Binnorie Brie

White Mould
Cow's milk
Hunter Valley
1kg wheels
www.binnorie.com.au

It's time to celebrate the end of another year of discovering great local cheeses. How better to do it than with a whole wheel of brie? It's the cheese equivalent of comfort food - mild, creamy, and not too challenging.

Binnorie Brie

Binnorie Brie is one of the best value around. It's often released quite young, so buy a whole wheel to keep for a few weeks in the fridge, and enjoy it at its peak, near the best before date.

Cheese-maker Simon Gough has created a consistently good cheese that is smooth and creamy when fully ripe, with sweet butter flavours and a hint of mushrooms.

Pair it with a bottle of bubbles and a baguette for an instant crowd-pleaser.

So here's to a cheesy new year, and another 365 days of eating, enjoying and discovering more delicious local cheeses.

Binnorie Dairy Marinated Goat Fetta

Fresh (Marinated Fetta-style)
Goat's milk
Hunter Valley
300g jars & 1.5kg buckets
www.binnorie.com.au

This goat's milk version of Binnorie Dairy's flagship Marinated Fetta is an excellent example of the "Persian Fetta" style - creamy and spreadable, rather than firm and 'slice-able' like traditional Greek Feta*.

Binnorie Dairy
Marinated Goat Fetta

Made from locally-sourced goat's milk, large chunks of the cheese are marinated in Binnorie's blend of canola & olive oils with fresh herbs. The thing I like most about it is the balance of flavouring, just the right amount of pepper, fresh thyme and not too much garlic! So many cheeses of this style have overpowering flavours, where you just end up with a mouthful of whole black peppercorns or raw garlic. But cheesemaker Simon Gough knows how to best use the oil and herbs to complement the delicious flavour of the goat's cheese.

Here's one of my favourite ways to use it: Chop some pumpkin and toss in a baking pan with some macadamia nuts and fresh rosemary or thyme, drizzle with some of the marinating oil and bake in a hot oven for about 30 minutes. Boil some pasta and toss the cooked pumpkin through, then top with the fetta. The delicious combination of sweet pumpkin, creamy cheese and crunchy macadamias is hard to beat.

Of course, you can also just enjoy it on crusty bread or crackers - Morpeth Sourdough Crisps are my preferred choice - remembering to soak up as much of the delicious marinade as possible.

*For more on Fetta vs Feta, see my previous post on Small Cow 'Fettice'

Binnorie Dairy 'Buche de Chevre'

Matured goat log
Goat's milk
Hunter Valley
150g logs
2-3 weeks maturation
www.binnorie.com.au

There are two seasons for goat's milk cheeses - Spring and Autumn. In Spring I prefer the light, fresh curds and lemony fresh chevres, the arrival of which heralds the start of the season for me. But in Autumn, I enjoy more mature styles with stronger flavours and firmer textures that can be lingered over.

Binnorie Dairy
'Buche de Chevre'

Binnorie's 'Buche de Chevre', roughly translated as "goat's log", is a perfect Autumn goat's milk cheese. Cheesemaker, and former microbiologist, Simon Gough sources the milk from a single herd near the cheesery at Pokolbin, in the heart of the Hunter Valley wine region.

The young cheeses are dusted with vine ash before being left to mature for a couple of weeks. During this time, they develop their bloomy white rinds around the outside. The black ash just under the rind makes for a lovely contrast against the stark white of the cheese, which has a firm, chalky centre, and rich, fudgey texture.

If you're lucky enough to get one that is firm right through, without a runny layer beneath the rind (difficult to achieve with matured goat's milk cheeses) slice it into rounds and melt it on top of field mushrooms that have been baked with a splash of red wine, a sprig of fresh thyme and a generous grind of pepper. The complex, nutty flavours of the cheese perfectly complement the earthiness of the mushrooms. Autumn on a plate.