Recipe: Cheddar and Red Onion Omelet

This recipe is by Angela Henery (@AngelaH57 on Twitter)

A very hungry man appears in the kitchen, and I suggested an omelet as a quick and tasty option!

Ingredients:

3 Eggs
1½oz Cheese (Grated)
¼ medium sized Red Onion
2 tsp. Oil
Black Pepper
Peas (definitely optional)

Method:

1. Crack 3 eggs into a bowl, season with black pepper and whisk
2. Put oil in frying pan and heat
3. When oil is hot agitate the pan to coat it with the oil and add the onion, it’s at this point my assistant (hungry man) reappears and adds a few peas to the pan, fry these and the onion for 1 minute.
4. Add the eggs (again agitate the pan to spread the egg out evenly) and after few seconds sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.
5. Leave on a gentle heat until the egg looks set on the top.
6. Now flip it over just to ensure it cooks through (leaving it on this side for about 30 seconds)
7. Fold in two in the pan and slide out onto a plate.

I am informed that this was good with chips, however it could be served on its own or with a salad.
I used Essential Waitrose English cheddar (4 Strength) as it needs to be a good tasty cheese.

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Blue Cheese Carbonara

This meal for one is super simple with only four ingredients. I found the recipe on the BBC food website and adapted it for my taste. Here’s my take on it.

Ingredients:
4 slices of unsmoked streaky bacon, cut into thin strips
125ml double cream
75g blue cheese (I used Castello Danish Blue)
100g/3½oz pasta, cooked (the recipe suggests tagliatelle but I went for spaghetti)

I buy my spaghetti like this from M&S. It’s so much easier to freeze that a big tangled lump of fresh speghetti and nicer than the dried stuff.

Method:
For the carbonara, fry the bacon in a saucepan until crisp (I started off with a little splash of oil just to get things sizzling).
Add the cream and cook for a further two minutes.
Add the blue cheese to the sauce to melt, then add the cooked pasta and serve.

I think you could add a little less cheese. As it is, unless you eat the dish lightning fast it turns into a bit of a cheesy lump.

Otherwise – totally delicious. I’ll be having this one again.

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Roast Pumpkin with Cheese and Cream

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By Katharine Robinson (@TheSourceress)

This recipe is taken from the Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall River Cottage Cook Book.

I’ve been making it for a few years now and it’s a lovely cheesy winter warmer

Ingredients
1 medium (3-4kg) pumpkin or several small squashes (1 per person)
Up to 500g Gruyère cheese, grated (depending on the size of your pumpkin)
up to 1 litre double cream (ditto)
freshly grated nutmeg
a knob of butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Slice the top off the pumpkin or squashes three-quarters of the way up and retain; this is your lid. Scoop out all the seeds and surrounding fibres from the pumpkin. Place the scooped-out pumpkin/s on a baking tray or in an ovenproof dish (which must have sides to catch any leaking cream – an accident that shouldn’t, but can, happen).
• Put enough grated Gruyère into the empty cavity of the pumpkin to fill about a third of it, then pour in double cream until the cavity is two-thirds full. Add a few gratings of nutmeg, a little salt and plenty of black pepper. Throw in a knob of butter and replace the lid, so the pumpkin is whole again.
• Place in a fairly hot oven (190°C/Gas Mark 5) and cook for 45 minutes-11/4 hours, depending on the size of the pumpkin.
• Test for doneness by removing the lid and poking at the flesh from the inside. It should be nice and tender. At this point, the skin may be lightly burnt and the whole thing just beginning to sag a bit. Be wary: when the pumpkin is completely soft and cooked through, there is a real danger of collapse. The larger the pumpkin, the bigger the danger. Don’t panic if it happens – it will look a bit deflated but will still taste delicious.
• Serve small squashes individually in bowls, with spoons to scoop out the flesh. Serve the larger pumpkin by scooping plenty of flesh and the creamy, cheesy liquid (the Gruyère comes out in lovely long, messy strings) into warmed soup bowls. Either way, serve piping hot

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Gorgonzola, Parma Ham and Thyme Filo Parcels

By Katharine Robinson (aka @TheSourceress)

This recipe by James Tanner from BBC food requires quite a bit of effort and patience but works REALLY well and is very yummy!

Ingredients
300ml/½ pint vegetable oil, for deep frying
4 sheets ready-made filo pastry
1 free-range egg, beaten
1 tbsp double cream
85g/3oz gorgonzola, cubed
2 slices parma ham, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp sesame seeds, to serve

Method

1. Place the vegetable oil into a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat until a small cube of bread sizzles and turns golden when dropped into it. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)
2. Lay two filo pastry sheets on a clean work surface. Mix the beaten egg and cream together in a bowl, then brush a little onto the filo sheets. Lay another sheet of filo on top of each sheet to form a double layer, then brush again with the egg and cream mix.
3. Cut each sheet into four lengthways so you now have eight strips of filo.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the gorgonzola, parma ham, thyme leaves and seasoning. Place a tablespoon of the mixture at the end of each strip of filo pastry, brush again around the filling with the egg and cream mix and then roll up to make triangles. Brush again with the egg and cream mix.
5. Carefully place each triangle into the hot oil. Deep fry for five minutes, or until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.
6. To serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve piled up on a serving plate.

I decided to serve with Cranberry chutney and watercress. I made three parcels each for a starter, but I think two would have been plenty as they were very filling.

More Cheese Monday Roundup

It’s been a very different and very busy #MoreCheeseMonday.

Here’s a selection of activity from the Twitterverse:

@JimAnning’s Cheese and Marmite Omlette:

These from @Chris_Alexander’s lunch time toasty:

This showing @furby at last Monday’s Cheese Rolling event in Gloucester:

Today’s #MoreCheeseMonday even has a song, tweeted by @craigyd.

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Welsh Rarebit

By Jim Anning (aka @JimAnning)

Armed with a piece of prime Lye Cross Farm organic mature cheddar bought from @TrueFoodCoop I fancied a bit of “posh” cheese on toast.

I used the following Keith Floyd recipe for welsh rarebit from the BBC Food site:

Ingredients
25g/1oz butter
25g/1oz flour
150ml/5fl oz milk
175g/6oz cheddar cheese, grated
150ml/5fl oz brown ale
1 tsp English mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper
2 egg yolks
4 slices of toast

Method
1. Make a roux with the butter and flour, and leave to cool.
2. Bring the milk to the boil, then whisk it into the roux. Bring to the boil once again, whisking to ensure that it does not burn and also that the sauce is free of lumps.
3. Add the cheese, beat in and remove from the heat.
4. Reduce the ale, English mustard and Worcestershire sauce. When thick, add this mixture to the cheese sauce. Season well with salt and pepper and beat in the egg yolks.
5. Spoon on to the slices of toast and grill until bubbling. Serve with extra Worcestershire sauce handed separately.

The results were really good – two tips though…

1. give it a few minutes after they come out of the grill if you don’t want to burn your mouth…
2. If you do burn your mouth, the left over beer is a good way of cooling down!

Enjoy!

If you do try a recipe from the More Cheese Monday blog, let us know your thoughts and findings in the comments.

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Really Cheesy Muffins

By Paul Dale (aka @PaulDale67)

After feeling guilty for the last few weeks that I haven’t contributed to #MoreCheeseMonday, finally here is a tasty offering from me. A recipe for Really Cheesy Muffins.

This is one of my favorite cheese recipes and one that’s so easy to make. It’s great fun to let the kids take over and make it themselves (as long as you don’t mind some flour flying round the kitchen!).

And so to the recipe…

You will need:

225g Self raising flour

50g Rye flour

1 teaspoon Baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon English mustard powder

125g Strong cheddar cheese

6 tablespoons Vegetable oil

150g Greek yoghurt

125ml Full fat milk

1 Egg

12 bun muffin tray lined with 12 paper muffin cases

Method:

Preheat your oven to 200 C Mix the flours, baking powder, bicarb, salt, mustard powder, and cheese in a large bowl.

In a jug beat together the vegetable oil, yoghurt, milk and the egg.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together.

Don’t be too fussy about getting the mixture smooth. Lumpy batter bakes better muffins!

Pour the batter equally into the muffin tins and bake for 20 mins.

Take them out of the oven and sprinkle a little more grated cheddar on top of each muffin.

Pop them back in the oven for another 5 mins.

Cool the muffins on a wire rack and enjoy!

If eating the next day they are best warmed through in the microwave for just a few seconds per muffin.

As a variation you can add 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce to the wet ingredients and even sprinkle a little on top when you add the last bit of cheese for the last 5 mins.This gives them more of a Wel sh Rarebit flavor.

As a last tip – make sure you use a really full flavoured Cheddar for this recipe to get the full gorgeous cheesy taste! ENJOY!

If you try out a #MoreCheeseMonday recipe – don’t forget to let us know how it goes in the comments…

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Melted Camembert and Caramelised Onion Puff Pastry Tartlets

By @JimAnning

I had not touched a morsel of cheese for two weeks (A waistline inspired moratorium on all things cheesy). So, with friends coming over for dinner on #MoreCheeseMonday, its was time to break the ban!

In my fortnight of abstinence I’ve missed chunks of creamy Stilton, tart Wensleydale sliced thinly on buttered toast and the odd (sneaked from the fridge) slice of the cheddar usually reserved for the kids. However, tonight, I went for a tasty combination of melting soft cheese, sweet caramelised onions and crisp pastry – in an attempt to posh it up a bit it was served with some rocket on the side, but to be honest, that was more window-dressing than anything else.

With only 4 ingredients…. Its dead simple to make

Ingredients
A Camembert cheese
a few onions
some butter
ready rolled puff pastry (because life is too short)
Recipe makes four.

Method

• First off slice and caramelise the onions. Pop them on a low heat in a covered pan and sweat them for 20 mins or so in a generous amount of butter until they are transparent

• Then take off the lid, whack up the heat and move them around from time to time to stop them sticking
• They should start going a nice golden colour – once they do reduce the heat a bit and keep stirring occasionally until they turn to a deep caramel brown. If you want to help them out a bit you can put a spoon of sugar in with them, but I find that the onions are sweet enough on their own. Add a bit of salt & pepper if you want.
• With the onions done, cut some squares out of the puff pastry, score a line about an inch from the edge all around, then pile on the cooked onion, top with the cheese and bung in the oven.

• I had mine at 220c for 15 minutes which seemed to work out pretty well

There goes the waistline

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Broccoli and Stilton Soup

By Katharine Robinson (aka @TheSourceress)

Being a Bank Holiday Monday, there was the opportunity to squeeze some cheese into my lunch too!

I cobbled together my own Broccoli and Stilton Soup recipe from a selection I found on the web. It had to suit the ingredients I had in the fridge and match the proportions I wanted to make.

I came up with this. It makes 2-3 bowls of soup and it was delicious:

Ingredients

For the Soup
2 tbs olive oil
25g butter
4 Spring Onions, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
350g broccoli, florets and stalks sliced
400ml vegetable stock
100-150ml cream
50-70g Stilton
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
For the Croutons
25 – 50g stilton
2 x inch squares of bread per bowl

Method

The Soup

• Gently fry the onions in the butter and oil until soft
• Add the broccoli and sweat for 5 minutes
• Add the stock and simmer for 7 minutes
• Transfer to a blender, add the cream and blitz until smooth
• Return to a saucepan and crumble in the stilton
• Serve in warmed bowls when stilton is melted and soup is piping hot

Croutons

• Lightly toast the squares of bread on each side (it’s best to make more than you need to allow for over cooking and snacking)
• Top with the stilton and melt under the grill
• Place croutons on top of the soup and serve immediately

Serve with fresh bread of your choice for a filling lunch.

If you try out a #MoreCheeseMonday recipe – let us know how it goes in the comments!

More Cheese Monday Recipe – Baked Camembert

By Charlie Preston (@charliepreston)

This may be one of the simplest cheese dishes to prepare – but absolutely delicious.

I’ll be using garlic, but if garlic isn’t your thing then substitute it for Thyme or any other herbs of your choosing.

Ingredients
Camembert in a box
Olive oil
Garlic
Salt/Pepper
Baguette
A very large glass of wine (not required, but recommended)

Method

• Preheat oven to 220C/Gas 7
• Remove Camembert from box/wrapper and slice off rind from top of cheese.

• Place cheese back in box.
• Insert garlic into top of cheese (can be sliced if preferred).

• Drizzle with olive oil and add salt/pepper if desired.
• Place on baking try and bake for approx 10 minutes.

Once baked take the large baguette and start dipping!