La Fête du Fromage: Robusto!

A blog I love and have just recently discovered, Chez Loulou, hosts a wonderful event called “La Fête du Fromage” and I am super happy to participate in this one. This is the ninth one and although I didn’t post in the eight previous ones, I was certainly there in spirit. At least I hope I am participating in this one, as posts are due today and I have no idea how the Portland to France time difference thing is going to play out. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, the cheese I chose is Robusto, which is one of my most favorite cheeses ever. It was a happy accident — I was walking around the Whole Foods by work about a year ago and they had some Robusto pieces out to sample and I tried one (two. okay, four.). Oh my god, I loved the cheese! It’s kind of sharp and mild all at the same time. Kind of like if Gouda and Parmesan had a tasty, delicious love child.

The texture is a little hard, with a little crystallization like you can get on Parmesan, but the interior yields nicely to a knife. Today, I had a slice on its own but then I remembered that I had made walnut bread the other day, so I put a few slices of the robusto on a some of the bread. Oh my. So good with the walnuts and the creamy-sharp cheese!

I had my cheese and bread snack with a glass (okay, two) of chilled Columbia Crest Sauvignon Blanc from Washington state. The wine was very nice and crisp! But back to the robusto — I love this cheese so much. It has a somewhat nutty flavor and the Internets tell me that it is from Holland and aged about 9 months. If you can find it, I would definitely recommend picking up some robusto cheese!

Okay, so I’m looking forward to reading about all the other cheeses on Chez Loulou for La Fête du Fromage. But really, I think every day should be a day of cheese. Seriously.