Crab Cakes & Salad with Asiago cheese

This was a cheat lunch since I bought those crab cakes from Costco. I love crab cakes but can't be bothered to make them myself. I guess I could try making it with crab meat that has been shelled already instead of doing it myself. Yummy as these are, the feature for today's post is Asiago cheese. Also purchased from Costco! Of course it is sold in bulk so it was alot of cheese. Not only is this a delicious cheese on salads and sandwiches but great as is with a glass of full bodied red wine. There's just something about the two that make them a perfect pairring.

Wikipedia explains Asiago cheese as an Italian cheese that according to the different aging can assume different textures, from smooth for the fresh Asiago cheese( Asiago Pressato) to a crumbly texture for the aged cheese (Asiago d'allevo) whose flavor is reminiscent of sharp cheddar and parmesan. The aged cheese is often grated in salads, soups, pastas, and sauces while the fresh Asiago cheese is sliced to prepare panini, sandwiches, or molten on a variety of dishes. It is often treated as interchangable with the parmesan and romano cheeses, as they are with each other.

The only "official" Asiago cheese is produced in the alpine area of the town of Asiago, province of Vicenza, in the Veneto region, and now is also made in the Alpine region of Trentino, which has become part of the DOP area for Asiago cheese production. Most asiago cheese in the world, however, is made somewhere else using techniques and cultures that produce a cheese of the same or similar flavor.