Exquisite blue cheeses for a golden Christmas platter.

Ending a Christmas lunch or a New Year's eve dinner with dessert is a classic that never goes out of style. But if you want to enrich your menu with a highlight dish, we suggest a delightful one made of amazing cheeses that can be arranged in a beautiful platter or on a serving plate. In particular, it should be noted that diners will all be particularly full, but always open to culinary curiosities that no one holds back during the holidays. In short, the main dish must still be yet to come! So why not present a cheese platter that no one knows or expects?

Well, we will help you! And we do so with a platter that is nothing short of delightful. We present it to you as an exciting dish with rare pleasure. And it will be a platter worth telling about and always paired with high-profile wines in terms of taste and quality.
 

The Fiorito: the platter of blue-veined cheeses

This is the name of the rind of the blue-veined cheeses inside. And the blue pastes of the cheeses we simply and conventionally call green are also blooming. But there’s more here besides the Penicillium Roqueforti that characterizes all these cheeses. There are extraordinary elaborations that make them unique.

So let’s start with a simple Blu di Capra from La Casara, which introduces us to the selection and type. A product that has in its sweetness and delicacy all the concreteness of milk coming from high mountain pastures on the Altopiano dei Monti Lessini in the Verona area, rich in blooming meadows and fine aromatic and medicinal herbs.

Here’s an incredible cheese that excites with every bite: Toma Blu aged with herbs from La Casearia Carpenedo, a gastronomic rarity made from toma of excellent mountain milk from the meadows of Cansiglio, aged in aromatic herbs and high-quality hay also coming from the Venetian Dolomites. You will be captivated by the chamomile and floral sensations typical of wildflower honey, and you will especially be amazed by the pleasantness of wild mint that will lead the tasting to an unexpected balsamic finish.

Next up is a creamy Blu all’Oseleta, the typical and ancient grape of Valpolicella, with which today, in part, the great Amarone wine is produced. It should logically be eaten with a spoon and offers delightful sweet and aromatic sensations typical of the grape.

Still within the realm of processed blue cheeses, we recommend placing at this point a Blu di Veja, a toma that is aged in white passito wine between the caves of the ancient Veronese mountains near the natural arch of Veja, where, since ancient times, shepherds aged dried meats and cheeses in marble caves at stable temperatures and naturally controlled humidity.

For those who love to dare and seek true excitement in a blue-veined cheese, we recommend a piece of the legendary Blu 61, the blue-veined cheese that wins the best award as the blue-veined cheese of Italy every year and, even this year, has outdone its competitors at the Cheese event in Bra and at the Italian Cheese Awards. This cheese from La Casearia Carpenedo is showcased at Harrod’s and the legendary Langan’s in London, at Di Palo’s in New York, at Maci’s in San Francisco, and in many other exclusive places around the world. It is a high-quality blue-veined toma that is aged in Raboso Passito wine and garnished with dehydrated cranberries. It seems like a true creamy dessert... and it is! It represents a grand finale for the platter and a perfect match to conclude, truly this time, beautifully.

Bernardo Pasquali

S&M