for part 1 of this meal see the Food & Wine of Alsace Class 2 Part 1
‘Grilled Munster Cheese Salad’
Following the richness of the ‘Flammekueche’ and the meatiness of the Baeckenofe, this salad was a bit of light relief. This course consisted of lettuce and tomato salad dressed with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette, and grilled Munster cheese on a slice of French bread.
Munster cheese wrapper
The Munster cheese is from the Alsace region. A soft cow’s milk cheese with a rind, it ripens in a similar way to Camembert or Brie. In this case, because the grilling softened it considerably, a less ripe cheese was chosen. To test the ripeness Chef Eric checked the softness along the edges of the cheese.
test the Munster cheese for ripeness by pressing the edges of the round
Munster cheese salad
It was served with a Pinot Auxerrois, a light dry wine typical of the Alsace. Chef Eric could not locate a French Auxerrois in Vancouver, so we tried the Gray Monk Auxerrois instead.
Gray Monk Pinot Auxerrois
‘Apple Tart with Kirsch Crème Anglaise’
The tart had a rich baked custard filling topped with slices of flambéed apple. At the time of serving, the Kirsch Crème Anglaise (a type of custard sauce) was poured over the tart.
the apples being flambéed
Alsace appletart with custard sauce
The Pinot Auxerrois that I had left over from the salad was much too sour for this dessert. However, those of us in the class that had any ‘Gentil’ wine left by the time dessert rolled around, found it quite agreeable with the lightly sweet dessert.