You’re familiar with the cheese course, typically served before dessert, or instead of dessert. But there is a type of cheese that’s often served in France as a dessert, and it’s a very nice, light treat. It’s called fromage blanc (white cheese) or fromage frais (fresh cheese).
Yesterday we had lunch at Restaurant Les Pres Gaillardou, technically in La Roque-Gageac, but actually set away from the village just off a main road. We both had the 15-euro menu of the day, including an entrée (nicely decorated leeks, served with a vinaigrette and a sprinkling of chopped egg), and a plat principal (chicken braised in a white, creamy sauce — sort of a poultry version of blanquette de veau — and served with rice), and then dessert: fromage blanc en faiselle, served with a coulis de framboises. The faiselle refers to a cheese strainer, which is employed to strain out some of the liquid from the fresh (not fully cured) cheese.
Like the Italian panna cotta, fromage blanc is a nice, light way to end a meal. The taste is mild, not very sweet (which is why it needs the raspberry sauce), and the consistency is very soft and almost fluffy. It makes for a pretty dish, too, as you can see:
A light dessert of fromage blanc, with raspberry coulis
Radio Free Daglan 