I couldn’t give you a week of fennel pollen without throwing some sweet treats at you, now could I? Another reason I love fennel pollen is its ability to transcend the lines that often divide sweet and savory ingredients. It’s often easy to place an ingredient beneath the sweet or savory banner, but that is not the case here. If someone asked me to choose using fennel pollen in either sweet or savory applications for the rest of my life, I’d be hard-pressed to choose.

This cake is the stuff of legend as far as I’m concerned. It’s not too sweet and gets a hint of tanginess from the buttermilk that is only amplified by the vanilla creme fraiche dolloped on top. I’ve served this for birthdays, team gatherings, dinner parties, and pity parties. The fennel pollen takes this to a place where warm cake and bright, summery fennel flavors meet and have a dance party on your taste buds. Naturally, you’ll want to throw some poached pears or berries on the side of this, which I fully support. This cake- and the creme fraiche- loves fruit. Try it with whatever is in season, or keep it simple with the creme fraiche. Either way, your life needs a little sweetness and you deserve an extra dose of fennel pollen. Enjoy!

Fennel Pollen Buttermilk Cake
Serves 12

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel pollen
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup crème fraîche
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line it with a 9-inch round of parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with both sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating well between additions. Beat in fennel pollen. At low speed, alternately beat in the flour mixture and the buttermilk until almost blended. With a rubber spatula, finish folding the mixture together just until smooth. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine the crème fraîche, vanilla seeds and confectioners’ sugar.

Unmold the cake onto a plate, top with vanilla crème fraiche, and serve.

It’s here, the most exciting week for food to date has finally arrived. Matt and I share a serious love for fennel pollen, so we’re taking full advantage of that love and it’s taking over the blog this week.

IT’S FENNEL POLLEN WEEK!

We’ll be sharing a daily recipe all week using this addicting ingredient, and we’re starting off with a personal favorite of mine.

First, let’s just talk about the pollen. It’s easily my favorite part of the entire plant. That’s saying a lot, considering I was that weird kid that brought thin slices of fennel bulb to school with me in my younger years as part of my lunch. Fennel is a personal favorite of mine for salads and as parts of roasted veggies and stocks. The seeds are a fun option for sauces, homemade sausage, and spice rubs. But really, the pollen is the most magical part.

The pollen is easily harvested by shaking fennel flowers over your hand or a small bag in the high summer months, but the yield is quite small. I spent an hour doing this last summer and barely had half an ounce. Use it fresh or dry, both will make you a happy, happy eater. The dried version here has a really fantastic flavor and an even better aroma than the fresh version. Either way, what fennel pollen has to offer is really extraordinary. The aroma is both sweet and spicy, with its classic hint of anise, but also with a honey and citrus finish. The flavor instantly takes me to a place where it’s always summer. Those honey and citrus aromas are also present in the taste. Finally, it’s a flavor enhancer. I don’t care what anyone else says; fennel pollen intensifies the flavors of anything and elevates other sweet or savory components of your dish. Basically, it’s magical fairy dust.

Our most recent food discovery here at Caputo’s is the marriage of honey and fennel pollen. I’m taking advantage of this pairing twice this week, and for very good reason. The sweetness of the honey pairs incredibly well with the aroma and flavor from the pollen. Here, we’re using pan roasted carrots as the base for this combo.

Pan roasting carrots releases all the natural sugars from the carrots and makes them an easy choice as a side for roasted or braised meats and creamy polenta. I love bringing them to the brink of burning to get that really nice, caramelized flavor and texture on the exterior, which is made easier and more delicious with Clifford honey. These end up being sweet, decadent carrot candy. When finished with your magical fennel pollen fairy dust right after they come out of the pan, these carrots will steal the show.

Honey Glazed Carrots with Fennel Pollen
Serves 4 as a side

• 20-25 petite carrots or 10-16 medium carrots, peeled (either works great, but try to find all that are of a uniform size)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1-2 large spoonfuls honey
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon fennel pollen

Heat a large stainless steel skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add carrots in one even layer, and raise heat to just higher than medium. Turn carrots a few times over the course of about 15-20 minutes so all sides are browned and carrots are tender. Drizzle a spoonful of honey over the carrots, toss, and keep on the heat for another 1-2 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and finish with the sprinkling of ¾ of the fennel pollen. Toss once more and transfer to a serving dish and finish with the remaining fennel pollen before serving.

The other day I had fresh bread made by an incredibly talented friend, Ryan Moore of Moore Bread. He researched and developed yeast strains and milled his own flour. The bread was really quite shocking.

I don’t know if it was that I had never had such good bread before or that it had been so long that I had forgotten. It was so far above and beyond anything that is currently commercially available in Utah including all the fancy artisan bakers.

It is a shame to see talented bakers start a bakery then as they grow distribution far beyond that of old world bakers, they slowly start to make compromises that have caused us foodies to lessen our expectations for the whole bread category.

We all deserve regular access to this transcendent bread made by my friend. Ryan Moore is the only one positioned to give it to us. Not only is he going to use the money to buy a mill so he can source his grain directly from farmers and mill right before baking, but he has the marketing prowess to maintain the branding and command the price point to earn a decent living from baking small amounts of bread.

I have gone over his business plans with him. Here is a rare guy that does not want to leverage his quality into becoming wealthy. Ryan is a guy that just wants to make a good living pushing the quality of this craft back to old world scale.

I selfishly want bread like that in my life.

While my friends are getting excited about the newest additions to their families, I’m excited to announce the newest addition to our cheese cave family: Greektown Blue. She’s a beauty, with a healthy weight and clean bill of health.

I’m going to stop the baby referencing now before things start to sound morbid. I mean, we are going to eat the cheese, after all.

Cheese Cave #2 is nearing completion!

Our first wheel of Greektown was released earlier this week after a four month long stint in our cheese cave. What I find most exciting about this cheese is the fun, geeky process of how it came to be. As we continue the process of developing our first house-aged blue cheese, the flavors will become more consistent and the process will become more rigorous and thorough. I spent a few minutes with our affineuse, Antonia, today to talk about the first wheel. Antonia will be releasing more in-depth information about this cheese very soon, but we just couldn’t wait to share it with you.

Antonia has been a busy, busy woman these days. Not only does she care for each wheel of cheese individually, she is also the master behind our house-made burrata while also helping to plan the build out of our second cheese cave. Yes, you read that right. Second cheese cave. We’re nearing the end of construction on cheese cave #2 to give us more space to continue our Basque reserve cheeses, Grotte Caputo cheese, and make way for even more delicious projects and releases. You’ll be seeing many more posts like this as soon as the space becomes available and ready to house all these magnificent cheeses. Speaking of cheese, let’s get back to the blue.

Through all of this craziness, Antonia was still able to pull off aging a fantastic blue cheese. I love a blue cheese this time of year, it suits my seasonal needs and is just the thing I want to snack on with a glass of wine after work.

Our first blue cheese comes to us from a farm near and dear to our hearts, Mesa Farm. Randy and his small herd of well-loved goats from Torrey, Utah send Antonia freshly formed wheels of raw goat cheese made with a feta-like starter culture. Antonia takes over from there, first by rubbing the wheel down with goat butter, salting it with local salt, and then spending time caring for it, taking notes on its progress, and helping develop it into the delicious wheel it is today. Each wheel is pierced upon entry to the cave and left to self-inoculate from there. The wheels are exposed to Antonia and I called a ‘blend o’ spores’ including (but not necessarily limited to) penicillium roqueforti, penicillium galucum, b-linens, and a host of other fun spores flying around the cave.

Flash forward four months to the release. We have a lovely wheel with a thin, skin-like rind reminiscent of a French rindless blue cheese. The loosely pressed curd that was originally full of air pockets are now tiny caverns that are home to delicious blue and green hued molds. We’re pretty much already in love. The best part is, it’s only going to get better. I love to see the process from the outside. Seeing Antonia and Matt collaborate on ways to improve flavor, experiment with different techniques, and, ultimately, make delicious cheese is one of my favorite parts of Caputo’s. A close second is always learning the names of our newest releases.

This one is perfect. The name pays homage to both farm, community, and family. Randy’s feta starters and light brining before sending wheels our way helped lead us toward a Greek inspired name. This lovely, developing community that is home to our downtown location is Salt Lake’s historical Greek community. With Holy Trinity across the street and their annual Greek Fest, it’s only fitting that we honor the roots of the cheese and our neighborhood. We can’t leave out Matt’s maternal Greek heritage, either. We have a lot to thank Greece for, this is our way of saying just that.

Come try this first wheel before it’s too late. Like I said, the most exciting part of these new cheese releases is the evolution from wheel to wheel. Taste your way through each release with us, you won’t regret it. We’re already hooked.

If 2015 is going to be anything like 2014, I’m going to be excited about a lot of things going on at Caputo’s. Our chocolate selection drastically increased, our cheese cases abounded with new pastes and rinds, we found some amazing new meat and charcuterie choices, and, most importantly, CHEESE CAVE NUMBER TWO! See how excitable I can become?

We’ve been trying to corral our excitement for all these delicious things that have graced our palates, but we just can’t. Please join us on a monthly food voyage where we discover food in a new light with a special emphasis on individual products, origins and tastes. Become more familiarized and get to know your food better.

In the months ahead, look for a consistent dose of credible food knowledge with our monthly cravings. We’ll introduce you, or reintroduce in some cases, to the cheese, chocolate, sweet, and savory ingredients that we just can’t get enough of.

What’s more, we’ll include recipes, drink pairings, serving suggestions, and those little tidbits of information for you to share with your friends that will lead them to believe you are the almighty foodie friend. Each selection will get its very own time to shine whether it’s a new blog post, Facebook blast, or artistically styled Instagram photo. With food this good, we can’t help but share.

So, without further ado, meet our very first cravings of 2015:

CHEESE: Harbison

It’s love in cheese form, and this little guy already has his first love note from Evan!

This is the perfect blend of centuries-old French cheese making and American artisan passion. Like Evan says, don’t over-think this one. It’s perfect as is. Spread on baguette or scoop with spoon from a wheel to your mouth. We’re not kidding here about how fantastic this is on its own.

Really, this is an American gem. What’s more, it is perfect right now. Be sure to get your fill before someone else does!

CHOCOLATE: Mulate Tahini

From the makers of Chocolate Naïve comes Mulate,

the funky fresh younger brother to the sophisticated Naïve line. Bold, breathtaking chocolate meets salty Tahini for a combination meant only for the most wonderful people in the world, you! Think classic peanut butter and chocolate, but instead with really, really good dark milk chocolate and elevated by the flavor of classic sesame paste.

Once you open a bar and have a few nibbles, it’s pretty impossible to stop nibbling until it’s gone or your spouse rips it from your clenched fists. I’m hoping someday to get past this so I can start to experiment with a few baking and ice cream applications. Until then, it might be best to enjoy alone or with people who love you enough to see pass your chocolate obsession.

SWEET: Turron

If there was ever a treat made for royalty, it was turron. This delicate combination of almonds, honey, and egg whites is the stuff dreams are made of. Traditionally eaten around Christmas, this treat has transcended the holiday lineup to a year-round treat for us. It’s dreamy, I tell you. So dreamy in fact, I’m dreaming of financiers made with torrone beneath sticky honey roasted fruit. What could make that even better? More torrone, this time, in blondie form!

SAVORY: Bariani Early Harvest EVOO

As the harvest of late fall/early winter comes and goes, the newest and freshest extra virgin olive oils are released to the masses. Our very favorite domestic olive oil is worthy of international awards, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a new bottle. The Bariani family has historical roots in Lombardia, but now call California their home and playground helping to create truly beautiful olive oil. The possibilities here are endless. So endless, that there should just be a bottle placed in the kitchen and another on the dinner table. It’s perfect for drizzling over roasted meats and veggies, tossing with pasta and a few other choice additions (read: cheese), or as the ulitmate condiment to be drizzled over every single thing that touches your table. See? Easy.

That’s it, friends, our latest and greatest stuff of the month. January has been so good to us already, these four treats are only going to make it better and more delicious. Stay tuned for more blog posts, recipes, pictures, and musings. We can’t wait to share!

It has been a long time since I have personally written a blog post. I wish I had more time, but with our recent growth I have been too buried to justify time to write. However, few things send jolt me to attention like two new chocolate bars from Chocolate Naïve — made in a little town on the Eastern side of Lithuania.

Here’s how it happened.

I was sitting down with another unrelated chocolate maker tasting through a bunch of new bars while being filmed for a chocolate documentary. Throughout the tasting we were enjoying or not enjoying things as much or as little as might be expected. However, shortly after we popped our first bite of Naïve’s Chuao and Porcini bars, I gasped in ecstasy then involuntarily made guttural exclamations of awe and disbelief.

At the exact same time the other chocolate maker expressed his first compliments of the day. I knew instantly something incredibly great was sitting before me. Although Chuao is more commonly accompanied by a balancing amount of vanilla, Naïve’s rendition has none. I appreciated this rare opportunity to delve into the aromas intrinsic to raw Chuao beans that always remind me of horse blanket. Other aromas like, fine cigars, campfire, perfumed woods, toasted marshmallow, black currants and molasses are harder to pinpoint if you’re not really trying, but certainly make for one profound flavor journey either way.

Sure the Chuao bar has a far from silky texture, but one should not look a gift Chuao in the mouth. Instead, a jaded connoisseur should appreciate this visceral glimpse into the soul of this prized jewel of the rain forest.

The Porcini bar is even more of a surprise given I did not expect to like it. Porcini is not the most hip ingredient and it seems that inclusion bars (bars with non-cacao ingredients) these days have to have super trendy flavors added to them to get attention. Also, inclusion bars with mushrooms normally highlight the mushroom and the chocolate is an afterthought. Not the case here. The origin is completely clear and the Porcini add depth and nuance to an extent that truly is still freaking me out.

I have a lot more to say about the ethos surrounding Chocolate Naïve, but that will have to wait for another time. Until then, make sure you get them quickly “Limited Edition” means limited edition with Naïve and both of these bars will be gone soon.

One of the understated pleasures I have experienced in my years working for Caputo’s has been watching the gradual transformation and growth of our cheese selection to include some phenomenal domestic cheeses.

Although we remain a Southern European specialty foods store, in my mind, cheese is one of the primary things that sets us apart. Now we, in the good ol’ U.S. of A., may not have as much practice as say, France, but we are making some damn good cheese these days. One of the companies that have been at the heart of the American-made cheese renaissance is Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont.

Jasper Hill is a small dairy farm that’s making a big difference with the food they produce. They are drawing well-earned acclaim for their fantastic skill at promoting the terroir of the Northeast. Jasper Hill has received a lot of deserved fame for their affinage but their creamery is no slouch either. Now to the matter at hand: Harbison, which is my favorite domestic cheese. Well, at least today (I really like cheese).

Harbison, named for a Greensboro icon, comes as a small, self-contained wheel, which weighs about two-thirds of a pound. It has a delicate, white, bloomy rind that is incased in spruce bark early in its six to 13 week aging. Some people mistakenly call this soft ripened cheese a domestic attempt at Camembert or Vacherin Mont d’Or. Comparing Harbison to other cheeses as a sort of poor man’s substitute really cheapens what it is. Harbison is not Camembert. It doesn’t have to be. Harbison is Harbison and it’s really, really good.

When you open a wheel of Harbison you will notice the soft, spreadable texture. Eat this with a spoon or spread on a good baguette. Don’t overthink it. Harbison is rich with woody and vegetal notes like roasted vegetables and mushrooms. Where this cheese really stands out is that those notes are offset with a citrusy sweetness that knocks it out of the park.

Pair this with a good white wine like Latour Grand Ardeche, a French white which is routinely the single best steal in any wine store (I think it’s about $14.99 right now, 2015) and you will have made your evening complete.

The next time you are watching the news and some talking head says something like, “We used to make things in this country,” do what I do, eat some Harbison and celebrate to yourself the fact that some people still do.