Piave cheese salad
I’ve been commissioned to write a book on Italian food called ‘Mangiare – Eating Italy at Home’, due to be published in Spring 2013. Only I have 6 months to write it, gulp.
So I’ve been working on the cheese section (3000 words, or thereabouts) and have enlisted the support of Antonio Maurizio Gaetani and the folk at Gastronomica – specifically, Joseph Tchikou, the manager at the Borough Market stall. He’s an Italian speaking Scot of Russian descent. The owner, Marco Vineis, hails from Piedmont – and that region is particularly well represented in their cheese selection.
But Piave cheese has been this week’s discovery for me. It comes from the Veneto – more specifically the Val Visdende in the Dolomites; so it’s an Alpine cheese. It’s often compared to Parmigiano, but the texture is not as granular, it is sweeter, and has an intense nutty, almost floral flavour. It’s a fantastic cheese in its own right, not a Parmesan imitation.
Besides serving it up on a cheese board, I reckon it’s a dressing cheese. This is Jo’s expression and he means adding cheese at the last minute to add umami oomph to a dish. So once could add shavings to polenta, or toss them through a salad. For example:
60g mix of salad leaves, including some bitter varieties like radicchio
1 Cox apple, cored and finely sliced
Handful of hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple vinegar
½ teaspoon honey
20g Piave cheese, shaved with a potato peeler
Toss the salad leaves with the apple and hazelnuts. Whisk the oil, vinegar and honey together and stir through the salad. Lastly fold in the cheese shavings, scatter a few more on top, and serve.
PS this salad suggestion won’t be appearing in the book! It’s my idea, not an Italian one. If you know how Italians like to use it, let me know.
