Posted by Annie (169.207.85.212) on September 07, 1999 at 23:43:01:
For those of you fortunate enough to live where specialty grocery stores are plentiful, you can buy something at Italian groceries called Ricotta Salata. This is a goats milk cheese imported from the Auld Sod, excuse me, from Italy, and the worst ingredient in it is the fat and the salt.
You take a big chunk of this stuff and bake it in the oven. It turns a light golden brown, at which time you take it out and let it cool. Throw it in the food processor and grind it down to crumblies, put it in a container and stick it in the freezer and use as needed. Not quite the same taste as Parmesan or Romano style cheeses, but once you have this stuff you'll scoff at the crap in the green can.
My favorite way to eat it: chop a tomato, mince some garlic, shred a few basil leaves, toss with olive oil, salt and white pepper, then sprinkle with this cheese.
One more point... goat cheeses not produced in America tend to have less additives, and goat milk products are much easier on the digestion.
Hope this helps someone. Gotta go, my mouth is watering....