Valdeón Cheese- Best Spanish Blue Cheese

Currently, this has to be my favorite cheese and maybe all time favorite Blue cheese.

Selling at Baltimore's Whole Foods for $11.99/lb.

Made with Cow's or Goat's milk. Wrapped in Maple or Chestnut leaves. From the Leon region.

What is so surprising about this blue is its pockets of caramel like sweetness. It is of course very salty first off but as you let this cheese melt in your mouth you feel the creaminess and embrace the earthy, mild stink (in comparison to other blues) and then you find these spots of nutty sweetness. I would compare it to how some aged Goudas had tiny almost crunchy sweet crystals.

What to pair this with:

Strawberries & Balsamic glaze
Figs & Steak
Cherries & Pork Chops
Candied Walnuts & Radicchio
Fresh Spinach & Toasted Hazelnuts
Caramelized Onions & Morels

Wine: Fruity Pinot Noir, CA Zinfandel, Round Cabernet, Albarino

Week of May 29th - Morels, Spinach & Fiddle Head Ferns

32nd St. Farmers Market today had many delicious treats to enjoy for the Memorial Day Weekend.

As seasong begin to shift from Spring  to Summer, there are few items to get while you still can:

• Asparagus
• Morels
• Fiddle Head Ferns
• Rhubarb

According to Farmer Tom McCarthy (The Pea Guy)"this was one of my best Asparagus crops- lasting almost a full 8 weeks."

Woodland Mushrooms has had Ramps, Fiddle Heads and Morels for the past few weeks but will all be coming to end very shortly.


Fresh Spinach is just coming in strong to MD area and lookin great.

Last night we completed our supply from last week's market trip and made grilled flat bread with spinach, onion, morels, tiny bit of bacon (from our half pig purchased last season raised by Truck Patch Farms ) & what else fried Duck Eggs. See pic below - little messy but oh so good.

Week of May 23rd- FRESH SPRING PEAS!

 Already shelled. Buy by the pound (~$3/lb). Get there early to get in line!

So sweet -eat them raw like candy! Maybe a touch of sea salt.

Try them blanched, run threw food mill and mixed with coconut milk for a creamy twist on fresh pea soup.

Increase the craveability with a hint of ginger and/or lemongrass.

In season for approximately the next 3 weeks, weather pending. Get'em while you can!


Where to buy these lovely, bright green pearls?

Farmer Tom

Bmore's 32nd Street (Waverly's) Farmer's Market on Saturdays

Baltimore's Farmer's Market (Downtown under 83) on Sundays (Now opens 7am officially).

Duck- Eggs, Tongue, Nether region and all!

Glorious Duck - Egg to Nether Region!

Beginning with -what else- the eggs first.

Rich, creamy, silky, fabulous. ~$15/dozen and run late Spring to early Fall. Sold by Our Springfield Farm.

I have eaten these eggs many ways and all delicious. The yolk is much larger than the white typically so, I don't recommend baking with them...unless test your recipe and use only if it calls for at least 2 large chicken yolks (only). Duck eggs can be equal 2-3 chicken eggs.

Try making breakfast flat breads - pre-made or homemade naan, pita or pizza dough - brush with oil, Grill - Top with your choice of cheese or sauce - I enjoy Pesto, dollop of ricotta cheese, sauteed spinach, mushrooms, topped with fried or poached Duck egg. Black Pepper, Sea Salt and dashch of ile flakes!

Moving right along - recently ate at BOKA restaurant in Chicago. I enjoyed the 9 course tasting menu. One of these courses was their "Roasted Muscovy Duck Breast served over a Golden Barley Cake, Puree of Stewed Prunes, Pickled Tongue & " Duck Fries." Duck breast was very tender

In my travels I have seen Fries fried in Duck fat and had fries topped with fois gras but never have I seen "Duck Fries." Didn't know what to expect.

You guessed it - 1 small breaded fried testicle appeared on the plate. Honestly it like a small white meatball. Check out the pic for yourself.

The tongue does not look so appealing. I expected it to taste like calamari possibly? Chewy! However, to my surprise it was quite tender, mild with a slight acidic salty note from the pickling.

The sweet plumy rich sauce tied the dish together well.
Scary but I could see Duck Fries in a paper lined basket served with dipping sauce at the local pub! Bite size, fried, tender - "tastes like chicken."

Kudos to the chef for using the whole animal in new inventive ways.

Eggs! Goose, Turkey, Duck oh my!

Spring Eggs?

Did you know there was a season for certain eggs? I didn't until 2 weeks ago! But, it is common sense based on growth cycles right? I don't remember that from primary school though. I felt p-r-e-t-t-y silly.

Our local farmer Our Springfield Farm introduced us to Goose eggs.

Last season we explored their Spring Duck eggs & later on Turkey eggs- amazing, more on those later.

Goose eggs are even larger than Turkey eggs and almost looked prehistoric.

Unless you raise Geese- where do find such a wonderful surprise? Most farmers raising Geese do not sell the eggs but obviously raise them into adults.

You can imagine the size of one these - think 3x size of a large free range chicken egg. White in color, shell thicker and a bit difficult to crack. Yolk as big and orange as the sun. WOW!

At first, I was a little intimidateded. How should one prepare such a prize?

• Scramble to test for fluffiness?
• Over easy to explore the creaminess and texture of the running yolk?
• Poached to not alter the purity of the egg through caramelization of the frying or beating of the scramble?
• Too many ways, too difficult a question. 

Answer?: Should have purchased more than 2 eggs and tested all these ways. However, to not be greedy and buy out their remaining supply - we scrambled the Goose eggs! We were not disappointed. They were so rich and creamy. Texture was dedicadant.

Anyone out there eaten Goose eggs before? How did you prepare them? Something to yearn for next season.