The Chicken Caesar is one of America’s most popular salads: grilled chicken and romaine topped with an olive oil dressing and grated Parmesan cheese.

Chicken and cheese are a delightful combination. So here’s a different spin on the classic Caesar: Switch out the Parmesan for another flavorful cheese.

The idea comes from Landana, which makes a delicious Olives & Tomatoes Gouda cheese. The Gouda is flecked with sun-ripened tomatoes and mild olives, Mediterranean flavors that are delicious with chicken.

You can also use blue cheese, pepper jack and flavored Cheddars like those from Cabot Cheese (Chipotle, Garlic Herb, Hand Rubbed Tuscan, Horseradish, Hot Buffalo Wing, Hot Habanero, Smoky Bacon and Tomato Basil, plus Jalapeño Light and Pepper Jack Light).

CHICKEN & CHEESE SALAD RECIPE

Preparation time: 20 min minutes
Servings: 4

For a change, switch out the Parmesan in a Chicken Caesar Salad. Photo courtesy Landana Cheese.

In addition to changing cheees, this recipe adds grapes and nuts/seeds.
Ingredients

 
For The Dressing

 
Preparation

1. GRILL. Cut the chicken breasts into strips and grill in a grill pan.

2. TOAST. Toast the nut mixture briefly (how to toast nuts).

3. MIX. Mix the dressing ingredients.

4. COMBINE. Combine the lettuce, chicken, cheese, grapes and nuts into a serving bowl. Toss with the dressing.

The Caesar Salad was named after the restaurateur who created it. What would you call this salad?

Serving Suggestions

BREAD. This salad is delicious with fresh Italian ciabatta bread and (homemade) tapenade.

WINE. Serve this salad with a refreshing rosé or a crisp white wine.

CAESAR SALAD HISTORY

Here’s the true story about the origin of the Caesar Salad, and the original Caesar Salad recipe.

Basirion Rosso, a Gouda flavored with tomato
pesto. Photo courtesy iGourmet.com.

Basiron Pesto Rosso.

Cahill’s Farm Flavored Irish Cheddar.

English Cheddar With Harissa.

Extra Triple Aged Gouda.

Huntsman Cheese.

Mimolette.

Pecorino With Chile Flakes.

Saxonshire Cheese:

What do these cheeses have in common?

They all are visually on point for a Halloween cheese plate.

Check out all of these “Halloween cheeses” in detail. Thrill your guests with a colorful selection of these artisan cheese beauties.

FOCUS ON MIMOLETTE

Mimolette is a cow’s milk cheese, fascinating for its round ball shape and vibrant, harvest moon color (which comes from annatto).

The balls of Mimolette are aged from 6 to 18 months, during which the cheese is kept in a damp environment. There, thousands of microscopic cheese mites feed on the rind. This natural process gives the cheese its unique appearance, and also its unique flavor.

The younger varieties are comparable in taste and aroma to Parmesan. As the cheese ages, it takes on a chewier and harder texture and hints of butter and hazelnuts. The longer the cheese ages, the more we like it.

Mimolette lends itself well to dishes that call grated cheese: gratins, pastas, salads and soups, for example. It also makes a visual splash when you bring it to the table to grate.

Mimolette is a wonderful addition to the Halloween cheese plate. Serve it with apples or pears. For a wine pairing, try a dessert wine like moscato, sweet Riesling, port or sherry.

If you can’t find it locally, it’s easy to order Mimolette from ForTheGourmet.com.

Mimolette, another cheese the color of a harvest room. Get it from ForTheGourmet.com.

Turn traditional deviled eggs into deviled eyeballs, eye-popping treats that delight young and old alike. We just love this recipe!

Serve the Deviled Eyeballs with Eyeball Martinis.

Makes: 16 halves
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 15 min for eggs

RECIPE: “DEVILED EYEBALLS,” HALLOWEEN
DEVILED EGGS

Ingredients

Are you looking at me? Photo courtesy Avocados From Mexico.

For The Eyes

 
Preparation

1. BOIL. Cook and peel eggs (cooking instructions). Cut in half lengthwise. Remove yolks to medium bowl; arrange whites on serving platter.

2. COMBINE. Add avocados and lemon juice to bowl with yolks; mash until smooth, mixing well. Stir in horseradish, salt and black and cayenne peppers.

3. FILL. Fill egg white halves with heaping tablespoon of mixture, piling high.

4. DECORATE. To make devilish eyes, thinly slice roasted red peppers to create veins on the “eyeballs.” Top with sliced black olives.
 
Find more delicious avocado recipes at AvocadosFromMexico.com.

Think of pesto, and it evokes different recipe ideas. You can use this versatile sauce and condiment—a blend of basil,* olive oil, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese—for:

 
So how about pesto and cheese?

Some cheese makers add pesto to their curds to produce beauties such as the bright green Gouda, Basiron Pesto, and Pesto Jack, a yellow cheese with flecks of chopped basil. You can also find fresh goat cheese logs with pesto.

It’s easy to make your own pesto cheese spread.

Pesto mixed with soft goat cheese. Photo courtesy Vermont Creamery.

Use fresh, soft cheeses like cottage cheese, cream cheese, fromage blanc, goat cheese (chèvre), quark, queso blanco and ricotta. Each cheese produces a different result, based on its structure.

A slice of fresh goat cheese: Substitute the
gremolata for pesto. Photo courtesy Smoking
Fork.

APPETIZER OR CHEESE COURSE

You can cut slices from a goat cheese log, such as in the photo at left, and turn it into an individual serving. For a cheese course, serve it with a side of crostini or toasted, sliced baguette. For a salad and cheese course, serve it atop a bed of greens.

Instead of the topping of gremolata (choppped parsley andother green herbs, lemon zest and garlic) shown in the photo, pour pesto over the cheese.

Make your own pesto with this easy recipe.

Here’s the history of pesto.

Our favorite pesto sauces.

*Arugula, cilanto, red pepper or other vegetable can be substituted for basil; walnuts or other nuts can replace the pine nuts.

We were excited to receive a shipment of all the flavors of Smucker’s premium line of preserves, Orchard’s Finest.

We reached for the blueberry preserves—we rarely see a jar of blueberry preserves or jam—and ate it from the spoon.

It was a bit too sweet to mainline, but we grabbed a carton of plain Greek yogurt and made the most delicious blueberry yogurt. And another. And another.

Which gets us to today’s tip: Mix your own fruit yogurt with preserves and plain yogurt. It’s “fruit on the bottom” style, only your fruit will be on the top.

Why do it?

Just stir in to plain yogurt for homemade flavored yogurt. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Our favorite cheese course: four different
goat cheeses. Photo courtesy Payard.com.

What’s your cheese passion? Are you singing the blues? Do you clamor for Cheddar? Do you pine for Parmigiano-Reggiano?

We have a passion for goat cheese (chèvre). While variety may be the spice of life, nothing makes us happier at the dinner table than when the cheese course comprises three or four different types of chèvre.

The next time you put a cheese plate together, focus on your cheese passion. You can do it by milk type:

Or go by cheese group. For example:

 
We could go on forever, but you may prefer to browse through our Cheese Glossary for ideas.

Then, combine the cheese course with some lightly dressed salad greens and a cheese condiment or two.

You’ll be in cheese heaven.

Here are more of our favorite cheeses and cheese recipes.

Quark can be eaten like yogurt or used as a
bread spread and in recipes. Photo courtesy
Vermont Creamery

If you like yogurt—or even if you don’t—try quark. It’s smooth and creamy like Greek yogurt or sour cream. In fact, quark has approximately the same amount of calories, but a richer flavor, than lowfat sour cream. So it’s a real find for your baked potato and chili.

What is quark?

It’s a soft, unripened (fresh) cow’s milk cheese. In North America, the recipe is almost identical to fromage blanc, except that fromage blanc is totally fat free.

Quark is so popular in Germany that it accounts for almost half of that country’s total cheese production: The average German eats about 10 pounds of quark a year. You can find it in every market. But it’s a different style of quark (details below). In other parts of Europe, quark is also known as koarg, kwark, qwark, quarg, twarog, saurmilchquark, speisequark and fromage frais.

In the U.S. and Canada, quark has yet to catch on. It’s only made by artisan dairies, and some dairies make 2% and fat-free versions in addition to full-fat quark. The next time you see it, take it home and see how it enriches your daily dining. If you can’t find it locally, you can buy it online.

THE CONFUSION OVER QUARK: OLD WORLD VS. NEW WORLD STYLES

Quark is the German word for curds; curds are coagulated milk. Some definitions translate it as “cottage cheese”; however, neither American nor European quark resembles what Americans know as cottage cheese, with recognizable curds. With quark, the curd consistency is smooth, like curdled milk (see photo below).

In Europe, some or most of the whey is removed by hanging the quark in cheesecloth and letting the whey drip off, to achieve the desired thickness. This gives artisan (handmade) European quark its distinctive shape of a wedge with rounded edges. In commercial production it is formed into blocks with the consistency of ricotta or pot cheese.

In the United States and Canada, quark is a somewhat different product, most often sold in plastic tubs with most or all of the whey. This creates a style that has the texture of yogurt or sour cream: a denser, more spreadable consistency. The texture of domestic quarks varies by the preference of the producer.

HOW TO ENJOY QUARK

Both European and American styles are eaten the same way.

Quark can be eaten like yogurt, plain or blended with fruit or jam. In Germany it is mixed with chives as a bread spread.

Use it to top a baked potato or chili, as a soup garnish or anywhere you’d like a hit of yogurt or sour cream. Use it to make a creamy sauce: Unlike yogurt, heat won’t curdle it.

On the sweet side, quark is a popular ingredient in filled pastries, sweet sauces, soufflés, cheesecakes and mousses.

American style, creamy quark from Vermont Creamery. Photo by Claire Freierman | THE NIBBLE.

Scientific-oriented people may wonder why a cheese is named after subatomic particles. We explain that in the footnote below.

More about quark and other fresh cheeses, including crème fraîche, fromage blanc, labné, mascarpone and queso fresco.
 
*In German, Quark and Topfen, the names of cheeses, are also used to mean “nonsense.” This latter usage is believed to be an inspiration for the passage written by James Joyce in his fanciful novel, Finnegan’s Wake: “Three quarks for Muster Mark!/Sure he hasn’t got much of a bark/And sure any he has it’s all beside the mark.” This excerpt is from a 13-line poem directed against King Mark, the cuckolded husband in the Tristan and Isolde legend. Use of the word “quark” to describe elementary particles of matter was taken from this poem by Murray Gell-Mann, the physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize for his work in classifying quarks. The allusion to three quarks seemed perfect to him, since originally there were only three subatomic quarks.

Salad with a creamy, fresh goat cheese
crottin, halved. Photo courtesy Vermont
Creamery, one of America’s greatest
producers of goat cheese. Read our review.

Whenever we see a goat cheese salad on a menu (chèvre is the French word), we order it.

Typically served with mesclun or frisée, sometime with beets, sometime with toasted walnuts or pecans, it’s one of our favorite foods. And it’s so easy to make.

We’ve hesitated to make it at home too often, because we love creamy, fresh goat cheese so much that an entire 10.5-ounce log can disappear at one meal.

But we devised a new strategy: Buy one or two crottins at a time.

A crottin (crow-TAHN) is a small, individual-size goat cheese shaped like a drum. But the name means something earthier in French: “dropping” or goat/horse dung.

Why stick a cheese with a name like that? As the crottin ages, it becomes dark and hard and bears a resemblance to the animal dropping. Mostly, though, it’s enjoyed when fresh or moderately aged, resembling only a delicious, drum-shaped cheese.

The small size makes a crottin, whole or halved, a popular pairing with a salad.

Crottin is the signature goat cheese shape of the Loire Valley; Crottin di Chavignol, an AOC-designated cheese, has been produced in and around the village of Chavignol since the 16th century.

MIX & MATCH GOAT CHEESE SALAD RECIPE INGREDIENTS

Use a crottin or a one-inch slice from a log of goat cheese. You can buy a plain log or one rolled in ash, herbs, peppercorns and other spices. Or, roll a plain log in the coating of your choice before slicing,

Cheese

 
*To bake goat cheese: Preheat oven to 375°F. Season panko with a pinch of sea salt and add just enough olive oil to moisten. Roll cheese in crumbs; place cheese on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 5 to 8 minutes or until soft.

Salad Greens

Vegetables

Goat cheese crottins aging. Photo courtesy Vermont Creamery.

Fruits

 
Nuts, Raw Or Toasted

 
Dressing

 
On The Side

 
WHY GOAT CHEESE IS GOOD FOR YOU

Long considered an alternative for those with cow’s milk sensitivities, people who are lactose-intolerant (or otherwise have difficulty digesting milk products) can often enjoy goat cheese with impunity.

 
Here’s an overview of goat cheese and why it’s good for you, plus yummy recipes for goat cheese caramels and goat cheese fudge.

There are many foods that send a shudder up the spine of a food writer and educator. They tend to be truly inferior products, both nutritionally and taste-wise; but the American palate has become so accustomed to them that people have no desire to experience something better. At the top of our shudder list: processed American cheese.

Children are taught to love it from their first gooey grilled cheese sandwich. But most “American cheese” so processed and packed with additives that it falls outside the legal definition of cheese. It may be comfort food, but it’s not good food.

Real cheese is made from milk coagulated into curds, which are then pressed into cheese. Processed American cheese, on the other hand, is a blend of milk, milk fats, milk solids, other fats and whey protein concentrates—and only 51% cheese. It must be labeled “cheese product” or “cheese food.”

Most people who buy it don’t note the difference. But there is a far better option: Cheddar cheese slices. Here’s an eye-opening infographic that compares Cheddar to processed American cheese. But in one sentence:

Trade in the inferior American cheese for real Cheddar slices. Photo courtesy Tillamook Cooperative.

Processed American cheese contains 51% real cheese or less; the ingredients are emulsified and held together with artificial ingredients and preservatives. It has twice the salt found in natural Cheddar.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN CHEESE

America colonists brought their cheese-making skills to the New World and could make numerous types of cheese. But a single type won out: Cheddar. It was uniquely sturdy under primitive conditions and withstood seasonal variations in temperature and humidity, while delivering excellent flavor.

The first cheese factory, enabling large-scale production, was built in 1851. When cheese is cut it in to blocks, there are leftover cheese trimmings.

By the mid-1800s, an Ohio cheese maker named Emil Frey figured out how to heat his cheese scraps and add a few other ingredients to create processed cheese. This new cheese was more bland than Cheddar, which appealed to the [de-evolving] American palate. It turned velvety-smooth when melted, and became known as Velveeta.

A double burger with American cheese. Photo
by Paul Johnson | IST.

While some sources give credit for processed American cheese to James L. Kraft, who shredded and re-pasteurized Cheddar trimmings with sodium phosphate and patented “American process cheese” in 1916, he was not the first to create processed cheese. Others did it decades earlier.

According to Chuck Blumer, who produces Spring Lake American Cheese another cheese maker other than Emil Frey decided to put the trimmings to good use by making a blended cheese.

He threw all of his trimmings into the cooker, added some barrel Cheddar for consistency and sliceability, added some moisture (water) for meltability, and invented American cheese. All cheese makers followed suit, thrilled to turn their trimmings into profits.

In 1885, Colby cheese was invented in Wisconsin by Joseph F. Steinwand, named for the township in which his father had built a cheese factory three years earlier. It is similar to Cheddar, but with some key differences in production. And like Cheddar, it was a hit.

American cheese became a mix of Colby and Cheddar cheese scraps. With the surge in popularity of convenience foods in the 1950s, processed American cheese took off. The Baby Boomer generation grew up eating American cheese sandwiches: with lettuce and tomato, cold cuts or grilled with or without a slice of tomato.

Says Blumer: American cheese became so popular that there were not enough trimmings to satisfy the demand. Cheese makers then shopped the world for any type of cheese they could buy at a cheap price. They would throw this cheap cheese in to the cooker with some cheddar and water to make their American Cheese. Most cheese makers still do this today.

So, American cheese evolved from being quality trimmings of Cheddar and Colby to any cheap cheese that can be processed into a uniform flavor.

THE REBORN AMERICAN CHEESE

There’s hope for everyone who adds a slice of American cheese to a burger, sandwich or omelet.

With Americans’ demands for more wholesome food, domestic Cheddar manufacturers have been making “American cheese” slices from 100% domestic barrel Cheddar.* And if you are making American cheese in Wisconsin, America’s largest cheese-producing state, you are required by law to use only 100% domestic barrel Cheddar in the production of American cheese.

Look for Cheddar slices from Organic Valley, Tillamook and other quality Cheddar producers.

Check out this infographic for the story of what you’re getting today when you buy Cheddar versus American Cheese.

Find more of our favorite cheeses and recipes.
 
*Barrel cheddar, or Cheddar barrel cheese, is a 500 pound barrels of cheese sold by cheese producers in to other manufacturers.

A classic Italian frittata (recipe below).
Photo courtesy National Potato Board.

Omelets and frittatas seem like leisurely brunch or lunch fare. But don’t hesitate to serve them for dinner.

An hearty egg dish with a large salad is a tasty and nutritious meal at any time of the day. Vegetable fillings (see the list below) add variety, not to mention nutrients and fiber—and are one way to get vegetable-wary family members to eat more of them.

What’s the difference between an omelet and a frittata?

 
Both can be made in the same frying pan or special omelet/frittata pan.

WHAT TO ADD TO YOUR OMELET OR FRITTATA

Sautéed Vegetables: The list is more inclusive than exclusive: artichoke, bell pepper, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, chard, eggplant, kale, mushroom (use the wild varieties for more flavor), onion/leek/green onion, potatoes (boiled/roasted), spinach, zucchini—heck, anything you have in the fridge. Add minced jalapeño or chili flakes if you like heat.

Cheese: Some favorite cheeses work well: melting cheeses (Emmenthal/“Swiss,” mozzarella, Provolone; grating cheeses (Asiago, Grana Padano, Parmigiano Reggiano/Parmesan, Pecorino Romano); soft cheeses (goat cheese/chèvre).

Meat: ham/prosciutto, roast chicken/turkey, salame, sausage. When you make chicken or ham, set some aside for the next night’s frittata.

RECIPE: FRITTATA WITH POTATOES, ONION, ZUCCHINI & RED BELL PEPPER

Ingredients

To make a rectangular omelet, pick up this special Nordicware omelet pan at Willliams-Sonoma. There’s also a microwave version.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. SAUTÉ. In an 8” nonstick sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the potato and cook, turning often, until tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the potato slices with a slotted spatula and set aside in a bowl.

3. FRY. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the same pan and fry the zucchini, turning once, until tender and slightly golden, about 4 minutes. Add the basil and season with salt and pepper. Using the slotted spatula, add the zucchini to the potatoes.

4. SAUTÉ. Add enough oil to the pan to total 2 tablespoons and return to medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft and tender, about 10 minutes. Remove with the slotted spatula and add to the potatoes. Add the bell pepper strips to the vegetable mixture.

5. BEAT. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until well blended, adding a little of the optional Parmesan. Add to the vegetables. Pour the mixture into an oiled baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees until set and golden, about 25 minutes. Cut in half and set aside half. Cut the remaining half into wedges and enjoy for dinner. Cover the other half and refrigerate for up to 2 days for another supper.

TIP #2

If you’re not good at flipping a frittata or omelet, use your broiler to cook the top side. Place the pan in the broiler under a low flame. When the top is golden brown, it’s time to dig in.

MORE

Treat yourself to this excellent egg cookbook.

How many different types of eggs have you had? Check out our Egg Glossary.

Find more egg recipes in our Eggs Section.