The beauty of this blue cheese and Asian pear crostini recipe is that you don’t need to fuss so much about the amount of each ingredient you use and instead can focus on quick assembly, presentation, and then, of course, the eating.

If you are short on time before hosting a get-together and need a gourmet appetizer to serve your guests, this recipe pulls through in a snap. It also makes for a light, flavorful quick-fix snack that hits all the spots – sweet, bitter, and savory – at once, always with a dose of sophistication.

What You’ll Need

Because there are so few ingredients, it is crucial that each one is of the highest quality – you (and your guests) will notice if just one of the elements is off, from a stale slice of bread to a low-quality cheese. The better the quality of the ingredients, the more incredible the flavors of this dish turn out.

Aim for a fresh rustic country or French baguette, particularly one without too many air pockets in it in order to avoid the toppings dripping through the width of the slices.

This crostini recipe calls for an Asian pear, and for a reason. Asian pears have a crunchy texture and creamy white flesh. Meanwhile, they are quite robust in nutrition. One large Asian pear contains 116 calories, 9.9 grans of dietary fiber, and 10% of the RDA of vitamin K, 15% of the RDA of copper, 7% of the RDA of potassium, and 14% of the RDA of vitamin C. Asian pears may bear a few bruises and signs of discoloration, but that doesn’t mean the pears themselves have gone bad. Asian pears are also available year round!

Another essential ingredient is blue cheese. Not everyone is a huge fan of blue cheese, but I always chalk that up to context. In the right dish, balanced with the right flavors, blue cheese is an incredibly flavorful and delicious accompaniment. I personally don’t like blue cheese on its own, but when paired with a starch like bread, a touch of sweetness, and an herby finish, it shines! Make sure to purchase a quality cheese; that is, not the cheapest one you find. If you are firmly against mold-spotted blue cheese, then try the Monte Enebro, a Spanish goat cheese that makes for a soft introduction into the world of blue cheese.

Blue Cheese And Asian Pear Crostini Recipe

Serves six to eight

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of rustic bread
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 ounces creamy blue cheese
• 1 Asian pear, thinly sliced
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, stemmed
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2-3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
• Fleur de sel

Directions

Slice the bread into one-half to one-inch slices. Brush each side of each bread slice with olive oil and place them on a saucepan that has been brought to medium-high heat. Cook the bread slices for one to two minutes on each side, or until slightly browned.

Spread blue cheese atop each slice, followed by two to three slices of the Asian pear. Distribute thyme leaves over the pear layer, drizzle each slice with honey, and finish them off with a light sprinkle of chopped walnuts and salt.

Serve and enjoy!

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Where do our favorite dishes come from? In our ongoing series ‘Food History’ we take a look at classic dishes and their roots, this time with a focus on the world of blue cheese. 

Someone once told me a joke about the French and cheese:

“Put a plate of smelly cheese in the middle of the table and everyone will pull back, scrunching up their noses and saying, ‘eww.’ Except for the Frenchmen. He will lean in and say ‘ah….'”

Appreciating blue cheeses takes time, and it certainly isn’t everyone’s favorite. But some of us just can’t get enough of the mold. How did this obsession start?

Let’s start by breaking down the term: “blue cheese.”

Blue cheese is in fact a general classification of cheeses–from cow, sheep or goat milk–that have cultures of the mold Penicillium in them. Yup, the same stuff that’s in the antibiotic Penicillin. Because it’s a general term for a variety of individual cheeses, we can’t talk about the specific history of blue cheese, but one of the most well known blue cheeses is Roquefort, and because of its story, it is an excellent place to start.

Roquefort is actually one of the oldest known cheeses, being praised as far back as 79 A.D. It is said that it was the favorite cheese of Charlemagne, and that he himself called it le fromage des rois et des papes – the cheese of kings and popes.

But how did people start eating this pungent cheese decorated with green mold?

Legend has it that a young sheepherder eating a lunch of ewe’s milk curds and bread left his lunch in a cave while he left for more interesting pursuits; in this case pursuing a lovely maiden. When he returned to the cave months later, he found his cheese moldy, yet delicious.

Whether that’s true or not, we can only imagine the first person that looked at a molding cheese and thought the themselves, “sure, I’ll try that.” But good thing they did.

Roquefort is, not surprisingly, one of France’s most popular cheeses, and it has eve been said to help guard against heart disease. Yet another reason to get on the Parisian diet.

It is still produced in caves, and in France you can even visit those caves. To highlight it’s importance to French cheese culture, Roquefort was the first cheese to receive a Appellation d’Origine Controlée, a French certification that protects various regional products and their production. Champagne for example is regulated under the Appellation d’Origine Controlée as well, any sparkling wine that isn’t from the Champagne region isn’t champagne, and on the off chance that you’re ever eating a cheese labeled Roquefort that isn’t from the region of Aveyron it’s not actually real Roquefort.

But not everyone is a Roquefort fan. For other blue cheese lovers there’s Gorgonzola, Cambazola, Bleu d’Auvergne, Stilton, and several others. In the U.S., however, many of us have grown accustomed the the generic, industrialized form of blue cheese, but if you’re a real cheese connoisseur you’ll know that it’s important to choose the good stuff.

A good blue cheese variety should be creamy and moist, the more pungent the better. Crumblier varieties will be stronger – hello Roquefort – with that distinctive “bite.” If you’re a novice to the blue cheese family, this might not be the place to start. Kick things off with Gorgonzola or a Danish Blue instead to get yourself initiated.

Find a plate, serve up a few varieties and have a tasting to find your favorite.

And don’t let the mold scare you.

Check out more of our Food History series.

Image: milstan

The post Food History: Roquefort and the World of Blue Cheese appeared first on EcoSalon.