I was listening to NPR’s The Splendid Table podcast the other day while taking a walk over my lunch hour. Lynne Rosetto Casper was interviewing a fellow from the British Cheese Board regarding a study they had recently conducted on the effects of eating cheese before bed time. They “discovered” that eating cheese right before bed caused people to have especially wacky dreams, and that different varieties of cheese caused different kinds of dreams. The whole thing was rather stupid as I imagine you would get the same results with any food since wacky dreams don’t really require and specific stimulus to happen; It’s like saying eating olives will cause you to exhale. Correlation does not necessarily mean causation and all that.

Anyway, the reason I even bring it up is because I just happened to be walking by Surdyks while they were discussing the sorts of dreams that were “brought on” by ingesting Stilton Cheese, and it occurred to me that I’ve never tried Stilton. I have heard it mentioned in casual conversation and on cooking shows, but I have never tried it personally so I decided now was as good a time as any.

Stilton is an English Cheese that has been given the status of a protected designation of origin by the EU. This means that only cheese made in the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire can be called Stilton (Oddly enough, although it was named after it, Stilton can not be made in Stilton Village, which lies in Cambridgeshire County. ) It comes in blue and white varieties; blue being the more common and famous of the two.

Surdyks had two varieties, a blue and a white with candied lemon peal, so I bought a quarter pound of both. The Blue Stilton I think is the best blue cheese I’ve tried to date. It is actually more like butter then cheese. In fact blue cheese butter is the best way I can think of to describe it. The Lemon Stilton was also good. It tasted almost like a cheese cake filling. However, I could have done without the chunks of lemon peel which lent an unpleasant texture.

There is a lot of talk these days on the merits of eating foods that are produced locally, and around here this time of year it doesn’t get any more local then sweet corn. If you live anywhere in the Midwest and drive for a half hour in any direction you will probably find someone on the side of the road who will sell you a dozen ears for what most of us pay for a cup of coffee.

I always forget how good corn-on-the-cob is. I guess it’s because this time of year every grocer has a tidal wave of the stuff so the psychology of supply and demand leaves you with a fairly underwhelming impression. When I do finally have some, I always wonder why I am not eating it constantly. I go through similar cycles of experience with vanilla ice Cream, PB and J, and baked potatoes.

In addition to being tasty, sweet corn is one of the fastest tickets to a hot meal outside of toast. This past weekend we were visiting my father-in-law to be in Spooner WI. He showed me how to cook it in the microwave:

1) Cut the silks off but leave the husks on

2) Cook it on high for two minutes then turn it over and cook it for two minutes longer

3) Take it out, and hold it under cold water while you rip off the husks.

Let it sit for a minute and you’re done; Perfect Corn. And all this time I have been boiling water like a sucker.

Recently I got the urge to stick it to Panera, and make my own damned fancy sammich. I wanted something refreshing to combat the 104 degree heat outside. I was feeling like chicken. I was also feeling like I had some tomatoes to get rid of, and even had some basil on hand. Definitely some good feelings to go with.

But, I wanted more, so I went to the co-op and invested in a happy chicken, some fancy mozzarella, more fresh basil, and a nice loaf of focaccia. Oh yea, and some beans. One thing you gotta know about me is that I love fresh green beans steamed and served with a balsamic reduction. Oldie but goodie.

First thing I did was get the chicken in the oven. In deciding on the preparation, I went with something old school, namely 40 Garlic Clove chicken. For one thing, the preparation makes for delicious chicken. Second of all, the pan juices will be totally infused with herbs and garlic. There is my spread! Use everything, right? Mayo is for pansies.

Oh yea, look at that baby! Here is the chicken, getting all rested up. If you click on the photo, you can see me lovely Bouquet garni. God, I rule. I also went ahead and put butter pats and herb sprigs under the skin, because I am just ill like that. Turned out awesome. Real awesome. The garlic oil / pan juice mixture at the bottom of the pot was so good, I almost wanted to pour some in a shot glass and knock it back. Mindful of my ever expanding waistline, I managed to resist that temptation.

I am not even sure why I bothered with the sandwich… I ended up eating about 15% of the bird as I was cutting the meat off. Mmm. The butter and herbs I stuffed under the skin really worked some magic.

After the chicken was safely ensconced in its nap, it was time to get a salad together. This was basically created by emptying out the fridge, and getting rid of some of the fancy heirloom tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella we had hanging out from the pizza I made last week. A little red onion, oil and vinegar, and salt and pepper. Total and complete. I put a little garlic in the dressing just because the 40 cloves in the chicken pot was not enough. Fear me, ye undead vampyre!

Yes, I know that this salad is suspiciously close to the sandwich compositionally… but hey. Sometimes you have a lot of tomatoes to get rid of, you know?

Next thing was to steam the beans, then give them a little sauté in some balsamic and oil, just to coat them a little.

Note my stylish Unicorn Magnum Peppermill… she is a beauty, ain’t she? That sucker spits out a solid tablespoon of pepper on like 2 twists. My man Alton Brown have me the tip on the Magnum. Awesome.

And, the piece de resistance. Shogunstyle Garlic Chicken sandwich with Basil, Mozzarella, Fresh Basil and garlic oil served on a toasted focaccia round. This bastard was good! The oil really added a nice flavor to the over all sandwich.

Not only that, as you can see, the thing was huge. What you are looking at is three days worth of lunches for the wife and me… much cheaper then a certain fancy pants sandwich chain. Panera got NOTHING on me.

Aaaah, summer.

-shogunmoon