There's a moment at the dinner table when everything stops. It's when you bring the cutting board to the center, you've already uncorked something good, and the cheese still smells of the cellar. That's when you know if you've chosen well. Cheese recipes are among the most versatile in our tradition: from everyday cooking to gourmet dishes for special occasions, cheese transforms even the simplest preparations into something memorable.
Over the years, we've learned that the quality of the raw material isn't just a detail; it's everything. That's why, when we build a recipe around cheese, we start with products we know well, like those from Caseificio Faggiola, at CLAI, and pair them with the cured meats we know best: those from pigs born, raised, and slaughtered in Italy by our member farmers.
Faggiola cheeses in the CLAI shop
The cheeses you find in our shop come from Faggiola, a dairy with its own distinct identity, careful production, and extensive experience in milk processing. Getting to know it changes the way you look at cheese on the table: it's not a generic ingredient; it's the result of specific work, done by people who know what they're doing.
Among the cheeses you can order directly to your home:
- Caciotta Toscana and Caciotta Biologica: soft texture, delicate flavor, melts well both in the oven and in a pan. The organic version is made with certified milk.
- Goccia Bianca and Goccia Toscana al Tartufo: white and compact cheese, with a clean milky note. The truffle version adds depth without overpowering other ingredients.
- Pecorino Faggiola and Pecorino Stagionato: strong character, natural savoriness, excellent for cooking. Aged Pecorino also holds up well when grated.
- Formaggio Reale Toscano Stagionato di Fossa: aged in a tuff cave, where it develops an intense, slightly spicy, and earthy flavor. Excellent raw or as the star of a condiment.
- The Montano Faggiola: semi-hard mountain cheese, round flavor with a hint of natural smokiness. Perfect for winter first courses.
- Quadalto, Canestrello Toscano, Rosso Antico: cheeses with their own identity, each with its own aging and character.
Cheese recipes: three concrete ideas to get started
No complex techniques are needed. You just need to know what you're putting on the plate and why. These are three gourmet recipes accessible to everyone, designed to enhance cheeses along with CLAI cured meats.
1. Crostini with Caciotta Toscana and Aged Guanciale
One of the simplest and most successful combinations. The fat of CLAI's Aged Guanciale, which slowly melts during cooking, pairs beautifully with the soft, melting texture of Caciotta Toscana.
Slice the bread thickly and toast it in the oven. Place a slice of CLAI Guanciale and a slice of Caciotta on top. Broil for two or three minutes, until the cheese begins to bubble. Finish with freshly ground black pepper and, if you like, a few fresh thyme leaves. It's an appetizer that tastes like a Sunday morning, but it also works perfectly as an informal aperitif.
2. Risotto with Aged Pecorino and CLAI Dried Sausage
This is one of our favorite cheese recipes, because it brings together two elements with strong character without one overpowering the other. CLAI Dried Sausage holds up well during cooking and flavors the rice without making it heavy.
Prepare the risotto with a light vegetable broth. Halfway through cooking, add the previously crumbled and browned sausage. For the creaming (mantecatura), replace the butter with finely grated Faggiola Aged Pecorino. The result is a first course with a strong, savory flavor, with that herbaceous note that only Dried Sausage can provide.
3. Baked Frittata with Goccia Toscana al Tartufo and Coppa Parma IGP
A gourmet recipe dish that actually takes twenty minutes. Whisk six eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the Goccia Toscana al Tartufo cut into small cubes. Pour into a preheated pan with a drizzle of oil and bake in the oven at 180°C for fifteen minutes. For the last three minutes, arrange slices of CLAI Coppa Parma IGP on the surface: the heat will curl them slightly, enhancing their spicy and sweet aroma. Serve warm, cut into wedges.
How to pair cheeses with cured meats: some useful principles
When building a charcuterie board or thinking about a recipe that combines cheeses and cured meats, there's a balance to respect between savoriness, fat, and texture. It's not an absolute rule; it's more an intuition that refines with practice.
- Semi-aged cheeses with cured meats: Caciotta Toscana or Goccia Bianca balance well the concentration of a long-aged salami like Corallina or Salame senza conservanti Imola 1962.
- Aged cheeses with fresh or lightly aged cured meats: Faggiola Pecorino or Formaggio di Fossa hold up well alongside less savory cured meats, where they don't risk overpowering each other.
- Flavored cheeses in moderation: Goccia Toscana al Tartufo already has a distinct personality. There's no need to pair it with very spicy cured meats; prefer something more neutral, like CLAI Mortadella or slices of aged Guanciale.
Ingredients that already have something to tell
The most successful gourmet recipes we've seen almost always stem from the same logic: a few well-chosen ingredients, treated with respect. An aged pecorino paired with dried sausage, a caciotta melting over guanciale, a cave-aged cheese scenting a simple first course. Not many explanations are needed to understand why they work.
For cured meats, what we bring to the table comes from a precise choice: 100% Italian meat, pigs born and raised by our members, processed with methods we know well and don't change to save time. For cheeses, we rely on Caseificio Faggiola: a company that is part of our world and brings the same attention to processing and product quality to every shape.
If you want to discover the cheeses and cured meats from our selection, you can find them directly in the CLAI online shop.
