Summer's here - cheese part two

Blanket Banquets are almost here!

With (hopefully) some hazy sunny days ahead of us and if not sitting in the park or our gardens, have a chance picnicking by the beach or in the grounds of some local stately home, I thought some top ideas for eating on the hoof or simply sitting on a blanket may help for the coming weeks.

A great start is cheese, especially some Camembert or Brie with crusty bread.  For lazy afternoons what could be better than a cold bottle of fizz or rose.

The great people at Only with Tilia have recommended some great summer cheeses.  Here are their top five:

Montgomery Cheddar, a Somerset cheese with a 70 year pedigree and made from Manor Farm's heard of Friesian cows.  Great for on its own or for an almost endless list of snacks and suppers.

Hoe Stevenson Red Leicester has a  slightly nutty, sweet and peppery flavour.  Great for macaroni apparently, but great on its own.

Gorwydd Caerphilly has won many awards, Best British Cheese, Best Welsh Cheese and Best Traditional Cheese. It has a lemony taste, creamy texture and as with all cheeses in its family crumbles well and so is great for cooking.

Beenleigh Blue is one of the few British ewe cheeses and is based on a Roquefort recipe.  This softer cheese means it's great for spreading on that crusty bread!

Stinking Bishop isn't for wimps so perfect for outside picnics.  Try it as additional topping for a walnut and green leaf salad or on its own with some good pudding wine or a cold long beer.

Some fine blanket banquets have been had with a range of cheeses and a few well chosen spreads and salads to accompany them.

One of my favourites is this very easy Spicy Onion Jam enough for a few of you but you can make as much or as little as you like.

• One large onion (cut in half and sliced thinly)
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• One large clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• One small (but hot) chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
• A two inch stick of ginger (grated)
• One firm green apple (cored, peeled, cut in half and sliced thinly)

• Three heaped tablespoons of brown sugar
• 50 mls of malt or cider vinegar

And spices to be ground together:

• one teaspoon of coriander seeds
• one teaspoon of mustard seeds
• one teaspoon of black pepper corns
• one good pinch of salt

Once you have all the ingredients together, in a medium saucepan, add the oil, onion, garlic, ginger and chilli along with the ground spices, to a medium heat.  Cover with the lid and let the mixture sweat slowly.  Once the onions have started to soften add the remaining ingredients and bring to just under the boil.  Cook for 10-15 minutes and set aside to cool.  Store in clean, sterilised jar.
A really good standby and also very easy is coleslaw (yes you get it in a tub at the supermarket but in this case, fresh really is best), using white cabbage (the hard round kind, cored and sliced thinly) and onion (skinned, halved and again, sliced thinly) and grated carrot, for the dressing try using half mayonnaise and half crème fresh and adding some extra cider vinegar and olive oil to loosen the mixture up a bit.  For an extra bite add a crushed clove of garlic and a finely chopped chilli.

Carrying on a theme, Red Cabbage Crunch, is slightly cooked version of a coleslaw.  Sweet and spicy at the same time.

• one large red onion (halved and thinly sliced)
• A quarter of a red cabbage (cored and thinly sliced)
• one large mild chilli (finely chopped)
• one large clove of garlic (finely chopped)
• one heaped teaspoon of sweet smoke paprika
• two tablespoons of runny honey
• two tablespoons of olive oil
• one tablespoon of poppy seeds

In a medium sized saucepan and over a medium heat, add the oil, onions, chilli and garlic and let them warm through.  Add the paprika and stir thoroughly. 

Add the red cabbage and mix through and then cover the pan tightly so that the moisture in the pan steams the cabbage for approximately 5 minutes.

Then add the honey and poppy seeds into the mixture and leave to cool off the heat, with the lid on.

Watch this space tomorrow for some suggestions from the Wine Pantry and a few more ideas for the park!