One of the pleasures of travelling is checking out another country's cheese scene so I was looking forward to finding out what Istria in northern Croatia had to offer when I visited it last week.
The answer was not a great deal of distinction, just a lot of simply made fresh cheeses and a few aged, Pecorino-style ones. Cheese seems to be served almost as a condiment, accompanying vegetable dishes like asparagus or cold meats such as Istrian ham.
It's much more likely to be used at the beginning of a meal or as an accompaniment to a wine-tasting
Or as a selection of canapés at a buffet as with this hotel brunch (top and below).
Or it may be roughly grated, Pecorino-style, over a plate of pasta (in this case pasta with wild asparagus).
So there don't appear to be many strong cheeses but maybe that's deliberate so it can act as a foil for Croatia's gorgeous, grassy olive oil.
3 comments:
I never tried pecorino from Istria, I am curious now :-).
FYI, I have a make your own mozzarella post here
http://alessandrazecchini.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/making-mozzarella-and-ricotta-at-home.html
ciao
Alessandra
Wow, that is really impressive. Take my hat off to you, Alessandra
I visited Istria a couple of years ago and found Paski Sir from the island of Pag. A really tasteful hard cheese made of sheep's milk. A bit like Trentino, the Italian cheese. In 2010 it was named the World’s Best New Cheese at the World Cheese Awards. Try it!
I got in contact with Simon Kerr, who represent the diary. When I went to London last year he wrote to me about where to find the cheese:
You can find our cheese in a few places. 1st La Fromagerie on Moxon Street, it's one of the most prestigious cheese mongers in the UK and I know you will love it there, it's a very special place. 2nd London Borough Market. Our importers D'Issa have a stall there in the Jubilee area (it's a very big market) and the cheese is doing very well. D'Issa sell many Croatian delights so I am sure you will enjoy it there also. I hope you have a great time in London, thanks for everything.
http://www.sirena.hr/en/dairy-gligora-s1.htm
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