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.
