Blue Cheese

Oregon on a plate: From Willamette Valley Pinot Noir to cranberry bogs and filbert trees, this menu celebrates one great state!

When I ate lunch at the elaborate Hôtel Daniel, located between the Champs-Élysées and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, I felt as though I were transported to a salon in Proust’s Paris. I met the young chef, Denis Fetisson, who brought out an array of dishes. Among them was this wonderful Roquefort soufflé, which Denis serves to vegetarians and to his kosher clientele. It is easy and elegant and makes a wonderful meal when served with a large salad.

Cheese for dessert is very European and a nice change from an overly sweet indulgence. This savory dessert puffs up so high it’s gorgeous; make sure folks are around when you take it out of the oven. An after-dinner experience.

Everyone will be blown away by how simple these are. They will be the runaway hit of the night. The moisture and sweetness of the grape inside the cheese is a flavor burst.

These little gems are what I like to think of as new-wave pigs in a blanket. The ham and fruit are a perfect balance of salty and sweet, and a sip of champagne complements the flavors perfectly.

Avoid using a salad spinner to wash and dry the arugula—the leaves bruise easily. Instead, dunk them in a sink of cool water and lift them into a colander. Pat dry with a kitchen towel. Simple salt and pepper will form a crust on the steaks when you sear them. I don’t normally serve anything else with this warm steak salad except the rest of the bottle of Cabernet used in the vinaigrette recipe.

Serve small wedges as an appetizer or large wedges for a vegetarian main dish.

Serve these toasts hot out of the oven. They’re a real crowd-pleaser and the recipe is easy to multiply to serve lots of people. If you make three panfuls at a time, position the oven racks so that they are evenly spaced and bake all three at once.

This traditional risotto is a showcase for two of the great foods of Lombardy: the rice itself and Gorgonzola, the region’s superb blue cheese. Here the cheese is more than a garnish (which I recommend in other riso recipes); it is the very essence of the dish. You blend in a generous half-pound of Gorgonzola just before serving, when the al dente risotto comes off the heat, to bring out the full flavor of the cheese, unaltered by cooking. This deserves a top-quality, genuine imported Gorgonzola, preferably not too piquant. I like sweet and creamy Gorgonzola Dolce, aged no more than 3 months. In Lombardy, chunks of fresh ripe pear are sometimes incorporated into risotto alla Gorgonzola. When pears are in season, it is easy to give the basic risotto this wonderful embellishment. Peel and cut ripe pears into about 2 cups of small cubes. When the rice is almost done, gently stir in the pears, and cook for just a minute. Turn off the heat, and finish the risotto with Gorgonzola and grana, as detailed below.

A warm comforting bowl of Riso alla Lombarda—rice and cheese, with egg yolks stirred in for richness—has long been a family favorite in Lombardy, nourishing children for generations. It’s a snap to make anytime and can serve as a lunch dish, a great primo, or a side for grilled chicken. For adult tastes, I suggest stirring in crumbled Gorgonzola along with the eggs and grated cheese. By the way, there’s no need for concern about adding raw egg to the rice, as long as you do it as soon as the pan comes off the stove. The residual heat of the rice is more than sufficient to cook the yolks thoroughly.

This rich dressing spikes through the creamy goodness and answers that "why doesn't my dressing ever taste this good?" question. This recipe works as well with Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls as it does ladled over a thick wedge of iceberg lettuce topped with a few olives, carrot shavings, and crumbled bacon to create a more-than-satisfying classic salad. This dressing will keep up to five days in the fridge.

How do you take gnocchi to the next level? Bake them in cream and melty gorgonzola cheese, of course.

Crab may be my favorite food of all time—except maybe for scallops or octopus#151;and I like it any way I can get it, including in this totally kicky ceviche dish. I know this combination of foods sounds totally off the wall, but I love to play with food, and this play knocks it out of the park. Trust me! (And if you don't want to trust me, trust the diners at The Surf Lodge, where this dish is a top seller and the one people always ask for.)

The Reid family crumbles blue cheese on top to add a salty bite.

For the softest dough, use a potato ricer or simply mash the potatoes until smooth.

A bit of blue cheese in each patty ups the chicken's savoriness without adding much fat or calories.

Use smoked blue cheese to give this dip a subtle smokiness, though any good blue cheese will do.