This week I’ve been working on non-Kitchen Kat cookbook reviews, one of which explores cheese. I can think of no better person to critique a cheese book for I am an absolute fromage fanatic. Whenever I’m on vacation or craving comfort food, I skip the ice cream, cookies and candy. Instead I buy a wedge of Manchego, Emmental or drunken goat and a loaf of good bread and I eat cheese.

The writer Clifton Fadiman once described cheese as “milk’s leap toward immortality.” How true. It all begins with milk. Allow natural bacteria or starter culture work its magic on goat’s, sheep’s, cow’s or buffalo’s milk. Eventually the milk thickens and then separates into curds and whey. Drain off the liquid whey and you’re left with curds. From here it’s all about shaping and ripening or aging those milk solids. The end result? Cheese.

Rather than muddling through how a gallon of whole cow’s milk becomes a pound of provolone, I’ll stick with what I know — cooking with and eating cheese. However, if you’re interested in learning more about cheese making, look at Steven Jenkins’ Cheese Primer (Workman Publishing, 1996) or Mary Karlin’s Artisan Cheese Making at Home (Ten Speed Press, 2011). Online you can check out CurdNerds and New England Cheesemaking Supply. If you’re in NY, stop by Murray’s Cheese in the Village. Along with Zabar’s and Fairway, it’s one of my favorite places to sample and learn about cheese.

In addition to nibbling on it as a snack, main course or savory dessert, I like to cook with cheese. Often I’ll do something as simple as sprinkling goat, feta or Stilton over mixed greens or layering grilled Haloumi between basil and slices of tomato and whole grain bread. Truthfully, that’s hardly cooking at all. Other times, though, I’ll whip together a batch of cheese scones, fondue, raclette, soup, polenta or casserole as well as the standard mac ‘n’ cheese or pizza. Whether I use it as a main or secondary ingredient, cheese always seems to make my resulting dish shine.

MEDITERRANEAN TARTARE
Serves 4

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cucumber
4 ounces Haloumi cheese, diced
1 scallion, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
dash of salt, optional

Wash then cut the tomatoes into small cubes and place in a large bowl. Skin, slice into quarters length-wise then remove the seeds of the cucumber. Once de-seeded, cut the cucumber into small pieces and place into the bowl. Add the Haloumi, minced scallion, mint and freshly ground black pepper to the bowl and toss the ingredients together.

Fill four 6-ounce ramekins with the tartare. Note that if you don’t own ramekins, you can use four empty, lidless and washed tuna cans as substitutes. Refrigerate the ramekins for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tartare has chilled and set. Remove them from the refrigerator and invert each ramekin onto a plate. Drizzle the top of each tartare with extra virgin olive oil and an optional dash of salt. Serve immediately.