Cheese is an important part of my life. I eat a lot of it at an amateur level, but once a year I dust down my judging jacket and head off to the International Cheese Awards to do my bit for the dairy industry. It’s the most fun and each year I get to discover a new cheese or two that I just have to have. Just after the International Cheese Awards last year, I popped into one of my favourite delis – John’s of Instow in Devon and spied two of my favourite cheeses – Miss Wenna and Boy Laity, both from Cornish Cheesemakers Curds and Croust.
Curds and Croust have recently launched an interesting new cheese – Russet Squire, a cider washed cheese Cornish soft cheese. They sent me some to try out and I couldn’t resist making something incredibly delicious with it.
Russet Squire is bathed in Cornish cider seven or eight times which gives the soft rind a distinctive russet look. The cheese itself is rich and creamy with a sweet note. It’s unbelievably good on an oaty biscuit and really lends itself to lots of recipes. It has quite a low melting point which makes it wonderfully oozy very quickly.
If you’re a fan of brie, it’s well worth looking out for Russet Squire. It’s got all lovely oozy things you love about brie, but with the addition of the slightly sweet cider. It’s next level Cornish brie.
I often think with brie style cheeses, if you’re going to cook with them they best thing you can do it leave them whole and not mess about too much with other flavours. I wanted to bake a round of Russet Squire into a round loaf which you could tear apart and dip in the melted cheese.
The problem was I couldn’t find the kind of loaf I wanted locally, so I had to bake my own bread. All you want is a nice crusty round loaf, you should be able to find them at a good bakery or perhaps a supermarket. Or you could just bake your own. I baked a cheese and onion loaf and left it to cool for a bit before I made my baked Russet Squire Cheese in a crusty bread bowl.
Baked Russet Squire Crusty Bread Bowl
Ingredients:
1 Russet Squire Cheese
1 round loaf
2 tablespoons of Cider
1 teaspoon of chopped rosemary
A pinch of brown sugar
A twist or two of black pepper
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 220°. Take your round loaf and cut out a hole in the top to nestle your cheese. Scoop out some of the bread, save this for dipping and dunking later.
Skim the top off the cheese to help it melt a bit better. Place your cheese in the loaf. Spoon over your cider and scatter over your chopped rosemary, pinch of brown sugar and your black pepper.
Bake you loaf in the oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is going slightly brown on the top and is all oozy and melty inside.
Serve with chutney, sticks of celery or anything else you want to dip in this gorgeous cheese.
This Russet Squire Crusty Bread bowl is seriously, seriously good. It just works perfectly. It’s so easy to put together and looks really impressive too. Can you imagine putting one on the table next time friends come round for lunch?
We were sent some Russet Squire cheese to make something lovely with. I have not been paid for this post. All images and opinions are my own.
