Goat Cheese & Food Souvenirs

October seems to have been about our Eastern neighbor for me: I’ve been to Romania’s Transylvania region twice this month. First the Negreni Fair with family and also last week, this time on a business trip. Luckily the work was finished with time to spare and we got to do some shopping.

Touristing at it’s best, isn’t it? 🙂 Don’t think roaming the length and breadth of malls or hunting for funny shot glasses though, I’m more interested in experiencing new flavors than blowing hard currency on horrible tees or mugs.

And turns out I’m not the only one: my colleagues were just as eager to try and buy local food as I am so we visited La Colline goat cheese factory (on the DN1 road just outside Turda, towards Cluj Napoca). They have a showroom where you can buy their products for wholesale price.

I like bringing home edible souvenirs from my travels because I believe there’s no better way to experience a new place than by taste: through the distinct regional aromas typical only to that specific area of the world.

Well, chèvre might be a basic for some, but it is a gourmet delight for me. And while nutrition is definitely not the first thing on my mind when I want to indulge in something special, I’ve learnt that compared to cow’s milk products goat dairy is lower in fats, calories and cholesterol, provides more calcium and is easier to digest.

As they say, pleasure is good for health and for the occasional treat, spreading creamy, tangy, rich goat cheese on hot toast is without doubt a very pleasurable thing.

Using local whole milk and traditional French manufacturing techniques (France is the Nr. 1 producer of goat cheeses), La Colline makes all natural, premium fresh and aged goat milk products without any artificial preservatives or additives.

They sell goat milk, yogurt, kefir, semi-mature white cheese in different flavors, spreadable cream cheeses and Camembert-type white mould cheeses. I bought three flavors of the log-like bûche: Classic, Herbes de Provence and Truffle.

Great for countless dishes both savory and sweet, goat cheese also goes very well with dry red wine and several fruits. It is best at room temperature, so make sure to take out from the fridge and unpack at least half an hour prior to serving.

The Fiance was game as always, the only thing he complains about the goat cheese adventure is he had to wait until I took some photos. (The poor thing!) We started with tasting each off the spoon that turned us into devotees right than and there.

Resisting the urge to binge eat the rest, I made crostinis. The word crostini stands for “little toast” in Italian, and simply it is toasted bread with various toppings. This can be a perfect pre-dinner appetizer and I wouldn’t even call it a recipe because it’s that easy.

Started off by toasting thick slices of a rustic baguette to make the crunchy, warm base, than spread the cheese and topped it off with Deluxe (Lidl’s premium product range) Fig Spread and a hint of balsamic sauce. This little jar of chutney sat in my pantry for some time now waiting patiently to be utilized and the moment finally came. Oh boy was it worth it! A match made in food heaven. So much flavor! And the texture!

I’m telling you, no fridge magnet will ever have such an effect. And just so you know, we ate all the props too!

Love,

Fruzsi

*Disclaimer: I’ve visited, and used services offered by business establishments mentioned in posts on My Chest of Wonders. What I write about such entities represent my genuine and unbiased opinion, I am not being compensated in any way through sponsorship or gifts.*