Season Two - E.5 - Effortless Entertaining

Everyone who entertains should be so lucky as to have their own cheese guy.  I am referring of course to one Zack Johnson, official Cheese Ambassador at Sobey's on Glendale in St. Catharines. 

Zach knows an amazing amount of information about cheese:  what goes best with what, all the new varieties, which ones are available when, and the best way to present it!  He has saved me many times. 

So, when we were thinking about an episode on effortless entertaining, my first thought was of course, Zach!     

For the taping, Zach brought several varieties for us to sample, along with fruit, nuts and other accompaniments.  Just before we began, he arranged everything beautifully on an assortment of servers and it literally took him less than 10 minutes to do.  See.  Effortless.  : )

One of the cheeses he brought for us to try was a Parmigiana that had been aged for 30 years.  He cut a piece for each of us and then instructed us to first dip it into the dish of honey he had set beside it.   Now, I would never have thought of that in a million years, but it was amazing!  The sharp, slightly salty cheese and the sweet local honey.  Delicious.  I've served it at several functions since!  [Thanks Zach].

When we finished taping, no one left.  The crew all came in and we all stood around eating cheese and nuts and fruit and breads!   The best part was, there were leftovers for the taping the following day too. 

If you get the chance, go to Sobey's on Glendale [in St. Catharines], the cheese area is just inside the front door, and ask for Zach.  He'll set you up.  He also conducts cheese tasting periodically in the store so be sure to ask him when the next one is.