Being married to a Dutchman means two things; One, they are stubborn! Two, they have great cheese! I’m not kidding. They are very stubborn. Great cheese is a given.
When we were first married and my darling groom made me an open-face cheese sandwich with a cup of dutch tomato soup. I may have fallen in love with him all over again from that single meal. The sandwich was fantastic and the soup… we are not talking an “out of a can” tomato soup. Nope. This is out of a box tomato soup. :-) It’s put out by a company called Honig. This is the best tomatensoep I’ve ever had. The first time I made it on my own, I had to ask my Father-in-law to translate the directions on the box. Thankfully it was very easy to make. Once you try it, you will never be able to eat the can version again!
But we were talking about cheese too! That delightful open-face cheese sandwich! We are lucky to have a Dutch bakery near our house that sells all the soup mixes, rice mixes, seasonings, bread, cookies and treats my husband grew up eating. They also carry cheese. Glorious, wonderful, delicious dutch cheese. You can buy anything from a full wheel (pretty awesome to see sitting in their fridge) to smaller sections. We buy Boere kaas for open-face sandwiches. It has a rich, nutty flavor that pairs perfectly with the tomato. Boere kaas is a farmhouse variation of Gouda, but it has a gold rind compared to the red rind of traditional Gouda. Boere kaas is a unpasteurized “farmers cheese.” Half the milk for the cheese has to come from a single farm and the rest can only come from two other farms. It is a true artisanal cheese. At the Dutch bakery it comes in mild, medium, aged and well aged. It’s fascinating to see the differences in the same cheese, sitting side by side in the case. They also carry Gouda and Komijnekaas – cheese that includes cumin as an ingredient. Komijnekaas has a lower fat percentage (30 to 40%) than Gouda and gives a great spice to cheese dishes!
Tonight for dinner we had tomatensoep and Boere Kaas sandwiches. I’d wager my children would say it is one of their favorite meals of all time. Simple. Delicious. Made even better by the rich tomato taste and the warm, nutty flavor of fantastic Dutch cheese. This is comfort food at it’s very best!
