Our Cave to Co-op cheese for March 2018 is HAYRIDE from Mt. Mansfield Creamery in Morrisville, Vermont.

With the creamery four miles from the farm, Stan transports their milk to the creamery on cheese making days. Debora milks the cows and still ships to St. Albans Cooperative. They make small batches of cheese only 8 to 12 times per month and increasing production according to demand. They milk registered Holsteins and Brown Swiss cows that are on rotational grazing in the summer months and fed grain and hay during the winter.

Mt. Mansfield Creamery started in June of 2009 and they make cheese year around. Debora milks about 30 cows per day and receives awards for the quality of milk she produces. Stan, a graduate of Paul Smith’s College, has put his chef days behind him to concentrate on their recipes for cheese.

The cheese facility is in the heart of Morrisville, in the old United Farmers Creamery building. Not only did they renovate the building, but built their own cheese cave in the basement.

They wash and brush the rinds to keep them thin to ensure that the cheese will be one hundred percent edible.

Hayride is an Austrian-Style tomme, similar to their Chin Clip recipe. It’s been aged in the cheese cave for 6 months and being of higher moisture content this cheese is wonderful with white wine—smooth and buttery with small crystals and a complex flavor.

RECIPES

Smoked Fish Salad w/Hayride and Root

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 small celeriac bulb, peeled, sliced into long thin strips

1 small fennel bulb, trimmed, cut into long thin strips

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

1 lb smoked bluefish or whitefish, bones and skin removed

1 cup flat leaf parsley, stems removed and coarsely chopped

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

zest and juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

2 ounces Hayride, shaved with vegetable peeler

Directions

1. Combine celeriac, fennel, shallot, fish and parsley in large bowl.

2. Add olive oil, lemon zest and juice; toss to coat.

3. Spoon onto small plates. Top with cheese shavings.

Potato Galette w/Hayride & Rosemary

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, washed, skin on, sliced ¼ inch thick

2 T olive oil

1 cup grated Hayride cheese

½ medium onion, peeled, cut in half, then sliced thin

1 T fresh rosemary, minced

pinch of nutmeg

salt and pepper

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil. Arrange half the potatoes in the bottom of a non-stick oven-proof skillet. Sprinkle with the cheese, onion, half the rosemary, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Layer the rest of the potatoes on top, overlapping the slices. Add more salt and pepper and the remaining rosemary.

2. Cover loosely with foil and using a heavy oven-proof plate, or another skillet, press down on the potatoes and place the skillet in the oven. After 20 minutes, remove the skillet and flip the potatoes out onto a dish, then slide them brown side up back into the skillet. Return to the oven and cook for another 20 minutes or so, until everything is brown and crispy and the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven, slide the potatoes onto a plate and serve cut into wedges.

Cheesy Popovers

Makes 12

Ingredients

4 cups whole milk

8 eggs

4 cups all purpose flour

1 ½ T salt

2 ½ cups grated Hayride cheese

Directions

1. Place the popover pan in the oven and turn it on to 350°, allowing both the pan and oven to preheat.

2. In a medium saucepan warm the milk over low heat.

3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and then slowly whisk in the warm milk, a little at a time, making sure not to cook the eggs. Set aside.

4. Next sift the flour and the salt together and slowly add this to your egg mixture. Combine gently until smooth.

5. Remove your popover pan from the oven. Spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, or use butter or shortening to carefully grease the hot pan. Fill each popover cup about three-fourths of the way. Place about 3 tablespoons of cheese on the top of each popover. Bake for about 45 minutes in the 350-degree oven. When they are tall and golden, remove the pan from the oven and remove the popovers from the pan.

6. Serve hot with butter.