Monday, August 24, 2009

Mourning the Loss of my Bucheron

or, I am a culinary genius.

Julia Child, move over.

Tonight, my husband and I were trying to figure out what to do with leftover linguine noodles from the linguine carbonara recipe found here. I'd accidentally made the whole box, not realizing that the rest of the ingredients were for a smaller portion, hence the "deux" part. We wanted to eat them and not waste them. We're on a "diet" of sorts. Did we have olive oil and Parmesan cheese? Yes and no. Did we have tomato sauce? Yes, actually we do. But I was not content with just a can of tomato sauce poured over linguine noodles. Bo-ring.

So what did I find? A carton of heavy cream that was two seconds away from getting wasted. An onion. Garlic. Butter. Oh, I think I can work with this...

So I set to work sauteing the onion and garlic in a little bit of butter. I stirred in the tomato sauce, warmed it up, added dried Italian seasonings and then drizzled in the cream, stirring. I spooned the sauce over our linguine noodles and served our dinner.

It... wasn't bad. Not bad at all. BUT, it was very sweet. Sweet tomatoes. Sweet cream. Sweet onions. I actually looked forward the the pitiful frozen peas and corn I had warming on the stove, if not for anything except to eat something that would tone down the sweet burning in the back of my throat. It wasn't until my bowl was empty that a brilliant idea popped into my head.

A few weeks ago, Nicole introduced me to one of her favorite cheeses, Bucheron. I can't even think how to describe it, except that it's creamy on the outside and crumbly in the middle, rich, and goes exceedingly well with Pink Lady apples. I especially liked how the cheese toned down the sweetness of the apple as I ate the two together. (I'm getting visions of Ratatouille here.)

So I took out the last morsel of cheese I had left, forked off a piece and swiped it through the sauce. Oh, heavens to Betsy, yes. I was sure it would work. Sure enough, after I had reheated the sauce and melted every last bit I had into it, I tasted.

I am a culinary genius. Thank goodness I have more linguine noodles that need eating. But now my bucheron is gone and when my sauce is gone, I shall cry.

Rose Sauce with Bucheron

A can of tomato sauce or fresh tomatoes pureed.
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
pat of butter
dried Italian seasoning,
---or fresh herbs, primarily basil and oregano, and some parsley
Bucheron

Saute onion and garlic in butter, until onions are opaque and soft.
Stir in tomato sauce and heat thoroughly.
Add seasonings and stir.
Drizzle in cream, stirring, until incorporated.
**If you have not had bucheron before, make sure you try it before making this sauce to get an idea of what it's like.
Add small amounts of bucheron, stirring until melted. I'd start with about half a spoonful, then taste test. Add more, then taste test. You'll know when it gets the right balance of tomato and cream sweetness and bucheron creaminess. I used probably a good spoonful before it was just right.
Season lightly with pepper. Serve over pasta noodles.

Please forgive the horrendous pictures!

2 comments:

  1. Aw, you linked me! *blushing*

    My first response when I saw the pictures was "I used those bowls!!" Heehee...

    Isn't it great when you have no idea what you are going to eat, then end up with a really good meal? Especially when it involves boucheron? I wonder what a hit of crushed red pepper would be like against the creamy sweetness. Somehow, I think it's probably perfect as is, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, you're right; when I told Steve to guess what I had put into it, he guessed heat. Crushed red pepper would do very nicely. I think I'll go add it to the bowl for our lunch tomorrow. o.~

    ReplyDelete