In my cheese making, I like to alternate between fresh and aged cheeses. Fresh cheeses have the advantage of being ready for consumption within a short time frame and so they balance out the need for longer waiting periods required by aged cheeses.
A few days ago, after getting a quart of fresh goat milk, I decided it was time to use the chèvre direct-set packets I had in my freezer. I added to it a quart of cow milk and followed these instructions to make the cheese. This is as easy as it gets in terms of making cheese at home. The result is a creamy cheese that begs to be used in creative combination — besides enjoyed on its own, spread over homemade bread.
Being very familiar with this fresh chèvre, which comes also in delicious flavored versions, I decided to pick something from my small herb garden to flavor my product. A plant that is doing very well in it is lovage (levistico or sedano di monte, literally: mountain celery), an herb about which Deborah Madison recently wrote a nice article. The name lovage (Levisticum officinale) has an interesting etymology, as you can read on this page (Liguria is an Italian region). And here you can read a few more interesting pieces of information, like the fact that, as the title of the article says, “a little lovage goes a long way.”
Lovage’s flavor is indeed pronounced, so you want to use your taste buds to decide how much to add. I did not measure precisely my two ingredients: in a custard cup, I mixed with a fork about 1/4 cup of chèvre and a scant tablespoon of finely shredded young leaves of lovage. I then spread the flavored cheese over slices of my homemade sourdough olive bread (pane alle olive).
I am planning to devote a post to my sourdough bread baking activities, so you will read more about the bread in the photo soon.
This is another contribution to edition #236 of Weekend Herb Blogging, an event started by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen, now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once and hosted this week by yours truly. This post contains the roundup of the event.
Update (September 2012). Valerie of A Canadian Foodie has launched a year long event called Cheesepalooza, which encourages people to take up home cheese making via monthly challenges of increasing complexity. The cheese chosen for the second month is basic chèvre and I submitted my previous experience with this lovely simple fresh cheese. This post contains the roundup of the event.
Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:
chèvre fresco fatto in casa e levistico
or launch the chèvre fresco fatto in casa e levistico audio file [mp3].
devi sapere che due mesi fa ho comprato un sacchettino di levistico, senza sapere cosa fosse….. sai come succede quando ti prende quel momento di curiosità difficile da frenare ;-)) l’ho messo in dispensa in attesa di saperne di più…..e me ne ricordo ora che lo vedo qui da te….magari mi sai dire anche per cosa si usa e che semi sono ^________^
I have never tasted this herb before! Interesting!
Simona this is wonderful. I google searched this plant and it grows in Greece. It is called “levistiko” but seems it grows only in the North, so I have never come across to it.
Simona this is wonderful. I google searched this plant and it grows in Greece. It is called “levistiko” but seems it grows only in the North, so I have never come across to it.
Simona, your chevre with lovage sounds lovely…I have yet to see it here but I’ll be on the lookout for it. Is it true celery leaves could be used instead?
I never heard of lovage, too. What a nice-sounding combination with your chevre. I like the way it looks spread on the bread slices. Delicious!
Paz
Ciao Astro. Non ho ben capito dal tuo commento se hai comprato le foglie fresche o i semi. Questa pagina ha qualche nota sul levistico (o sedano di monte). Non ho mai provato ad usare i semi, ma se lo faccio, scrivero’ un post. Come pianta mi sembra resistente e secondo me vale la pena piantarla.
Hi Anh. Based on what I read, it is difficult to find fresh lovage leaves in the stores, so the way to ensure a supply is by planting some. My specimen proved to be a strong plant, surviving a pretty intense, wet winter.
Ciao Ivy. The Greek name is so similar to the Italian one. I have actually never seen it in Italy, so I am wondering what is the area of diffusion in Europe.
Ciao Peter. Lovage is indeed related to celery. In terms of flavor, I like the way Deborah Madison describes is in the article I referenced above: Actually, a blend of parsley and celery leaf almost describes the flavor of lovage — it’s not quite one, not quite the other, but reminiscent of both. In truth, the flavor is more wild and bright than either, but like both, it has a cutting, clean flavor that enlivens other foods… I hope you can find some to try.
Ciao Paz. I wonder if you could find it in some farmers’ market.
Everybody: is you find fresh lovage in your area, let me know. I am interested.
Lovage is found in most Austrian kitchen gardens. I remember farmers’ kitchen gardens from my earliest childhood days where a large lovage plant seemed to be de rigueur. I remember it so well because playing around mother working in the garden, I often touched its leaves, fascinated by the strong frangrance that hit my nose when I put my hands to my face afterwards. Austrians are masters in creating flavorful dishes by simmering meat with root vegetables, be it chicken, pork or beef, and lovage is always part of the pot. A sprig or two of lovage gives a lovely note to the broth. The most famous of these boiled meat and root vegetable dishes is the Viennese Tafelspitz, a special cut of aged beef brisket simmered to perfection for hours, albeit just below the boiling point.
Celery seeds are delicious in egg salad! They become even more fragrant when bruised with the flat side of a chef’s knife before use. In the DC area, Bethesda Coop used to sell a “fake” egg salad, made of Tofu cubes, I loved its celery seed flavor.
I wanted to add that in the DC area, the only place that I ever found lovage was a small potted seedling at the Women’s Farmers Market in Bethesda. It lasted for months (I had too much shade in my garden to keep it alive through winter). One needs only a small sprig, its flavor is so strong that using too much creates an unpleasant bitter overtone.
Ciao Merisi and thanks for all the info on the use of lovage in Austria. My plant, which is small, survived a cold and wet winter, so I am hopeful I will be able to keep it for a while. I also love to smell the leaves and I know I have to be careful, since the flavor is strong. I didn’t know there was a women’s farmers’ market in Bethesda. It sounds wonderful. If I go to DC in November, I’ll be downtown, but I can always visit Bethesda for the market. Grazie!
Sounds like a great combination – goat cheese and lovage!
I hope you try it, Christine. I really like lovage.