quick appetizer—of the restaurant variety

I don’ t know if you have noticed but it seems cheese plates are taking their place on menus everywhere. They show up in the starting line and at the finish—whether you are tasting a flight of wines or wrapping up a splendid meal.

So once in awhile, we embrace the fad, and order ourselves a humble little plate of cheese. Often part of the fun is selecting a few cheeses from a list: a cheese plate of 1, 3 or 5 distinct cheeses. And then a little plate of cheeses arrive, sometimes with a sprig of thyme and quite often with some jellies, reduction sauces, a few olives or carefully placed almonds.

We recently ordered a plate of 3 cheeses, to liven up the notes of our respective glasses of vino. Our little plate of came with miniature wedges of cheeses, a few walnuts and a small ramekin of honey mustard dipping sauce.

We seem to rank them, when we have cheeses plated side by side. Of course, I never actually write down the name of the cheese, so that ‘one we liked the best’ remains nameless. But I will say this: it was a firm goat cheese (from… I think Spain), mild in flavor and lolled easily across our palates when paired with this ‘honey mustard sauce’.

Of course the following week I produced a similar appetizer in our home (with, I might add, a much larger wedge of cheese), complete with dipping sauce.

Honey & Cheese:

Buy: wedge of cheese, or two or three. I don’t find this sauce ideal for triple creams or sweet brie. Try matching this sweet and tangy condiment with a mild, semi-hard cheese. Or pick a few and find your own favorite.

3 T honey (I used clover, but lavender or blackberry honey might be interesting…)
1 tsp dijon mustard (I used one sans seeds)
big grinds of black pepper to top

Stir honey and dijon, grind pepper, serve.

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