Think South when you say 'cheese'

“It took everything I had,” Malakasis said, “but I am very happy — and very passionate about my cheese.”

Her line of goat cheese is sold at gourmet havens such as Whole Foods, but also at Piggly Wiggly and Costco.

“Good food has to be accessible to everyone,” Malakasis said. “Things aren’t going to change by being exclusive.”

Malakasis’ foodie fairy tale resonates within the food world, where gourmands bent on environmentalism and influenced by books such as “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” (Penguin Press, $26.95) by food guru Michael Pollan, have come to embrace the idea of artisan foods as gospel. Handcrafted foods, made on a smaller scale, are the new trend when it comes to eating healthily and protecting the environment. Small-scale cheeses, it stands to reason, are becoming a big part of that process.

Georgia and Alabama have seen a rise in local creameries and dairies in the past decade, a movement spearheaded most notably by Sweet Grass Dairy, whose goat cheese began to make a name for itself not long after the dairy opened in 2000 in Thomasville.

Unlike Sweet Grass, which owns its own herd of goats and Jersey cows, Belle Chevre gets its milk from Humble Heart Dairy in Elkmont, which is part of a larger cooperative of dairy farmers.

Ron Marks of Atlanta Fresh Artisan Creamery, which makes Greek-style yogurt and fresh cow’s milk mozzarella in Norcross, found his milk at the Georgia Organics Conference in 2009, where he met second-generation dairy farmer Russell Johnston. Marks, a 40-year veteran of the food service industry with a consulting company called Focus on Food, got “depressed” about the state of “value engineering” in foods many of his clients were demanding. Marks had become what he calls a “disciple” of Pollan’s, and he wanted to do something more wholesome with his time.

He opened Atlanta Fresh in August 2009, making yogurt and fresh mozzarella from the milk from Johnston Family Farms, which is about 40 miles from his business, between Conyers and Madison in Newborn.

“We have deliveries from the farm on Mondays and Wednesdays,” Marks said, “and it is the freshest milk I have ever tasted. Within 24 hours, we’re making it into yogurt or mozzarella.”

Now, Marks says, he can barely keep up with the demand — Atlanta Fresh products are sold at Star Provisions, Alon’s, Whole Foods and Harry’s, Sevananda, Bakeshop, the Mercantile and Sawicki’s.

“Atlanta is such a great city for this type of product,” Marks said. “Our chefs really get behind the freshness and the fact that it’s local, and that makes everyone want some.”

He hopes to expand his product line to burrata and mascarpone cheeses this year.

For Caroline and Steven Harless, owners of Flat Creek Lodge in Swainsboro, the idea of making award-winning cheeses came as almost an afterthought. The couple’s day job at their Buckhead businesses, Harless Associates and Peachtree Capital Corp., as accountants and financial planners, keeps them as busy as the lodge does.

Since 1995, the Harlesses have been adding to and capitalizing on the charms of the 2,000-acre pine plantation farm. Visitors can hunt, fish, ride bikes and tour the dairy farm, where 52 Jersey cows produce some of Georgia’s only semihard and hard cheeses — from natural rind and Aztec cheddars to Uneenodae.

The couple hired master cheesemaker Dane Huebner in 2007, and the move has paid off. In March, Huebner and the dairy won two gold medals and a best of class award at the World Champion Cheese Contest in Madison, Wis., one of the most prestigious cheese competitions in the world. Now, the Harlesses have expanded to growing oyster, yellow trumpet and pink flamingo mushrooms.

“I guess we are just crazy enough to do this sort of thing,” Caroline Harless said.

Many small dairy and creamery owners, such as Malakasis and Marks, have nothing more to bank on than a much-needed lifestyle change and the outline of a dream. A dream that begins with a cow or a goat and ends with something very good to eat.

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Recipes

Use local dairy products and cheeses — such as those from Atlanta Fresh (www.atlantafresh.com), Fromagerie Belle Chevre (www.bellechevre.com) and Flat Creek Lodge (www.flatcreeklodge.com) — to make the best of these recipes that highlight cheese and yogurt. The creameries’ Web sites can guide you to stores that carry their products.

Meridith Ford Goldman, mfordgoldman@ajc.com

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Goat Cheese Cheesecake With Bing Cherries

Hands on: 40 minutes Total time: 1 hour, 50 minutes Serves: 10 (one cake)

This creamy, luscious cheesecake is adapted from Tish Boyle’s “The Cake Book” (John Wiley &Sons, $39.95). Unlike a lot of other cheesecakes made with goat cheese, it isn’t overly tangy but has a deep, rich cheese flavor that pairs well with sweet cherries. Use a 9-by-3-inch cake pan with straight sides if you don’t have a springform pan, and be sure to let the cake rest for at least 4 hours before turning it out.

Honey Graham Crust

1¼ cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-by-3-inch springform pan or an 8-by-3-inch cake pan. In a medium bowl, toss together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the melted butter and mix until well blended. Pat the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Set the crust aside to cool. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees.

Goat Cheese Filling

1 pound cream cheese, cold but not firm

8 ounces Belle Chevre goat cheese

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons honey

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

In the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and goat cheese together at medium-low speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar and mix at medium speed until well blended. Mix in the honey. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between each addition. Add the lemon zest, vanilla extract and sour cream and mix until combined. Remove bowl from the mixer stand and stir the batter a few times to blend fully.

Pour the batter over the cooled crust. Place the pan into a large roasting pan or cake pan that is at least 2 inches larger in diameter. Pour enough warm water into the cake pan to come to 1½ inches up the side of the cheesecake pan, creating a water bath. Bake the cake in the water bath at 300 degrees for 70 minutes.

Remove cake from the oven, remove from the water bath and let cool completely.

Refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours.

Remove the sides of the springform pan, or heat the cake pan on the sides only with warm water and turn the cake out onto a cardboard cake circle, and then invert the cake immediately onto a serving platter.

Top with Bing cherry topping.

Bing Cherry Topping

2 cups (about 10 ounces) frozen Bing cherries

½ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

¼ cup orange juice

In a large saucepan, place the Bing cherries, including all juice, over low heat. In a small bowl, mix together sugar and cornstarch. Add the orange juice and mix, creating a slurry, until smooth. Bring the heat to high, and cook the cherries in their juice until the juice begins to bubble. Stir in the orange juice mixture and stir gently (without breaking the cherries) until the mixture bubbles again. Cook for 1 minute, or until the juice is clear, not cloudy. Remove from heat and spread over goat cheese cheesecake.

Per serving (based on 10): 580 calories (percent of calories from fat, 56), 15 grams protein, 51 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 36 grams fat (22 grams saturated), 181 milligrams cholesterol, 318 milligrams sodium.

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Yogurt and Fruit Trifle

Hands on: 20 minutes Total time: 20 minutes Serves: 4

This quick and easy dessert is made with the creamy, tart Greek-style yogurt from Atlanta Fresh, plain yogurt and bakery-made pound cake.

1 pint blueberries

1 pint raspberries

½ pint sliced strawberries

½ cup granulated sugar

16 ounces plain Atlanta Fresh Greek-style yogurt

2 tablespoons honey

½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ loaf pound cake

In a large bowl, mix together the blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and sugar. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, mix together the yogurt, honey, orange juice, orange zest and lemon zest. Set aside.

Crumble the pound cake into pea-size pieces. In martini or wineglasses, alternate layers of pound cake, then yogurt and then fruit, repeat, and end with a layer of the yogurt mixture. Garnish with a few berries, if desired.

Per serving: 473 calories (percent of calories from fat, 21), 10 grams protein, 87 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 12 grams fat (6 grams saturated), 106 milligrams cholesterol, 264 milligrams sodium.

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Penne With Sausage, Tomatoes, Goat Cheese and Cheddar

Hands on: 20 minutes Total time: 30 minutes Serves: 10

This is a quick way to feed a family — and everyone will want seconds. The Flat Creek Lodge Aztec cheddar cheese is available online at www.flatcreeklodge.com.

2 cups uncooked penne pasta

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

½ onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound spicy chicken or turkey sausage links, sliced

1 teaspoon minced oregano

5 ounces Belle Chevre goat cheese

1 cup mozzarella

1 cup Flat Creek Lodge Aztec cheddar cheese

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 cup low-fat or fat-free half-and-half

In a large pot, cook the pasta in about 4 cups boiling water. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil and toss. Set aside.

In a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and add onion and garlic. Sauté until well browned. Add the sliced sausage and cook until the sausage is no longer pink in the center. Add oregano and toss, then remove from heat.

In a large saucepot, add pasta, sauté mixture, goat cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, tomatoes and half-and-half. Toss together over low heat until the cheese melts and is completely incorporated. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 319 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 20 grams protein, 17 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 19 grams fat (9 grams saturated), 72 milligrams cholesterol, 532 milligrams sodium.