Bryndza lurrrrrve ♥

So, since Ružomberok is in the middle of the Liptov region, there's a lot of places to buy more artesianal bryndza than what I normally buy at the grocery store.  And I admit, I've been lazy about becoming more of a connoisseur even though I definitely have the opportunity to do so!

This week, at breakfast, when I am usually still half-asleep and also in minor awe of whatever herbal tea is in the pot (it changes depending on the herbs, obviously), there was something good that looked to me like whipped butter with chives.  So I smeared a bunch of it on the fresh Slovak bread (your mouth should be watering, if it isn't already), enjoyed it, and went on with my day.  At dinner, it made a brief reappearance, and I asked what it was.  Hint: it wasn't butter.

Yes, that morning I had thoroughly enjoyed bryndza spread!  Even though you can't really get bryndza in America, you can approximate it by mixing farmer's cheese and feta and then you can get started on these two versions of the same spread:

Bryndza spread
Mix well together: 100g of Bryndza, 50g of butter, 100g of melted cheese, dices of onion, sweet red pepper, a little of mayonese. Serve with bread.

 

This I found in the book Polish Heritage Cookery.  Slovaks and Poles like to fight over who really 'owns' bryndza, also because it's protected by the EU like Parmigiano Reggiano is, but the truth is that the word really comes from Romanian, which is a Romance language, which comes from Latin, who were the first Italians, so really, like all good things, bryndza is Italian.