Chevre III: Rocamadour

"Monographs of the 15th century describe Rocamadour as a means of payment for the share-cropping and the taxes." -AF Touch Cuisine

This thin disk of cheese is ideal for the varied tasks of fromage de chèvre. It’s small, so we bought a few of them to test out its different uses. Naturally, it’s delicious when spread on baguette, and more-so when the baguette is toasted. What is special about this type of chèvre is how it melts perfectly on a slice of baguette when placed in the oven. We are huge fans of chèvre salads, so we were able to toast a couple pieces of Rocamadour and baguette for the top of our salad. It’s amazing! And so much better than a regular salad at a restaurant. It’s such a treat to bite in to the toasty, little circles.

The petite Rocamadour cheese has the typical, very discernible, goat cheese smell. It is also quite soft and seems as though it is melting when cut in to. It spreads easily on bread and crackers, which are especially complimentary to the cheese’s light saltiness.

This cheese gets its name from a small town called Rocamadour in the Southwestern départment (state) of Lot. We haven’t visited this town that’s built into a cliff, but it looks amazing. I believe they have a cheese festival there during Pentecost weekend. Of course, they have many different types to sample, not just Rocamadour. Maybe we will get a chance to go since it isn’t far from us.

You can enjoy this goat cheese as an appetizer or as a part of dessert, but as I mentioned, it goes remarkably well with a green salad. I have a feeling that something similar can be found in the U.S. Just be careful – it is not like the very soft rolls or pyramids of goat cheese found at the grocery store. While searching, remember that it has a soft, pale rind, which you do not need to cut off. I am really looking forward to keeping our chèvre salad tradition alive when we return home.