I've always liked a strong cheddar and never strayed from that path. But in 2007 and I did the 3 month Ballymaloe cookery course (it was amazing) and fuelled my passion for food. To cut a long story short I learnt about cheese and now appreciate how gorgeous it is. I can now genuinely taste grass from a young raw cheese!
Anyway a few months ago I got membership to Sheridans Cheese club as a birthday present for my lovely boy,Colm. Well its the gift that just keeps giving, every month we get a sizable box with four precious cheeses nestled in straw. And they also supply tasting notes, excellent!
Sheridans Cheesemongers is a brilliant company and I could blab away about how they started at a stall in the Galway market in 1995, out selling cheese in the lashing rain but you can read about them here.
This month we got:
Persille Du Marais: A goats milk blue cheese from Bordeaux.A finely balanced flavour between sharp and sweet.
Shandrum: A young cows milk cheese with a black rind and delicate flavour from Charleville in Cork.
Explorateur: A luxurious triple cream cheese from France. It has a salty mushroomy tang and is creamy and indulgent.
Mont D'or: A raw cows milk cheese from Franche-Comte.
We did just what Sheridans suggested with the Mont D'or. I made a little slit in the rind and pushed in a few cloves of garlic, a splash of white wine and a sprig of thyme. Then baked it with the lid on for15 minutes in an moderate oven. It was unbelievable with crusty white bread and it made the realisation that Christmas is over a little easier to handle.
The beautiful cheese dome is from Kiltrea Pottery in Enniscorthy, Co.Wexford. It's made using native Irish clay and stays brilliantly cool. The wooden base is such lovely quality and the dome sits perfectly on top. It's such a gorgeous piece of pottery yet it's still so functional, I love it!
You can read all about the talented Michael Roche of Kiltrea Pottery here.
So i guess that's my first post. I feel more at home already, I hope you do too!
Lilly x
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What a charming piece! I am trying to get my hands on a kitten at the moment, I wonder if I applied the Mont D'or (when cooled) to his paws would it have the same effect as butter? I will aim to venture to Sheridan's to try the Mont D'or, it sounds like heaven on a plate. My mouth is watering.
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