Smell something ripe? National Moldy Cheese Day is Oct. 9. Wah?? While the thought of eating moldy food may gross you out, many popular cheeses — including blues like Gorgonzola, Stilton and Roquefort, but also brie and Camembert — wouldn't exist without mold. "Ask any cheesemaker, and they’ll tell you that making cheese is the art of controlling rot," explains the Daily Meal in 10 Foods We Only Eat When They're Rotten.
Since blue is the moldiest looking of the cheeses, it's the perfect fromage for Moldy Cheese Day. And though there are many clearly delicious uses for the cheese (atop a burger, in a dip for wings, straight-up on a cheese plate), why not celebrate this rather wacky holiday with an equally wacky preparation?
Blue Cheese and Chocolate: Some people think everything tastes better with bacon. Others believe chocolate the perfect pairing for all that passes their lips. And then there are people like Marta Greber, of the blog What Should I Eat for Breakfast Today, who takes those two food obsessions and adds blue cheese to the mix for the creation pictured above: hot sandwich with chocolate, bacon, blue cheese and figs. "It is a very special sandwich and I am afraid it's not for everyone," she confesses.
Blue Cheese and Pineapple: Blue cheese and figs? Check. Blue cheese and pears? Check. But blue cheese and pineapple? It turns out that the two foods share a flavor component that makes them a surprisingly good match. Over at the blog Domestic Slice, you'll find the odd couple atop crostini, but you could simply serve sliced pineapple alongside a wedge of blue.
Blue Cheese Ice Cream: Hey, if bacon can get together with ice cream, why can't blue cheese? Chef Elizabeth Falkner shared a blue cheese ice cream recipe with Martha Stewart that's surprisingly simple: Just mix a traditional ice cream base (milk, cream and buttermilk or yogurt in this case) with blue cheese, puree in a blender, then transfer to an ice cream maker. Falkner serves the savory ice cream with steak. Want an even simpler way to try the combo? Just sprinkle a few crumbles of mild, creamy blue cheese, such as Gorgonzola, over store-bought vanilla ice cream. Add some sliced fresh or dried figs if you'd like.
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