FOOD ART: Boursin Cheese With Tomato Flowers
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Some “food art” can only be achieved by professional food stylists. We’re always delighted to come across something simple, that we can make ourselves. Serve the tomato flowers with a round of Boursin as an appetizer, or use individual “flowers” as an individual plate garnish. Thanks to Boursin for the idea. Ingredients 1. SOFTEN the cheese for stuffing the flowers. Leave at room temperature until it is soft enough to pipe into the tomatoes. 2. TRIM the chive stems to the desired length. 3. USE an ice pick or other sharp implement to create a hole on the bottom of the tomatoes for the chives. 4. SLICE into the top of the tomatoes with a small paring knife and hollow out a small place to pipe the cheese. The opening can go just halfway down the tomato. You can refrigerate this until ready to serve. Then… 5. UNWRAP and place the second wheel of Boursin on the serving plate. Insert the chive “stems” into the base of the tomatoes (we used the end of a skewer to push them in. 6. PLACE the tomato flowers on the serving plate as desired. Most of our guests picked up the tomatoes, leaving the chives on the plate; so we put the rest of the tomatoes that hadn’t been “flowerized” in a ramekin with another ramekin of sea salt. The Boursin line of soft, spreadable French cheeses includes: Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs, sold in a little foil cup, was created in 1957 by François Boursin, a cheesemaker in the commune of Croisy-sur-Eure commune in Normandy, northern France. The cheese was inspired by a traditional Normandy party dish of garnished fromage frais (French for “fresh cheese”); a fresh, unaged cheese intended to be eaten within days of its production. In the case of Boursin, guests would take their portion of cheese and top it with herbs to add herbs for flavor. Boursin thought: Why not sell the cheese with the herbs already blended in? Voilà: Boursin Garlic and Fine Herbs, the first flavored cheese product to be sold nationally in France. In 1990, the brand was acquired by Unilever, who sold it to Groupe Bel 2007 [source]. The original cheese, fromage frais, is simply drained, lactic set curd, lightly salted, that does not undergo a ripening period. It has a creamy, soft texture and fresh and a fresh, milky flavor. Fromage frais differs from fromage blanc, another fresh, white French cheese, in that by law, fromage frais must contain live cultures when sold, whereas with fromage blanc, the fermentation has been halted [source]. It is often eaten for breakfast (we love it with toast), with fruit for dessert, or in cooking. *Since we needed a separate package to stuff the tomatoes, for variety we used two different flavors of Boursin. You could also use a different cheese for the tomatoes, e.g., cream cheese, mascarpone, quark or ricotta. You can add herbs or spices to any of these cheeses. |
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