I was feeling a bit hungry after the brown rice/spinach/tomato extravaganza from earlier this evening, so I thought I'd finish up with a bite or two of the pecorino I bought this afternoon.
(note to self: the red plate is pretty, but it doesn't photograph well)
This is, alas, not the cheese I hoped it would be. (Somehow, that sounds to me like the basis for a Saturday Night Live sketch. But I digress.) I was entranced with the soft, mild pecorino I had the fortune to eat in Tuscany a couple of summers ago, but this is a hard, crumbly, salty cheese.
Nonetheless, it's very, very good. And its saltiness makes it lend itself well to very small portions.
Something I learned in Tuscany was to eat pecorino with honey. I happen to have some "Lemon Crest" from Magnolia Honey Jelly, so I thought I'd try that. Then I decided the plate needed some green, so I tore up a basil leaf to arrange artfully around it. Finally, I poured myself a small measure of some pinot grigio that I was given as a thank-you gift for playing in a master's conducting recital, which was open in my fridge. Normally, I prefer red wine, but the sweetness, saltiness and crispness of the honey, cheese and basil seemed to want to be paired with white.
Perfection! The jelly balanced the saltiness of the cheese, and the basil cleansed the palate between bites of richness. (And the wine, of course, didn't hurt one bit.) It only took a very small quantity to make a very satisfying end-of-day snack.
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