MOVE OVER SAINT NICHOLAS, THERE’S A NEW SAINT IN TOWN

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Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year. Need you ask why? Cheese of course.

We’re sometimes guilty of fast forwarding through the first few courses so we can feast on our favourite part of the festive season (we dare you to disagree) and Saint Agur has crafted some Christmas recipes which means that the star of the show can take centre stage as it deserves, all day long.

It’s a Christmas miracle!

 Saint Agur Blue Crème cheesecake, honey walnut sauce

    

Ingredients:

200gm ginger nut biscuits

100gm melted butter

560gm cream cheese

150gm crème fraiche

Zest of half an orange

4 large eggs

50gm plain flour

150gm tub Saint Agur Blue Crème

300gm clear honey, wild flower preferred

100gm walnut pieces

Method:

Blitz the Ginger Nuts in a food processor to a coarse crumb and then add the butter to combine

together. (Alternatively, you can smash the biscuits up in a heavy plastic bag with a rolling pin or

small heavy pan and then mix together in a bowl).

Take a non-stick 20cm springform cake tin and pack this Ginger Nut mixture into the bottom and

press down well with the back of a large spoon. Chill in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Place the cream cheese, crème fraiche and orange zest in a kitchen mixer and whisk together for

a minute.

Whisk in the eggs one by one, then sift the flour into the bowl. Whisk in briefly and gently.

Finally spoon the Saint Agur Blue Crème into the bowl and mix in with a gentle hand.

Spoon all the mixture into the cake tin and transfer to the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour. You want it to puff up slightly and have a good golden crust. If

you give it a little jiggle it should retain a jelly-like wobble.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Meanwhile place your honey in a bowl, chop the walnuts coarsely and stir them into the honey. If

the honey is too thick a couple of tablespoons of warm water may need to be mixed in to make it

easy to drizzle.

Finally run a knife around the inside of the spring form cake tin and then loosen the edge and

carefully remove it.

Cut into portion, lift carefully onto plates and then spoon over the honey walnut sauce.

 

Red onion and Saint Agur pie

 

Ingredients:

135g Saint Agur

4 large red onions

30g (for the pan) + 10g (for the tin) butter

5cl olive oil

20g brown sugar

250g flour

125g butter

10g turmeric

5g salt

8-10cl cold water

15g sesame seeds

Method:

To make the pastry, mix the turmeric with the flour, salt, sesame seeds and chunks of butter. Add

the cold water, little by little, mixing to get a consistent texture. Create a ball with the mixture and

wrap it in cling film. Leave to rest in the fridge for at least two hours.

For the topping, peel and slice the onions. In a large pan, melt the butter with the olive oil and add

the sliced onions. Add salt and pepper and cook for 1-15 minutes on a medium heat. Sprinkle the

sugar on top of the onions and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes until the onions become slightly

caramelized. Set aside to cool.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll it out.

Preheat the oven at 180C.

Grease a 22x25cm tin with butter. Roll out the pastry to 2/3mm thickness, then use two thirds of

the pastry to line the tin. Be careful that the pastry sticks to the side of the tin.

Fill the case with the onion mixture and scatter the blue cheese in small pieces on top.

Cut the remaining pastry into 1cm wide strips and arrange the strips on top of the pie, crossing

them to create a grid.

Cook the pie for 30-35 minutes in the oven. Once out, leave it to cool for 15 minutes before

serving.

 

Saint Agur puff pastry canapés

Get the party started with these crowd-pleasing canapés, bound to leave your guests coming back

for more!

Ingredients:

2 sheets of puff pastry

125g Saint Agur

1 pear

1 egg

Runny honey

Fresh rosemary

Method:

Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 squares and make a groove with your finger at the centre of each

piece.

Cut the pear into thin slices, top the puff pastry with the slices.

Spread small chunks of Saint Agur over each slice.

Whisk your egg and then brush each canapé with the mix. Bake at 180C for about 10 minutes until

the pastry is puffed and golden.

Drizzle with a little honey and decorate with a sprig of rosemary.

 

Mini Croque Madame Agur

 

Ingredients:

4 slices of toasted bread

4 slices of ham

125g Saint Agur

50g butter

8 quail eggs

Method:

Remove the crusts from each slice of toast.

Top two slices of the toast with a layer of cheese, the ham and then another layer of cheese. Add

the other two slices of bread on top, pressing together to seal.

Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the sandwiches until golden and crispy.

Fry the quail eggs into small, round fried eggs.

Cut each sandwich into four squares with a sharp knife and top the sandwiches with the fried eggs.