The Famous Green Mountain Blues: March's Cave-to-Coop Cheese
We see our local farmers at the farmers’ market, in the co-op, and at community gatherings, so it’s easy to forget they’re not just our local farmers, they’re also rock-stars in their various fields of production, making some of the best foods in the world.
Case in point is this month’s Cave-to-Co-op cheese: Gore-Dawn-Zola Blue Cheese made by Dawn Boucher up in Highgate.
The Gore-Dawn-Zola is a Gorgonzola style tangy, sharp and crumbly blue cheese.
Dawn and her family run a 120-cow dairy farm up in Highgate. Back in 1999 she was trying to find an off-farm job to support the family in that rural community.
With no luck getting hired elsewhere, Dawn taught herself to make cheese from the farm’s fresh milk, naming Gore-Dawn-Zola after the farm’s location on Gore Road.
Just 6 years later, the cheese won the blue ribbon for the Blue Mold Cheese category at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition (the leading competition of North-American made cheeses). The cheese also won the Cheese Reporter Trophy at the British Empire Cheese Show.
These awards mean that we have among the world’s best blue cheese on sale in March, and we get to talk to Dawn, in person, at the summer farmers’ market each week. Maybe next time I’ll be a bit more tongue-tied knowing I’m in the presence of such a cheese celebrity.
Whenever blue cheese is on sale, I go rushing to this recipe from Melissa Pasanen and Rick Gencarelli’s book Cooking with Shelburne Farms. It’s a great way to start cooking with celeriac which can be a totally intimidating and weird-looking local root vegetable.
Celery Root Soup with Blue Cheese
From Cooking with Shelburne Farms: Food and Stories from Vermont
This lovely, simple soup lets the earthy flavor of celery root, also known as celeriac, shine right through. It is the creation of Aaron Josinsky, Rick’s sous-chef at the Inn. At the Inn, they add a little butter when pureeing the soup and top each bowl with some roasted apples as well as a few more crumbles of blue cheese.
Serves: 4, can be doubled
Before You Start
Don’t be scared of celery root’s rather gnarly appearance; that’s part of its charm and nothing a sharp knife or good vegetable peeler can’t take care of. Blue cheese lovers may want to add a little more blue, but take care not to overpower the celery root.
Ingredients
1 medium celery root (celeriac, about 1 pound), peeled and cut into rough 1-inch chunks
3 cups whole or 2 percent milk
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt plus more to taste
1 cup chicken stock, preferably low sodium
2 ounces crumbled (about ½ cup) best quality blue cheese, plus more for garnish if desired
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Method
1. In a medium saucepan, bring the celery root, milk, and salt just to a boil and then reduce heat to a steady simmer for about 30 minutes until a fork easily pierces a chunk of celery root.
2. Carefully pour the celery root and milk into a blender and blend. (Tip: Use great care with the food processor or blender when blending hot liquids like soups. If you put the lid on tightly, steam can build up. Leave the center of the blender lid off or the feed tube of the food processor open, and cover the opening with a wadded kitchen towel. Start blending slowly and don’t overfill the machine; blend in batches if necessary.)
3. Add chicken stock and blue cheese and blend until completely smooth.
4. Return the soup to the saucepan and warm it gently over medium-low heat. When the soup is hot, take it off the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Adjust seasoning to taste. Serve immediately sprinkled with additional blue cheese if desired.
Prepare Ahead Tip: The soup can be made ahead through step 3 and refrigerated for 2–3 days. Do not add the lemon juice before reheating because you risk curdling the soup.