In the last week or so, something in the air has changed and autumn seems to be on the way. Vegetables that have been non-stop for the last two months are grinding to a halt – and not before time (French beans and courgettes, I’m looking at you). This recipe was an attempt by me to dispose of some of my mountain of new potatoes and courgettes. A pizza without a tomato-based sauce may sound strange but, as ever, the combination of potatoes and cheese does the job magnificently.
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I was apprehensive about choosing hard sheep’s cheese (think Pecorino, Manchego) as this month’s cheese of choice for the Cheese, Please! Challenge. It’s not a cheese that springs to mind when you think about cooking, except perhaps for pasta. And so it was with some trepidation that I pressed the button and issued the call.
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Never one to miss the opportunity to try several new cheeses in one sitting, I recently hiked across to Brixton again to one of Ned Palmer’s tastings at Cannon and Cannon. If you missed the last instalment, ‘Eight Cheeses in One Day’, you can check out what I snaffled last time here.
The theme of this tasting was ‘Cheese and Culture’ in which Ned attempted to show how cheese has evolved through history according to the environments and societies which produced it. With two hours ticking on the clock and just eight cheeses on the plate (just eight cheeses!), Ned himself admitted that it was never going to be a comprehensive and chronological survey of global cheese history but it was certainly interesting. I won’t attempt to reproduce everything he said, partly because he might sue me and partly mainly because I drank some beer and can’t remember. But I will tell you about the lovely cheeses and drop a few nuggets of information in as I recall them.
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First of all, let me apologise for what must be the worst photograph of a soufflé in existence. I still don’t have a proper camera after I smashed mine, the soufflé collapsed when I went to find my phone and the addition of the sauce makes it look like some sort of CSI crime scene. But trust me, it does taste really good!
I came up with the idea for this recipe whilst I was on holiday in France. The shops and markets were full of hard sheep’s milk cheeses and one stallholder told me that they are traditionally eaten with black cherry jam. I took a jar away with me and it was an amazing combination, the saltiness of the cheese contrasting with the sweetness of the fruit and sugar. It got me thinking about British combinations; I tried Spenwood cheese for the first time a few months ago, a sheep’s milk cheese made in Berkshire and thought that it would go well with blackberries – so then I just had to wait for the blackberries to appear! It’s slightly different to the French combination, as the blackberry sauce is tarter than the jam but still lovely (it would be interesting to try with a blackberry jam).
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There’s been a distinct lack of ovine action on this blog so far and I think that’s partly because I didn’t realise just how many sheep’s cheeses were out there (remember, I did start this blog from the premise of ‘I am a cheese ignoramus’). In my defence, I think it’s fair to say that most people in the UK don’t associate sheep with cheese. In fact, let’s face it – given that almost a third of primary pupils think cheese is made from plants, they probably don’t associate cows with cheese either. But some of our favourite cheeses are derived from the woolly-backed beasts: Pecorino, Feta, Manchego and Roquefort, to name but a few.
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Fromage Homage 