SAY ‘CHEESE’
Making your own homemade herbed boursin is super easy. Room temperature cream cheese, a little whipping cream, garlic, a mixture of fresh herbs and you’ve got an irresistible tangy cheese spread for crackers, vegetables or to melt over scrambled eggs. It’ll keep for a week in the fridge or for up to three months in the freezer. I prefer the dense texture that my recipe produces, but if you’d rather the fluffier consistency of commercial Boursin add a bit more cream. I served it with plain rice wafers, a mild Italian salami and garnished the platter with tiny blue borage blossoms. Summer is here!
HOMEMADE HERBED BOURSIN
Makes 8 ounces
- 1-8 ounce package cream cheese
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon each of fresh chives, basil and thyme, chopped
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- Place all of the ingredients in either a food processor or a large mixing bowl.
- Whiz or beat until completely combined.
- Scrape the cheese on to a large piece of plastic wrap.
- Roll the cheese into a cylinder, inside the plastic.
- Chill until firm.
For months, I’ve been struggling.
It’s hard to write a blog when you live in a small town. You’ve heard of ‘six degrees of separation’, try three degrees. One grammatical fart and I’m a giggle over drinks at the local bar. It shouldn’t matter to me, but it does. It’s hurtful. How can writing a blog about food invite criticism, you ask, a pie is a pie is a pie. True enough, except my food is the subtext for a different conversation; its more of an edible backdrop to an ongoing soliloquy for my girls. Somehow, somewhere, one over-heard snort too often, and I clammed up. The ease with which my fingertips clicked across this keyboard, sharing stories about my daughters, my relationships and my life has cramped like a Charlie horse. Lately, I spend more time deleting what I’ve written than writing.
Too mushy? People might think I’m a starry-eyed romantic. I am.
Too personal? It’s one thing to pull my panties down, but should I yank on someone else’s?
Too weird? Arguably, my weirdness is probably better left deleted. On the other hand, when I think back to why I started this blog, it was so my children and their children would have an on-line place to go, to hear me tell them a story; even a weird story.
After months of teetering on the edge of a half-baked blog, I’m done. I don’t want to write looking over my shoulder; scurrying under a muffin recipe to avoid being the brunt of a slog fest. I’ll never win over the negative banter. I have to accept that blogging comes with challenges out of my control. I have two choices: stop writing or write what I want.
I want to write. With a smile.
Thanks for reading.
| homemade herbed boursin | Print |
- 1-8 ounce package cream cheese
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon each of fresh chives, basil and thyme, chopped
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper.
- Place all of the ingredients in either a food processor or a large mixing bowl.
- Whiz or beat until completely combined.
- Scrape the cheese on to a large piece of plastic wrap.
- Roll the cheese into a cylinder, inside the plastic.
- Chill until firm.
