Rosemary Pork Tenderloin with a Bourbon Glaze and Old Amsterdam Cheese Grits

Rosemary Pork Tenderloin with a Bourbon Glaze and Old Amsterdam Cheese Grits

I thought Summertime was supposed to be a time to kick back and relax, but so far that has not happened this year. The days seem to disappear and it feels as though nothing has been accomplished, although I am totally swamped with all sorts of projects related to the blog and things to accomplish around the house. I need to get my butt in gear call in those cooking and cleaning fairies! Where could they be?!

We were driving back from the mountains the other day and a ride that should take two hours and fifteen minutes took three hours and we did not even stop. I have decided that when time disappears like this (as it does every day, it seems), that I have badly allocated my time been abducted by aliens! That must be the only logical reason! How can so much time disappear and you not remember what happened to it? Definitely the aliens…

Anyway, to make up for my recent alien abductions, I was a very lucky girl last week and received a nice package from the people at Norseland, Inc.! They are the exclusive importer, sales and marketing agent for Jarlsberg in the United States. They have quite an extensive line of other specialty cheeses in addition to Jarlsberg. Some of them were included in my nifty little refrigerated package, so that made me do a happy dance as I love cheese! In fact some of my favorites are the ones they represent!

Jarlsberg is truly one of my favorite cheeses to serve as part of a cheese board and as a snack to have around for afternoon munchies with a glass of wine in the early evening. Everyone loves the wonderful nutty flavor.

In addition to the Jarlsberg, I received some Gran Maestre Manchego. Manchego is a Sheep’s milk cheese from Spain (shhh…don’t tell Mr. Bunkycooks! He doesn’t do sheep or goat!). This is a delicious cheese that truly is best served at room temperature (as are all cheeses). It is one of those cheeses that is perfect for a dinner party, especially if you are preparing a little Mexican or Spanish food. I could not wait to serve it as we had it in Barcelona with some delightful sangria based on a recipe from Cerveceria Catalana. They drizzle the cheese with honey as one of their tapas, so that is what I did! It brought me right back to Barcelona. When can I return?!

Of all the goodies that were in the bag, the one I wanted to play with the most was the big chunk of Old Amsterdam. I am a huge fan of this rich buttery cheese. It has such a wonderful aged flavor. Again, if you are going to serve this as an appetizer, leave it out for an an hour or two before your guests arrive. The flavors really develop the longer it sits at room temperature before serving. I love that aged Gouda flavor with a bit of a bite and little bit of saltiness. It is delicious.

So, as I tend to do when I receive goodies in the mail, I asked myself, how could I use this in cooking? Well, of course, after living in the South all these years, I just had to make grits, y’all! I have great access to all the wonderful stone ground grits we have here in the South and I knew this cheese would really be a great switch from cheddar, which is traditionally used in cheese grits. (Thanks to one of my Bunkycooks readers (Barb) for the grits inspiration).

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