May’s Cheese, Please! Challenge Round-Up – Seasonal and Cheeseonal

Seasonal food was in abundance this month as bloggers paired cheese with everything from asparagus from England to corn in the USA. Sweet, savoury, spicy and smoky all made an appearance in the recipes, as did cheeses from paneer to Cheddar, blue cheese and cream cheese. So, without further ado, here are May’s seasonal, cheeseonal recipes:

I kicked off the challenge with my Nettle Gnocchi with Cashel Blue Sauce, where the tangy, herbiness of the nettles complemented the rich, creamy blue sauce perfectly (although they were a tad chewy, so think I need to get some gnocchi practice in…)

Next up was Food Day- Dreaming, who used the very in-season asparagus in delicious Asparagus Tarts, two ways, the first marrying feta and ricotta with lemon and asparagus and the second bringing together asparagus with mushrooms and white Cheddar. Cheesy choice, always welcome.

And as if a double savoury delight wasn’t enough, Food Day-Dreaming returned with a Honey Roasted Fig and Mascarpone Yoghurt Parfait , baking figs in honey and then mixing them with yoghurt and creamy mascarpone.

The Circus Gardener’s Kitchen offered home-grown chives as his seasonal ingredient to make Smoked Cheese and Chive Beignets, fried balls of loveliness filled with smoked Little Hereford cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

More home-grown produce was then proffered by Creative Economy in the Kitchen who used her asparagus to make a Cheese-y Omelette Primavera with mushrooms and Caerphilly cheese.

 

 

 

 

Over in America, Put on Your Cake Pants used seasonal corn to make Mexican Cotija Corn, a mouth-watering side dish with fresh corn, Mexican cotija cheese and coriander (cilantro over there!)

 

 

 

 

It’s not often you find a cheesy pud on my blog but the abundance of elderflowers at this time of year tempted me to make an Elderflower Cheesecake, with the subtle taste of ginger in the biscuit crumbs and decorated with crystallised flowers.

Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary was along next, celebrating the last of the season’s cauliflowers in a Hidden Cauliflower Cheese Pasta Sauce with Cheddar cheese and wholegrain mustard which would surely tempt (or trick!) any child to eat their veg.

 

 

 

 

Selma’s Table was in a partying mood and brought her Asparagus and Feta Cigars as a perfect canapé. Asparagus, feta and parmesan cheese wrapped in crispy filo and sprinkled with poppy seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

The Garden Deli is always one to delight with photos and surprise with ingredients and didn’t disappoint this month with the seasonal and unusual green sweet cicely seeds in her Roasted Grape Tartlets with Mascarpone

 

 

 

 

You would expect something seasonal from a blog called Allotment 2 Kitchen and that was certainly the case with these Stilton, Nettle, Ground Elder and Spinach Eccles Cakes, making the most of the hedgerow’s bounty and combining it with delicious blue cheese.

Mrs Portly’s Kitchen anticipated summer even through the rain and brought a trio of dishes to the barbeque table with Spicy Paneer Tikka, Feta and Watermelon, and Tricolore Salad. A cheese to suit everyone and a mixture of spicy and refreshing tastes

Vohn’s Vittles was another one raiding the hedgerows, this time to bring us Wild Garlic and Hazelnut Pesto. Ransoms and hazelnuts, combined with hazelnut oil and Parmesan cheese would bring a hint of early summer to any pasta dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another sweet triumph arrived from The Pink Rose Bakery with her Rhubarb Vanilla Compote with Baked Vanilla Cheesecake.  Spicy Speculaas biscuits make a base for a cream cheese and rhubarb topping. Plus, unlike me, she managed not to drop hers.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally Saucy Gander rounded things up with a riot of punchy flavours in her Badass Smoky Chilli Cheese Beer Bread. Featuring Korean red pepper paste, smoked paprika, garlic and pureed persimmons and still finding room for cheese, this is the kind of bread that Hell’s Angels would toast for breakfast.

I hate having to choose a winner, especially as so many recipes are from overseas and so aren’t eligible to win this month’s lovely chutney from The Naughty Sheep. But choose I must and so, after the usual scrap conflab with the Other Half, I can announce that this month’s winner is The Circus Gardener’s Kitchen with his Smoked Cheese and Chive Beignets. Thanks to everyone who took the time to share their lovely recipes this month. I wish I could chutneyfy you all.