You might have overdone it a little but that's no reason to throw cheese away...here's a few ideas for using up all those gnarly looking bits and bobs left over from Christmas.
Trim off any rinds, crumble the cheese into a blender with a sprinkle of pepper, a homeopathic amount of garlic and a dollop of crème fraiche, and blend into a fairly smooth paste. The more crème fraiche, the milder the flavour. Personally, I like mine quite spicy.
Use as a dip for crudités, spread on small rounds of toast and enjoy with a punchy off-dry white wine, or, if you don’t think this is sacrilegious, have it on top of a steak.
Peel the papery skin off a bulb or two of garlic and roast whole in an oven dish with a glug of olive oil and a sprig of thyme or rosemary – about 40 minutes at 150C ought to do it. The heads should look browned but not dried out. Squeeze the cloves out into a blender, add the goat’s cheese, another glug of olive oil to loosen things up and blend into a smooth paste. The best cheese to use for this is a loose textured rindless fresh style. If you’re using elderly mould-ripened cheese, add more olive oil or a little crème fraiche.
Serve with rounds of crusty white bread as a starter.
Rarebit/rabbit? Who cares? This is my wife’s birthday breakfast of choice, bearing in mind that every year she refuses scallops in Champagne, or red caviar with blinis.
Make a roux with butter and flour, add a generous splash of beer, a good shake of Worcestershire sauce, a dusting of cayenne pepper and as much grated hard cheese as you think you can get away with. Cook to the texture of a thick paste, spread on bread, toast under the grill and serve with the rest of the beer. Any beer will do although I prefer a nice bitter, porter or stout. The more different varieties of hard cheese go into this dish, the more fun it is.
This is the big one. Use any cheese at all, trimming off harder rinds – like those on Cheddar or Comté, and of course Gouda, and any particularly frightening looking bits from softer cheeses. For the most rustic simple version, simply add white wine, a little garlic, salt and pepper and blend to a paste. For a gentler dish, add crème fraiche or cream cheese.
If you really want to go all out, put the creamy fromage mix into a glass or earthenware jar and leave in a cupboard, stirring occasionally until it re-ferments and becomes truly fort. Always remember to drink a little something when you eat this version, whether that’s coffee or marc, to stop the fiery paste blistering your mouth. At the request of my wife, I do now keep mine in the fridge, although after a month or two, it is still pretty strong.
Spread on bread or toast, take with a little coffee, marc or anything else lying around.
