their award-winning cheese.
Handcrafted on the family dairy farm, Original Blue is an all-natural, kosher-certified, raw milk farmstead blue. The New York Times called Original Blue "the hottest new handmade California cheese in many years."
About Lynn Giacomini Stray, Managing Partner:
Lynn Giacomini Stray, a North Bay native, grew up on her father's dairy farm in Point Reyes, CA. In 1988, after receiving a BS in Business administration at St. Mary's College in Moraga, Lynn worked in sales and marketing for a wine distributor.
In 1998 Lynn returned to Point Reyes to help diversify her father's dairy, Robert Giacomini Dairy, and launch Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company with her father and sisters.
In addition to being involved in the family operation from product development, sales and marketing to overall business strategies, Lynn is involved in many local organizations affiliated to the agriculture industry.
For more information regarding the company, go to www.pointreyescheese.com
