Cheese sauce for anything
Cheesy white sauce
Here is a great, versatile, creamy cheesy sauce that will go great with almost anything, but in particular with fish, and shell fish or even cauliflower. I recently used it with lobster and for a dinner party I put it in tartlets and made a tasty starter with it.
Give yourself plenty of time when you are cooking something like this because it needs attention but it is well worth the effort.
Monterey Jack
Choose the right cheese
A big decision can be which type of cheese, because that is going to influence the final flavour of course. Therefore, it really depends on what food you are cooking and finding your best cheese to match. Being a Yorkshireman and proud of it, I prefer to use any of the Yorkshire cheeses. Swaledale, has a very distinctive taste and I would certainly recommend it a good all round cheese. It is obtainable made from cows, goats, or ewe’s milk, which ever you prefer.
For example when I made cheesy tartlets, I wanted the flavour to be strong enough to stand on its own so, I used a Real Yorkshire Wensleydale from Hawes in Wensleydale brilliant. [well if it’s good enough for Wallace and Gromit it‘s good enough for me.]
Blue Cheese sauce
What about a blue cheese sauce, or why not mix a mild blue such as Jervaulx with its lovely creamy texture, with a crumbly Lancashire. You can make some amazing flavours by combining different cheeses.
This is what you need for the sauce...
6 shallots, peeled and sliced.
1 cup of white cooking wine or ordinary wine.
2 large eggs. Separate the white and yolk.
3 oz fromage frais, I think this stuff is great and I use all it all the time now, although sometimes it is a little difficult to find in the shops.
2 oz butter
1 tblespoon of mustard
Fresh herbs, parsley, dill, rosemary, whatever you have to hand. You can of course use dried.
1 dessert spoon of coriander powder.
The juice of one fresh lemon and a little of the zest.
A little salt and pepper
Let's cook!!!!
Put the butter in a heavy pan and gently heat, now add the shallots and very slowly soften them, don’t brown them or burn them or this will change the flavour. Now add the wine and let it simmer until it has reduced by about half; add the mustard and mix it in well, add your salt and pepper. Mix in the coriander powder and the lemon juice, keep stirring. Sprinkle in your herbs.
Now the slightly trickier bit, add the egg yolks, but make sure that you keep stirring and that the dish is not too hot, or you will end up with an omelette.
The whole thing should thicken and turn nice and creamy, add your fromage frais and keep stirring. You can if you wish really beat the egg whites as if you were making meringue and then old this into the mix to make it a little lighter.
With prawns...
The last time I made this sauce, I added
a few cooked prawns, and then poured it into some tartlet cases I had blind
baked, and then put the whole thing under the grill to give it a nice toasted
topping. Or why not put it on toast for a real treat add a dollop of caviar.
Jervaulx Abbey
Cheese and fruitcake
Over the years, so many people have commented on me eating cheese preferable
Wensleydale, or a strong white Stilton or Swaledale with a fruitcake and in
particularly with Christmas cake. Even mince pies and cheese are heaven sent.
Apparently one of the abbots of either Rievaulx or Jervaulx abbey in North
Yorkshire was the trend setter with this and in Yorkshire it is very common to them both together.
Jervaulx Abbey
The heart of Yorkshire cheese making