Cheesy Christmas 11: Brebis Basque

I was late to the party on this one… Liz & the kids had it while I was away for the night, I only got to taste is the next day.

Spoiler alert… this was the only cheese to get a perfect score to date!

(Wondering ‘Why the daily cheese posts?’… read this 🙂 )

Day #11: Brebis Basque

Name: Tomme de Brebis des Pyrénées
To some degree, the French use the term ‘tomme’ similarly to how we’d use the word ’round’ (eg. a round of cheese), for this reason, you see it in a number of cheese names. Brebis means that it’s made not of cow or goat milk, but rather sheep milk.
Region: The Basque Region refers to the area located in the southwest corner, where France meets Spain (in fact there is a Spanish Basque region as well). Some of you are familiar with the French archipelago located within Canadian Territorial waters on the east coast, just beneath Newfoundland. Many of those residents are of French Basque heritage.
Milk: Sheep milk
Our Score: 5/5
I teasingly told Liz that it took me getting out of the house for them to award a 5/5 to one of the cheeses. It was a pleasure to finally see one get a perfect grade. When I asked them why such high ratings, they said that they appreciated the ‘good, solid block-ness’ of this cheese and the overall mild taste. As for the rind, even though it was solid, it wasn’t hard (if that makes sense) and could be easily eaten. I’d give it high marks just for the rind (see picture below). It reminded me of a woven basket and was a bit of a work of art in itself.

Recipe Idea

I’ll include a recipe that comes from the fromagerie that has been supplying us with these various cheeses. If you read French, you can find it here. For the rest, let me translate it for you:

Galettes de Courgettes au Brebis
(serves 4)

Grate 6 small zucchini, press them in a strainer to remove as much moisture as possible, then place in a salad bowl.
Add
– 1/2 onion, grated
– 60 grams of grated sheep-milk cheese
– 2 eggs
– 4 Tablespoons of flour
With this mixture, make several small cakes (like fish cakes), roughly 10cm (4″) in diameter.
In a pan, heat olive oil and, when hot, fry the zucchini cakes roughly 5 minutes on each side then… Voilà, Bon appétit!