Cheese is one of those things I can’t live without. Whether I go to France, Italy, Turkey, or Switzerland, I always take home a piece of the local cheese. And then there is Dutch cheese. When I was living in the United States, there was only one thing I missed, and that was my Dutch cheese. I use cheese in my cooking as well. So when I found out about this book I was delighted and had to have it. A Year in Cheese, a seasonal cheese cookbook by Alex and Leo Guarneri with recipes by Allessandro Grand couldn’t have been published at a better time than now, just before the holidays. Because it is especially during Christmas that we celebrate life with cheese platters and are more inclined to spend on top notch cheese varieties. [continue reading after jump]
Lex and Leo Guarneri are the brothers who run the acclaimed Androuet in Spitalfields, London. The seasonal cheese shop has a long heritage in France, where the first of six Androuet fromageries opened in 1909. Today, Androuet in London supplies many Michelin-star restaurants and it also has a celebrated restaurant of its own.
A Year in Cheese, a seasonal cheese cookbook is a celebration of the diversity and uique flavours of cheese both in savoury and sweet recipes. The book is packed with surprising combinations as well as with classic dishes. The writers have used a variety of different cheeses, some I had never heard of before, to create seasonal recipes. Cheeses are also seasonal like fruits and vegetables, did you know that? There’s always an ideal time to produce a variety of cheese and a time when it reaches its best and tastiest moment. Therfore the book is divided into 4 chapters, as the 4 seasons with for each season a cheese platter. Also all four chapters start with an one-page breakdown of what cheeses are in season and why. So educative!
The recipes are mouthwatering, whether it be a salad, risotto, a pie, or a dessert. Some sound peculiar like cheese ice-cream but the photos made by Kim Lightbody make everything look good. For Christmas I have decided to try my hand at the fig and ricotta tart with rum custard even though it’s a summer recipe. The brillat-savarin cheesecake with marinated cherries also got my attention.
So if I were you I would run to the bookstore and get this book so you can wow your guests this Christmas with a surprising cheese recipe. The images above are all from A Year in Cheese: A Seasonal Cheese Cookbook by Alex and Leo Guarneri, Recipes by Alessandro Grano. Photographs by Kim Lightbody. Published by Frances Lincoln (£20)
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