Cheese-a-palooza

'Tis the cheese season. So good but I am almost at the point where enough is enough. Several parties and gifts have resulted in at least three rounds of brie in the fridge. How much double creme brie can one person consume in a week? I am boldly determined to find out.

I plan to foist some on family over the next few days, in the form of brie en croute. Having consulted the fine culinary advice of the pillsbury puff pastry dough box (don't even think about judging me, even I am not insane enough to make puff pastry from scratch.. ), I'm going for a braid. See the pic for an idea of what that looks like. You simply slice up the cheese and walnuts, caramalised onions or whatever you decide to add, and braid it in. This results in a much more edible version of brie en croute. I have tried the other version, where one wraps a whole cheese round in puff pastry. Tastes just as good, and looks rather impressive, but it tends to result in a pool of inedible cheese and pastry flakes about half way through. It just isn't right to waste good brie.






















Other holiday food plans - my contribution to the family Christmas potluck will be a nut roast for the non-meatatarians in the crowd. I wish there was a better name for this, as it sounds dull and strange. But it is actually delish and I don't miss the turkey when it is on the table. I'm also bringing along homemade cranberry sauce, as my love affair with cranberries continues this season. The recipe is called "Cranberry Sauce with Spirit", and includes 1/2 a cup of port. Most things are improved upon with the addition of booze, no?