Displaying items by tag: cheese

Here's a recipe for for our deliciously creamy ranch dip which is the perfect accompaniment to our southern fried chicken or for spooning onto a barbecued beef steak. It's good to serve as a dip with celery sticks, carrot batons and cucumber too. It's quick and easy to make and doesn't require exact measurements if you're in a hurry.  Use any soft and creamy blue cheese for the dip with a more crumbly cheese to fold in for texture. You can thin it with a little milk if you fancy using it to dress a salad.

• Add all the ingredients except for the crumbly cheese into a bowl
• blitz
• until as smooth as you fancy
• crumble more cheese in and leave chunky or blitz a little more
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Three delicious ewe's milk cheeses arrived in the post last week, sent to me by Slate Cheese and Provisions. I've been asked to choose my favourite of the three and it's been a hard task. What I received was the April Cheese Club selection, celebrating the arrival of spring and containing the season's most special sheep cheeses, along with a box of Millers's Harvest artisan crackers. First up was Norfolk White Lady, a full fat Brie style cheese made by Jane Murray at Willow Farm Dairy in Deopham, Norfolk, and one of our own very good East Anglian cheeses. It is a soft, mould ripened cheese, with a delicate flavour. I left the cheese at room temperature for 6 hrs to allow it to ooze a little, which it did, although it was not as soft as I would have liked. It was very good with the yeasty three seed crackers and a little chestnut honey that I had in my cupboard at home. Next to try was the Pecorini Sardo, it was a treat to see this Sardinian cheese and although the tasting notes suggested it as a perfect cooking cheese in place of Parmesan, no way was I going to cook with it, but instead shaved it over a rocket and toasted hazelnut salad, where its almost sweet yet salty and piquant flavours really packed a punch. Finally the Cheese of the month for April, a Pave Cobble, made in Somerset by White Lake Cheese at Bagborough Farm, Somerset. A pyramid shaped cheese with a silky, sweet and creamy paste that has a salty citrus tang. The ash coating creating a wrinkled rind. I left this one in my cool pantry for 24 hrs until it started to ooze perfectly under the skin and it was just divine, definitely my Supreme Champion. Who says the French have the best cheeses?  If you fancy joining the Cheese Club, you might like to know that boxes are delivered on the first Thursday of the month, either monthly or a bi-monthly delivery. Join in April 2019 and you will automatically get sent your first box free.

• beautiful packed and branded cheese parcel arrives
• tasting notes are included
• Pecorino Sardo Maturo shaved into a rocket and toasted hazelnut salad
• Norfolk White Lady
• Pave Cobble
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 Cheester Eggs from Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses. Cheddar or Blacksticks Blue, definitely an Easter Egg to nibble on.

• Blacksticks Blue Easter Egg
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We were thrilled to receive this parcel in the post; a selection of cheeses from The Fine Cheese Co. Delighted also that we were sent a selection to review called Sisters in Cheese, a one off selection created especially with Mothers Day in mind - the three cheeses recognising women's roles as cheese-makers down the ages, and a tribute to today's 'dairymaids'. A very appropriate range in time for our own Mothers Day lunch where my three daughters thought that it meant a cheese each! We're all cheese lovers in my house and considering that all three daughters worked for me at some point waitressing in my restaurant where only English cheeses were served they've had to learn their stuff, so I didn't mind sharing.       

The selection included a Sharpham Brie which is a raw, Jersey cow's milk cheese made in Devon on the Sharpham Estate. Rich, delicate and creamy with an unctuous texture. The cheesemaker is Debbie Mundford. 

A baby Curworthy, a pasteurised cow's milk cheese dating back to the 17th century, and thought to be even older than Cheddar. Smooth, firm and mellow with a creamy flavour and made by Rachel Stevens.

Wigmore, a raw, Ewe's milk cheese with a gentle, delicate flavour and made in Berkshire by Anne Wigmore. 

The Fine Cheese Co is based in Bath, with a branch also in London just around the corner from Harvey Nicks. If you are unable to visit then the online selections and cheese gifts are very tempting with a frequently changing cornucopia of cheeses to choose from. I even spotted our own Suffolk produced Baron Brigod. My parcel arrived in great shape, with ice pack keeping it cool and the cheese all in perfect shape. A handy caring for your cheese and cheese etiquette leaflet included too.

• well packaged including an ice pack to keep cool
• cheese and fridge etiquette
• unwrapped and bringing to room temperature
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Vacherin Mont D'Or making in Switzerland.  One of my top ten cheeses. 

Bang on the toast trend, we are excited about this new company called The Cheese Postie. For a £3.99 a week subscription, a DIY savoury or sweet toasted cheese sandwich will drop through your letterbox.  The ready to assemble ingredients will include quality artisan bread (including gluten free) the filling and a toasting bag.

Look what had appeared on the wall opposite my house when I got home after the weekend.

I was working in Essex last week and discovered my B&B was B and no B so I had to go hunting for my breakfast. I headed for Dedham where I had heard there was a very good tea room which opens at 9am and served breakfast. Essex Rose Tea House is owned by Wilkin and Sons, famous for the Tiptree preserves.I ordered the Welsh Rarebit made with Tiptree mustard. Perfect, as was the service and the pot of tea.

This is the most fun I have had buying produce from a farm shop in ages. Driving past the Flixton Aviation Museum into Bungay, I came across the Milk Shed at Fen Farm Dairy. Being a sucker for raw milk(you can't beat that creamy layer that appears on the top after a few hours in the fridge) I stopped and was amazed to find inside, the milk dispensing machine and the self serve fridge packed with eggs and the delicious farm made, Brie style Baron Bigod cheese. Put a pound coin in the machine (there is a change machine if you don't have the coins) place the container under the spout and out comes a litre of milk. Better than playing a fruit machine any day, you win everytime.

• Delicious Brie style Baron Bigod. Better than the French make!
• Cheese and eggs to self serve.
• The milk dispenser fridge. Pop in a pound, out comes the milk.
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We like Bungay.  This pretty little town has some great independent shops and a market every Thursday.

It also has The Earsham Street Cafe.  We were too late for lunch, but liked the idea of the savoury afternoon tea with local Shipcord cheese and homemade carrot chutney.

• Bungay Florist
• The Earsham Street Cafe
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