• 12 cheeses of christmas,  Accompaniments,  Cheese in Cooking,  Food Trends,  French,  fresh cheese

    All Wrapped Up – Camembert En Croute for Christmas

    It seems I am developing an aptitude for creating “stunt cheese” or “extreme cheese challenges”. First there was the infamous “Turkey Cheese” for Thanksgiving and now folks, I present to you my latest creation… This is a wheel of Camembert wrapped in puff pastry and baked. I had planned to do this with Brie, as is the traditional way, but believe  it or not I struggled to find a suitable wheel. I also had a scramble to find readymade puff pastry sheets big enough (who has time to make puff pastry on Christmas Day) but managed to cobble together a casing from some small squares, well placed egg wash  and a lot…

  • Accompaniments,  Aged Cheese,  Artisan Cheese,  Cheese in Cooking

    Fromage Fortifications

    As a cheese blogger, having a fridge full of the good stuff is an occupational hazard. As of yesterday I have leftover pieces of Manchego, Parmesan, Swiss, Cheddar, Gorgonzola and several unidentified randoms. Now you know how I hate waste as much as losing perfectly good cheese, so I dug out this recipe by the amazing David Lebovitz for Fromage Fort. Fromage fort is a French cheese spread, literally “strong cheese”. It is traditionally made by blending together pieces of different leftover cheeses, white wine (or other spirits) with garlic, herbs and whatever takes your fancy. I made mine with around seven kinds of odds and ends cheeses The recipe calls for…

  • Artisan Cheese,  British,  British cheese,  Celebrity Chefs,  Cheddar,  Cheese,  Cheese in Cooking,  European Cheese,  Food,  Food Trends,  French

    Cheese Release Me

    Listen, I am not talking myself up, but I have always been ahead of the curve on many things. I just can’t think of most of them now…but here is some recent proof of my sage-like abilities. Cheese, it seems, is the next big food trend of 2014. Roquefort doughnuts, Stilton truffles and goat’s cheese ganache: Chocolate and cheese set to be 2014s next big foodie trend It must be true, it’s in The Daily Mail. And on this blog.

  • Recipes,  Travel

    Middle Eastern Promise

    There are eight new cheeses currently sitting in my fridge to try. But all week, I have been craving Lebanese food, specifically Fatteh. In my world, this is the perfect combination of salty, crunchy, creamy and savory (with the exception of a grilled cheese sandwich). Because I have been on a healthy living kick, buying it from one of the local restaurants wasn’t a option, given it can involve a lot of oil. Fatteh actually means crushed or crumbed. My version has chickpeas, oven baked eggplant, toasted pita and of course a garlicky yoghurt sauce with tahina and lemon. Some people like theirs with ground lamb or chicken, I like…