Remember to make Fromage Fort from leftover cheese

A friendly reminder that all those leftover bits of cheese from your holiday cheese trays should be turned into a delicious, freezable, cheese spread instead of letting them go to waste.

Thu, Dec 27 2012 at 2:14 PM

Photo: Robin Shreeves

After the holidays last year, I wrote about Fromage Fort, a French method of making sure that no delicious cheese goes to waste. The photo above is what I made last year, and I've been waiting all year to have enough leftover cheese to do it again. It’s such a great idea that I thought it was worth reminding you of this very easy, clever idea that turns odds and ends into something new and delicious.

The method is simple. You take a pound of various odds and ends of cheese, add some white wine, garlic, butter and parsley, and whip them up into a tasty spread that people rave about. I used the leftover cheese from my neighborhood open house holiday party and my family Christmas tree trimming party to make a spread that I took to my friend’s house on Christmas Eve. Everyone was amazed at how good it was and how it was created.

Here are the cheeses that went into this year’s Fromage Fort.

Hillacres Pride Puddle Duck Creek, similar to Camembert
Maytag Blue
Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar
Gouda
Parmesan
One more that I forgot to save the information on that was really good

I measured one pound of these various cheeses and put them in my food processor with ¼ cup dry white wine (an inexpensive Pinot Grigio I had leftover), 3 tbsp of unsalted butter, ½ tsp of jarred minced garlic, and 2 tbsp of freshly chopped parsley. Then I turned on the food processor and let work its magic until everything was turned into a smooth spread.

Last year, I put half of the Fromage Fort in the freezer to see if it froze well. The version I made last year froze very well. Sometime in mid-February I took it out, defrosted it in the refrigerator, and then let it come to room temperature before taking it to a friends house for a party. The quality was fine. There won’t be any leftover from this year’s version to freeze, but I assume it would freeze well, too.

If you have odds and ends of cheese leftover from holiday parties, you need to give this a try.

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