Review: The Cheese Market

Any excuse to eat cheese is fine by me. I love the variety of cheese that’s available in Britain (and from across the World) and some cheeses are more suited to certain applications than others. At least I think so. For example I prefer mozzarella when it’s been cooked and has those little brown spots on the top (but I absolutely love a caprese salad!) and I would rather have Camembert cooked than on a cheese board. The Cheese Market got in touch to see if I would like to try out one of their cheese boxes; like I said, any excuse.

The box I received was the Fine Food Lovers Gift Set and consisted of three British organic cheeses: Godminster Smoked Cheddar, Perl Las and Wye of Bath. I really liked how the cheese was packaged, especially with the string around the box and I think it would make a lovely gift to someone. The obvious thing to do was to have a cheese and wine night but I did also do a little cooking with the blue cheese too.

I made a super simple and quick pasta, broccoli and blue cheese sauce to have for dinner one night. For two people you will need:

• 150g pasta
• Handful broccoli stems (e.g. tenderstem) roughly chopped
• 75ml double cream
• 100g blue cheese, crumbled
• Black pepper

Put the pasta into a pan of boiling water and cook according to packet instructions.

Add the broccoli to a steamer above the pasta for the last 3-4 minutes of cooking.

Warm the double cream gently in a small pan and add the cheese. Let the cheese melt into the cream and season with the black pepper.

Mix everything together in a pan when cooked and serve.

Cheese and wine night (Friday night seems to be the evening of choice for this) was actually cheese and Champagne night; I know, how decadent am I?! I do find the acidity of Champagne works particularly well to cut through the creamy, fattiness of the cheese. Or maybe I’m just looking for a reason to drink more Champagne.

Either way, the combination of the three cheeses was really good. I liked that the blue cheese had been cut so one side didn’t have any mould on at all. It was beautifully creamy but really punchy at the same time. The Wye Valley cheese has a lovely texture; not crumbly but still nice and firm. The Godminster Smoked Cheddar was a revelation; I had not tried smoked cheddar before and it was really wonderful. I think it would make a fantastic macaroni cheese. The Godminster rosemary crackers that came with the cheese box were really good; I can see why they won a Great Taste Award.

Thanks to the Cheese Market for the cheese. All opinions expressed are my own.