A Perfect Dessert: A Composed Cheese Plate

Last month, I discovered on the dinner menu at Mohonk Mountain House one of my favorite desserts: a composed cheese plate.  Their version included three local cheeses, a homemade blueberry jam, a slice of honeycomb from the Catskill Mountains, and a healthy serving of fig bread.  It was more than a dessert. It was a meal all on its own.

This is the type of dessert than takes little time to make and is guaranteed to wow your guests.  All it needs is a visit to your local cheese monger—or even grocery store cheese counter—and a little imagination.  Additionally, it includes the game of searching through your refrigerator and cupboards to find ingredients to assemble the dish. Not only is it fun, but also a great way to get rid of odd ball ingredients you’ve been accumulating such as dried apricots. I guarantee we all have them in our pantries!

Rules for the game:

Step 1.  Select at least three cheeses. Here’s where the challenge and excitement begin.  Choose a theme: the provenance of the cheeses either cow, sheep, or goat; a country or region of origin; or a particular category of cheese (ie: strong, soft, hard, or smelly.) Look for contrasts of color and texture, too. Always check to see what you might already have on hand as perhaps only one or two new cheeses will need to be bought.

Step 2.  Choose a nut for crunch and salty contrast.  This could be salty Marcona almonds from Spain in olive oil or candied pecans homemade or purchased.

Step 3. Look for a sweet element: a ripe pear thinly sliced; a seasonal heirloom apple; sweet strawberries or cherries; or the ultimate, a juicy fig. Dried fruit work well too. (Here’s where the dried apricots come in.) Other sweet options: jams, chutneys, or fruit confits. Another trick to surprise your guests with is honey.  The choice of honeys is plentiful as it is very trendy today to raise bees.  The unexpected treat at Mohonk Mountain House was their serving raw honeycomb. Not only is it more nutritional than what you get in a jar, but the honey sucked from the wax is tastier.  Swallowing the wax, however, is optional!

Step 4. Pick a “carrier” for the cheese such as toasted baguette slices, crackers, bread sticks or fruit bread. Whenever I make Zucchini bread, I always freeze a few slices to use later for my cheese plates. Choosing a walnut-raisin bread gains you extra points as it hits two birds with one stone!

Step 5. Pull out an appropriate beverage.  As with the infinite choice of cheese pairings, selecting a liquid accompaniment can be dauting. Just remember it all depends on the cheeses you pick.  If delicate, select a light white; if strong, a medium red or even a port.  Other options are beer or a dry cider. Avoid cold water, however, as too much of it turns the cheese into a rock in your stomach.

The mission of creating a cheese plate is to experiment and enjoy the process. Your choice of cheeses can be expanded upon and turned into a before dinner communal appetizer plate by adding savory olives, pickled or fresh vegetables. Sometimes I will make a cheese plate a full meal with the addition of a tossed salad, lightly dressed.  Some people even enjoy a cheese plate for breakfast along with a slice of prosciutto ham.

Change it up and don’t be confined by too many rules.  However, since the cheese is the centerpiece of this dish, there are a few helpful guidelines to keep in mind:

1.   Always serve cheese at room temperature to maximize its flavor. Set out your cheeses for at least an hour before serving.

2.   Avoid buying large amounts of cheese.  It is better to “buy little and often” to make sure the cheeses are fresh and at their peak of ripeness.

3.   Cheese is best cut to order. Ask for a sample too. Most cheese mongers are delighted to offer information about their product along with serving suggestions.

4.   Avoid shrink-wrapped cheese. If you do have to buy cheese in plastic wrap, unwrap it at home and replace with waxed or parchment paper. Formaticum produces a special cheese storage bag which is porous which allows the cheese to breathe while maintaining optimal humidity. This material preserves both the cheese’s flavor and extends its shelf-life.

5.   Cheeses are happiest stored between 45 to 60⁰ F with some but not a lot of humidity, and no exposure to light. While most of us resort to our refrigerator—the vegetable drawer is the best option—cheeses can also be kept in cellars, garages or even a window seal where there is air circulation.  

6.   Avoid freezing your cheese.  Cheese is alive and by exposing it to any extreme heat or cold, you basically kill it.

To illustrate how easy it is to create a cheese plate for dessert, here is what you’ll find in my photo going in a clockwise direction. Start with the Marcona almonds, my go-to nuts as they are easy to find and always delicious. Next is a cheese called Abbaye de Tamié, a raw milk cheese with a washed rind made by monks in an Abby in Savoie, France.

My cheese monger at Ideal Cheese in New York City offered me a taste telling me it was a bit more pronounced that a Reblochon, a mild, fruity cheese also from the same mountainous region in France.  Then comes a blue-veined cheese from England, a Stilton called Closton-Bassett. This is a high end (read “expensive”) artisanally-produced cheese from Nottingham. Unlike the commercially available Stilton, this one from the best producer in England is strong and full in flavor but never over-salted.  

The “carrier” is a zucchini nut bread which I said before, was worth double points. To its left, is a fresh goat’s milk cheese from France purchased at Trader Joe’s which I found leftover in my refrigerator. Above that is a slice of Hungarian Acacia Honeycomb discovered in the cheese section of Morton Williams, my local grocery store.

In the small cup was a portion of Confettura di Pomodoro Pachino, a jam made (with an IGT designation) from tomatoes grown on the southern coast of Sicily where I had cycled several years earlier. 

For wine, I headed towards a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand which I had on hand. When in doubt, always choose a Sauvignon Blanc as it can pair nicely with both delicate, medium and stronger cheeses.

What I had created with my composed cheese plate, merely by chance, was a United Nations of edibles, delicious each on its own, but further enhanced when enjoyed with any one of the other accompaniments.

See how easy and fun that was? And don’t forget the dried apricots.