Filo-Wrapped Apple and Cabécou Goat Cheese Bundles
Easy and Elegant Recipe for these Chevre Delights from the Languedoc
Jul 25, 2009
Genuine Cabécou may be hard to find. Because of their tiny size they reach maturity very quickly, their life span doesn’t extend much beyond 4 weeks. Made from raw goat’s milk, the US doesn’t allow the import of raw milk cheeses aged less than 60 days. There is a pasteurized version imported to the US, and some domestic varieties of Cabécou made from raw milk are appearing.
More on Cabécou below, but another mild and creamy goat cheese, cut to a similar size, could be substituted in this recipe.
Perfect for entertaining, serve these elegant bundles as either a dessert or cheese course, or for a light luncheon accompanied by a fresh green salad.
Filo-Wrapped Apple and Cabécou Goat Cheese Bundles
Yield: 4 serving
You will need: Kitchen string
Ingredients:
- 1 firm cooking apple like Granny Smith or McIntosh
- 1 Tbsp butter (15 grams)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 4 plate sized rounds of filo dough
- 4 Cabécou
- 4 Tbsp of creamy honey
- 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 400° F (200° C).
- Wash and thinly slice the apple.
- In a large pan over medium flame, melt the butter and add the apple in a single layer. Cook, stirring occasionally until the apple starts to color, about 6-10 minutes.
- Add the sugar and reduce the heat. Cook until the slices must are soft and caramelized to a golden brown, about 4 minutes more.
- Divide the apples between the centers of each of the 4 filo rounds. Top each with a round of Cabécou. Drizzle over each with a tablespoon of honey and nestle the rosemary sprig on top.
- Bring the edges of the filo up and tie with kitchen string to form a parcel.
- Place the bundles them on a baking sheet and bake just until the pastry turns a light golden brown. This will take just a scant few moments so don’t wander off.
Wine Accompaniment
As part of a salad course, Cabécous matches nicely with a dry and herbaceous white wine, such as a Sancerre or Fumé Blanc. At the end of a meal, consider a meaty red, such as a Syrah or a Coteaux du Languedoc
About Cabécou
The unique flavor of Cabécou comes from the Terroir of this rugged region in the south of France. The goats graze on hawthorn, mulberry and juniper. The morning milking is mixed with an older batch and left to ferment for between 6 and 12 days. Then it is lightly salted and rolled into the disks 4-5 cm (~2 inches) in diameter, 1½ cm (~1/2 inch) thick.
Produced mainly in the Quercy, Rouergue and Périgord regions, Cabécou earned its AOC designation in 1996 under the name “Rocamadour” after one of the towns in the area.
Local lore says that the cheese is believed to have been first made during the Arab/Moorish invasion in France, who brought their goats with them. After the defeat of the Sarrasins in 732, some of the moors settled in the area there with their families and their goat herds.
More Cabécou Recipes
For a simple salad or starter: warm the cheese slightly and put it on a bed of greens with halved cherry tomatoes, Niçoise olives and baguette toasts
For another Cabécou delight, try Tarte Salée Cabécou du Perigord (Goats Cheese Tart) by Kerrie Swash.
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