Tymsboro: a love affair re-kindled

What I love about artisan cheese is that it always tastes different. Sometimes so different that you feel as if you're tasting it for the first time again.

So it was yesterday with Tymsboro', an ash-coated unpasteurised goats' cheese I've been buying on and off over the years. It's made by Mary Holbrook of Sleight's Farm in Somerset and is a modern British classic

I hovered over it as it looked more mature than usual and my husband doesn't like very strong 'goaty' cheeses. But it was absolutely spectacular - with a fresh citrussy tang, yet palate-caressingly creamy in texture. I can't remember ever tasting a better one.

I bought it from the Trethowan's Dairy shop in St Nicholas Market in Bristol where the cheese is always in tip-top condition because they don't ever carry too many and pick it up themselves direct from the farm*.

At £7.50 it's not cheap but a whole one will easily serve four and you don't need to serve any others. And that's not a lot to pay for perfection.

* I would say nice things about Trethowan's Dairy because they're my partners in Cheese School but on the other hand I wouldn't have gone into partnership with them if they weren't so great!

Asparagus, Brie and Parma Ham rolls

Another riff on asparagus and cheese which really do go very well together. I came across the idea in the London restaurant Polpo where they were serving it with Taleggio. That I think would be the ideal cheese but as I was making a cut price version I used Brie. Perfect for a nibble with drinks.

Makes 12 - enough for 4-6 depending on what else you’re eating

A bunch of asparagus
A small (135g) pack of good quality Brie or - better still -Taleggio
85g pack of parma ham

Take each of the asparagus spears and break off the stalk about two thirds of the way down from the tip. Put them in a frying pan with a little water. Bring to the boil and cook for about 3-4 minutes until just tender. Drain and set aside. Cut the Brie into long slices, remove the rind and cut into small strips. Carefully remove each slice of parma ham and tear or cut it lengthwise down the centre. Take each spear, add one of the pieces of cheese then wrap one of the strips of ham round them. Season with a little freshly ground black pepper. You could also serve this as a starter drizzled with a little olive oil

Cor blimey!! The UK's hottest cheese!!!

I have to admit that it was in a spirit of deep cynicism that I said I would try Mexicana Extreme which is billed as the UK's hottest cheese. For a start I loathe most flavoured cheeses and could see little point in a cheese so hot you couldn't taste it. However for a go-anywhere-try-anything kind of a gal it had to be done.

The cheese is being marketed by Ilchester in Somerset and, believe it or not, is a cheddar, laced with peppers, chilli seasoning and assorted spices. It is, as billed, quite ridiculously - almost vindalooishly - hot, obviously designed to appeal to people who like hot sauces with 'death' 'killer' or 'pain' on the label. And why shouldn't they have a cheese that appeals to them if someone is prepared to make it? Fair point, gov, but all I can say it's not cheese as you or I know it.

It's slightly milder sibling, Mexicana, isn't bad though if you're into Tex Mex - which in my weaker moments I am. I wouldn't nibble it for fun but I made quite a tasty quesadilla with it and some shredded spring onions and can see it being a flavourful if somewhat gungey topping for nachos, burgers or even a baked potato.

If nothing will persuade you not to try it you can apparently buy the Mexicana Extra Hot from at Asda (in a 185g wedge) and shortly from the deli counter at Sainsbury's and Morrisons where it will sell for £10 a kilo.

So am I being fair or a food snob about Mexicana Extreme. What's your view of flavoured cheeses?

Asparagus fondue

With the asparagus season just under way it hasn't quite come to the point of wondering what to do with it but give me another week or so of spears dipped in butter and I'll be looking to ring the changes.

Cheese is a well-established partner - the obvious combination being asparagus and goats' cheese - but the other day I came across an asparagus fondue, a clever idea at Mark Hix's new restaurant in Selfridges.

It wasn't a conventional fondue but apparently a cheese-based sauce with some steamed (I would guess) asparagus shavings and trimmings blitzed up in it, giving it the exotic green colour you see in the rather blurry photo). For me it wasn't quite cheesy enough and a little bit floury but there's the nub of an idea there that's well worth exploring. Or maybe just dunking lightly cooked asparagus spears in a conventional fondue would work just as well.

If you don't have a fondue set I reckon you could also make a light cheese sauce - I fancy using some cream in this - flavoured with Gruyère and Parmesan which gives you an intense cheese flavour without being too heavy and pour it over the spears, sprinkle them with a little more cheese and flash them under the grill.

In fact I may very well have to go off and buy some asparagus right now to do just that . . .

PS I suddenly remembered that Mark often posts his new dishes in his column in the Independent - and indeed here it is. Not the green version though. And I think I'd still use Gruyère and Parmesan rather than Cheddar much as I like British cheeses.

First Cheese School, now Cheese University!

Having recently set up Cheese School with cheesemonger and cheesemakers Trethowan's Dairy I was pleased to see you can also now go to Cheese University!

According to a newsletter from Sopexa, the body which promotes French food and wine, a new university diploma in 'Cheese and Heritage" has been created by l'Université François Rabelais de Tours and the Institut Européen d'Histoire et des Cultures de l'Alimentation.

Studies on the 10 month course curriculum apparently include "the history and geography of milk production and the cheese industry, anthropology and the consumption of cheeses and the sociology of food, marketing and sales. This gives graduates a practical knowledge of cheese through a multi-disciplinary training of all aspects of cheese-making and selling cheese including knowledge of terroirs, the social value of cheese consumption and handling world varieties" (Glad to know cheese consumption has social value. I feel that justifies my indulging in it as regularly as I do.)

The modules, which will be launched in September 2010, are being offered to students who have been in further education for 2 years, people working in cheese production, retail and catering and foreign students (which would make it sensible to have some foreign language versions of the website although there is an English pdf you can open.)

I suspect this is mainly designed for people working in multinational dairy companies rather than small artisanal enterprises though, encouragingly, they do have a couple of historians, a sociologist and an anthropologist on the staff.

Nearer home you can also take cheesemaking courses at the School of Artisan Food which offers an introduction to artisan cheese and more advanced courses on making different styles of cheese. I hope to make it to one later this year.

And - taking the opportunity for a quick plug - the next one day session of Cheese School is on Sunday June 13th at Bordeaux Quay in Bristol featuring Neal's Yard cheesemaker Charlie Westhead of Neal's Yard Creamery who makes the fabulous goats cheeses Dorstone, Ragstone and Perroche.

Androuet comes to London

I was wandering through Spitalfields market yesterday when I came across a smart-looking cheese shop - the first London outpost of the famous Parisien fromagerie Androuet. It's pretty small with a mixture of French and European cheeses, supplied by Androuet and English ones, sourced through Paxton and Whitfield with whom they appear to be in partnership.

There's a chic little wine and cheese bar at the back where they're already offering cheese plates and apparently plan to offer classic cheese dishes like raclette and fondue shortly.

I didn't have time to browse but managed to pick up a cheese I hadn't tasted: a delicious Swiss cheese called Bergblumenkase or Bergblume which I discover is rolled in alpine herbs. It's quite similar to a Gruyère in texture but much richer and fuller in flavour. I suspect it would go best with a crisp fruity white wine but it rubbed along fine with the modest Cabardes we were drinking last night.

I'll go back and try the hot dishes which I hope are better than those at L'Art du Fromage, the cheese-focussed restaurant I reviewed a few weeks back. It certainly looks a much more contemporary joint and has the virtue of being in a rather more accessible location.

Cheese School update

It's only 3 days now till our first all day session of Cheese School and there suddenly seems a massive amount of work to do: buying ingredients, sourcing wines and beers and begging and borrowing a whole lot of artisanal products to use for our 'Amazing Tastes' session.

It's interesting how the day has evolved since we first had the idea. Originally we were going to have a cooking demo but we reckoned that what people really wanted to know was to learn more about cheese and how to use it so we've dropped that.

Instead we thought it would be fun to attempt a 3 course cheese lunch though that doesn't seem quite such a brilliant idea now when we add that to all of the other things we have to do! And when we think about how much cheese people are going to be eating anyway. (It's goats cheese, beetroot and walnut salad, macaroni cheese and upside down lemon and blueberry cheesecakes for those of you who are curious about how we're going to pull it off)

The concept of the Amazing Tastes session has also changed. Originally I was going to demonstrate some unconventional ways of putting cheeses and other ingredients together but we decided it would be much more interesting to have everyone doing their own thing so we're laying on a whole lot of cheeses, chutneys, fruits and nuts for people to get creative with.

The cheese pairing session will also be fun: we're going to get a local wine merchant Avery's and a brewer, the Bristol Beer Factory, to come along and each match 4 wines and 4 beers to 4 cheeses and see which come out tops.

And the morning sessions with the cheesemakers are going to give people a real chance to appreciate the difference in artisanal British cheeses. Todd Trethowan who makes Gorwydd Caerphilly is going to show how cheese changes as it ages and Sam Holden who makes Hafod is going to compare different cheddars.

I suspect by the end of the day we'll all be cheesed out but we can't wait!