Today is a big day for the Portland Market House.  It’s the grand opening of the second floor, with three new shops and seating for 50, but the big news in cheese for us is that we just got a new wheel of Piave into the shop. It’s a favorite of our staff to recommend as an alternative to Reggiano Parmesan.  Not to undermine Reggiano, the “king of cheeses,” but we love to always find a cheese that our customer hasn’t tried yet.   I frankly like Piave as a table cheese, even though it’s a hard cheese by the time we can get it in this country carrying the name “vecchio”(aged or hard). Piave is sweeter than Reggiano and a little lighter.   It’s a cow’s milk cheese from the north of Veneto Province in Italy and named after the Piave River.  I like it with a Merlot and a tomato and pasta dish.  When I bring it home and temperatures are 30 degrees or below outside here in Maine, I might eat it straight in my hot tub with a good red wine and good friends.

It reminds me of when I get together with the “girls”:  Every now and then, my girlfriends from my old neighborhood call to get together, our lives are so busy that it is not often, so it feels like a real gift. They come with their towels and bathing suit and stories to tell. They both have two or three jobs that they juggle, one married, one not. We talk briefly before getting into suits. As we walk down the stairs to the back yard we all are convinced that we may be a bit crazy, bare feet on stone and ice. These are always good times, in the steam and cold. Stories are shared only in the hot tub, but always with good cheese and wine. This time with Piave and Merlot.

Filed under: Cheese and Meats by kris