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.
  

Also called Oaxaca chocolate, Mexican chocolate is a cinnamon-scented sweet chocolate accented with cinnamon. Some varieties include clove, ground almonds and/or nutmeg.

Mexican chocolate is used primarily to make hot chocolate, but it’s also an ingredient in pork rubs, as a seasoning for beans, and of course, in Mole Poblano or Mole Negro.* You can also just eat it like candy, bake with it, make ice cream and do anything else you’d do with chocolate.

The Ibarra brand is a large commercial brand and can be found in the U.S.

But for those who want the best Mexican chocolate, take a look at the artisan product—handmade and stoneground—from the Rancho Gordo-Xoxoc Project. An American company and a Mexican company are working together to help small farmers continue to grow the indigenous foods of Mexico.

The result is rich, dense, 70% cacao chocolate: intense, delicious and rustic with hints of smoke.

You can buy it at RanchoGordo.com.
 
*ABOUT MOLE (moe-lay): Each region of Mexico has its own mole recipe. One of the most famous, mole negro from Oaxaca, uses the base mole ingredients—roasted dried chiles, unsweetened chocolate, almonds and spices—plus peanuts, plantains, cloves, cinnamon, onion, garlic, sesame seeds and five different chiles. Mole poblano, from Pueblo, uses the base ingredients plus tomatoes, raisins, bread, lard, anise, cloves, cinnamon, three different chiles, garlic, sesame and other ingredients. The sauces accompany beef, chicken, enchiladas, seafood and turkey, and are served with rice and tortillas.
  

Even if you live in Maine, it’s still warm enough to grill outdoors. So the next time you have a cocktail party or a simple wine gathering, grill your hors d’oeuvre. (In French, “hors d’oeuvre” is used for both singular and plural forms of the noun. Americans who don’t know French add an “s” at the end.)

Start with canapés: finger foods composed of a base and topping, meant to be eaten in one bite. The name is the French word for sofa: the topping sits upon the “sofa.” The topping itself is called the “canopy.”

(Punsters: You can make a “couch potato” by topping the base with a potato-based food, such as cubed ham and potato salad with grainy mustard-mayonnaise and capers, or mashed potatoes mixed with salmon caviar.)

Miniature versions of grilled cheese (slice a regular sandwich into quarters) can be enhanced with chutney or any of these wonderful gourmet grilled cheese recipes. We’ve served several different grill cheese on the same tray: blue cheese, cheddar and smoked Gouda, for example.

To plan your grilled hors d’oeuvre, select a base, a spread (which acts as a flavorful binder between the base and the topping) and a “canopy.”

MIX & MATCH YOUR INGREDIENTS

Pick Your Base

There are many different bases for canapés, ranging from pastry shells to tortilla chips. Here’s the best selection for grilled canapés.

Pick Your Spread

Many canapés are simply a base and a spread, such as cheese, pâté or relish. With grilled canapes, a different type of spread serves as the binder between the base and the grilled “canopy.”

Hors d’oeuvre on grilled pita wedges and grilled polenta rounds. Photo courtesy AddSomeLife.com.

Pick Your Canopy (Topping)

 
Pick A Garnish
 
Garnishes add another layer of flavor, along with color and visual appeal.

 
ANOTHER GRILLED OPTION: SKEWERS

Canapés aren’t the only hors d’oeuvre that can be grilled. Skewers, in fact, are the obvious choice.

With a skewer instead of bread base, you save the carbs; but you often replace the calories with a dipping sauce.

You can pick up a book about grilled appetizers: Appetizers On The Grill.
Find more of our favorite hors d’oeuvre recipes.