There’s a lot of cheese out there to try, but not always the time and/or the money to do so. Often I find it easy to pick up familiar favorites, or ones that I know I can get easily or nearby… ah, but to have the chance to try something new! I was in Petaluma yesterday for one of the California’s Artisan Cheese Festival meetings [to be held March 20^th -23^rd, 2009 in Petaluma, and YES, you can buy tickets on the website now, and they are already going fast], and asked Jill Basch (of Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company) and Doralice Handal (of The Cheese Shop in Healdsburg) if they had any suggestions of nearby creameries to visit. They named a couple that I should call ahead and make a reservation to visit, but both also thought of Joe Matos Cheese Factory near Santa Rosa. The instructions on finding it sounded simple enough, and it wasn’t too far out of the way, so I drove north after the meeting.

This is about the point that I felt like a Cheese Spy. When I visit creameries, I try to be the nice, unobtrusive yet curious, guy who asks as many friendly questions as he can, buy a few cheeses and then reflect on it here on Canyon of Cheese. Cheesemakers and their employees tend to love to talk about their cheese, their processes, their farms, their milk. For many it is their passion, as well as their livelihood, and by sharing about it, you too become better informed about the cheese. As you can see from the weathered sign, Joe Matos Cheese Factory has been around for a long time. The additional signs leading me down their road to the “cheese factory” were simularly worn. Once I arrived at what seemed to be the end of the road, I parked amongst a small gathering of buildings including a barn or two. Dogs and cats could be seen, cows off in the pasture, farm equipment, but no people. Eventually a gentleman (who I assume was Joe Matos, based on the pictures I saw in the Factory’s office), came ambling by, and I, looking very much like a city-slicker in a button-up collared shirt, sunglasses and carrying a camera, extended my hand for a handshake and said that I was hoping to buy some cheese. He looked at me with either suspicion, or more likely indifference, and after shaking my hand pointed me to the “office”, a door on one of the buildings which, unless examined closely almost did not indicate its purpose (I noticed later that there was an “open” sign in the window).

A buzzer went off as I walked through the door into a six foot by six foot room with a counter and one wheel of cheese inside of it behind glass. A scale stood on top of the counter, and a few pictures and articles on the wall. What immediately caught my eye though was an open door leading to the aging room, and that looked like heaven; shelves and shelves of aging wheels… I took a couple photos, and although I didn’t feel unwanted (they clearly sell cheese), I did feel slightly irreverent, like taking snapshots in a church. Eventually a woman, about the same age as the man I had met outside, walked from the aging room to behind the counter. I told her I was pleased to be visiting their creamery. This had no effect. She seemed rather stoic. I had brought a pen & paper, and perhaps that (along with the camera) were working against me. She handed me a generous slice of cheese from the wheel behind the glass. Not wanting to assume or offend, I asked; “may I ask you some questions about your cheese?” To which she replied; “we do not give any information about our cheese.” That stopped me in my tracks. If I was a Cheese Spy, I was the worst possible Spy there was. Knowing that I wasn’t one, however, and that I just wanted to try another hand-made cheese in California we got down to business. The cheese (of which I didn’t even know the name of) was seven dollars a pound, I asked for a pound and the wedge she cut ended up being just over a pound; eight bucks. She wrapped it up nicely for me, complete with sticker and card, and I left, looking forward to eating more of the cheese at home.  I also wanted to look up more information about what I had just tasted, bought, and experienced.

My visit was perhaps no different than other’s who have gone before me, as witnessed by Janet Fletcher’s 2003 article about the creamery; “A Portuguese secret revealed“. It is DUE to the Matos’ dedication as well as their excellent pricing (I challenge you to find a similar hand-crafted cheese like this in the Santa Rosa/Petaluma area at $7 a pound), and taste which makes their Cheese Factory well worth visiting.

I kept half the wedge for snacking, and the other half I used in the recipe below. If YOU know of some other “Secret Cheese” gems worth trying (in California or not), please use the comment section to let us all know about them.

Italian Zucchini Casserole

(This is a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law, Karen. Kathy and I have been using it for years, and although it’s one of those recipes you can find in many cookbooks, I’ve added a few notes to help make it come out just right each time.)

Ingredients:

4 cups thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini

1 coarsely chopped large onion

½ cup butter

½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, or 2 Tbsp dry parsley

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp Dried Sweet Basil

¼ tsp dried Oregano

2 beaten eggs

8 oz. (approx. 2 cups) Muenster or Mozzarella cheese

8 oz. Refrigerated Crescent Roll (croissant) dough

Instructions:

* please read “notes” below before making.

• Preheat Oven to 375°
• In a 10-inch or 11-inch un-greased baking dish (small lasagna pan works great), spread the dough.
• Bake the dough briefly (5 to 7 minutes) so that it begins to rise, but does not brown. Remove from oven.



• In a large skillet, cook zucchini & onion in butter until tender (approximately 10 minutes).
• Stir in seasonings
• In a large bowl, blend the cheese with the pre-bended eggs. Stir in the vegetable mix.



• Pour in egg/cheese/vegetable mixture on top of the dough, spread evenly.
• Bake entire casserole for 18 to 20 minutes, remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

*Notes: Almost any number of mild cheeses will work well with this dish. I often combine some Mozzarella with some Gruyère. This time, I mixed some mass-produced domestic Mozzarella I had along with the Joe Matos St. Jorge. Although a soft cheese, I used the cutting blade of my food processor to chop and mix the two cheeses. Read about using your Food Processor correctly for grating or chopping cheese on this previous post.

The food processor is also a huge time-saver if you want to get very thin slices of zucchini, using the “slice” blade. As to “stirring in” the vegetable mix to the cheese and eggs, I typically cheat and continue to use my hand mixer until all the ingredients are well blended.