It's mind-boggling how we use one basic foodstuff – milk – to produce everything from the crystalline rock face of a slab of parmesan to the silken ooze of a velvet-rinded vacherin. Cheese is perhaps the best example we have of the way the alchemy of time, place and technique can transform ingredients in a thousand ways; of how food is often the ultimate expression of tradition, environment and culture.
Much as I love the continental greats – the roqueforts, gruyères and mozzarella di bufalas – it's the leaps and bounds British cheeses have taken in recent years that really excite me. There are hundreds of fabulous cheeses being made on our grassy little island now – you could eat a different one every day of the year, and the year after that, and never be disappointed. You may not know the names of most of these great products, but in a way that's part of the success story: cheese is often truly local, nestling neatly into just the very nook of the land inwhich it's made.
Juliet Harbutt is chair of the British Cheese Awards, which see their 20th anniversary next year. At the very first awards in 1994, there were 296 cheeses on show; last year, there were 905. The appeal of this explosion in cheesy artesan creativity is not just their quality, but their sheer range. Harbutt explains: "There are only a handful of traditional British cheeses – lancashire, caerphilly, stilton, etc – and they're made by lots of different dairies. But almost all the other hundreds of cheeses that we see now – what I call modern British cheeses – are made by just one person. The diversity is incredible."
What I'm impressed by when Italk to cheesemakers is not just their passion, commitment and genuine fascination with food, but their skill and expertise. If you're going to turn milk – in many cases, raw, unpasteurised milk – into adelicious, consistent cheese, you've got to know what you're doing. Small, personal and hands-on they may be, but they're far from amateurish or hope-to-luck.
As Harbutt notes, even the big brand "block" cheeses that dominate supermarket shelves have improved beyond measure in recent years – some have even beaten artisanal cheeses for medals at her show – but it's the small producers whose work interests me most. These are the people maintaining the traditional techniques that, so often, produce better-tasting food; who often milk their animals and make their cheese on the same farm, then sell it locally, so they have a lower impact on the environment; and who can tell you exactly how their cheese is made, how it's tasting this week and what delicious things you can do with it.
My recipes today showcase just three of my current favourite English cheeses. Do try to find your own: if, say, Wootton's Little Ryding isn't available on your doorstep, as it is mine, I hope you'll discover another oozy, aromatic white-rinded delight. Start at the local farmers' market or farm shop, and do some cheesy surfing online. You'll soon sniff out a winner. And, when you do, be sure to spread the word about your chosen curd.
Blue cheese, red onion and walnut focaccia
Perl Las, a creamy, sweet organic blue made in Carmarthenshire , is delicious here, but any well-flavoured, creamy blue works a treat. Serves eight.
2 large red onions, peeled
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
150g blue cheese
50g walnuts
A few sprigs fresh thyme
For the dough
500g strong white bread flour
1 tsp easy blend yeast
10g fine sea salt
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for trickling
350ml warm water
Cornmeal or polenta, to dust (optional)
Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Add the oil and water, and mix to a rough dough – it'll be soft and wet. If you have a mixer with adough hook, it will make short work of the kneading; otherwise, turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand, adding flour if need be, but keeping it to a minimum. Knead for 10 minutes, until smooth.
Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size – at least an hour, maybe closer to two.
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Cut each onion into eight wedges, keeping them attached at the root, put in a roasting dish with a trickle of oil and some seasoning, cover with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for 15 minutes more, until caramelised.
Grease a shallow-edged, 22cmx30cm baking tray and scatter cornmeal over the surface (this gives the focaccia a nice, crisp base). Tip the dough straight on to the tray and, without kneading out the air, press out lightly with your fingertips until it roughly fills the tray. Arrange the onion on top, crumble over the cheese in large chunks and scatter over the walnuts and thyme, gently pushing all the topping into the dough. Cover and leave for half an hour, or up to an hour, until it has risen further and is light and puffy.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Bake the focaccia for 10 minutes, then lower to 190C/375F/gas mark 5 and bake for 15or so minutes more, until golden. Trickle with a little oil, then turn out on to a rack. Eat while still warm.
Whole baked little cheese
I do this with Wootton's Little Ryding, acamembert-style Somerset cheese, but any small, soft white-rinded cheese will do. Serves two to four.
1 whole 250g soft white-rinded cheese
1 clove garlic, peeled and cut intoslivers
A few sprigs thyme and/or rosemary
A splash of white wine (optional)
A trickle of extra-virgin olive oil
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Remove any wrapping from the cheese. If it comes in a little wooden box, put it back inside but leave the lid off; if not, wrap the base and sides of the cheese in foil, but leave the top uncovered. Place in asmall baking dish. Cut a few deep slashes in the top of the cheese and push a sliver or two of garlic into each, as well as a sprig of thyme or rosemary. Trickle over a splash of white wine and a slosh of olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese's interior is soft and starting to bubble up through the slashes.
Serve at once. Ease off the top crust, then dip in with bread, slices of crisp apple or chunky homemade chips. A few cornichons are a classic and very good accompaniment; I also like it with grapes.
Warm chickpea salad with ewe's cheese, roast chillies, parsley and olives
I use the Greek-style brined ewe's milk cheese from Homewood to make this, but other feta-style cheeses would work, too. Serves four.
200g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water (or 2 tins chickpeas, drained)
2-3 bay leaves
1 bulb garlic, cut in half horizontally
75ml extra-virgin olive oil, plusmore to finish
Lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground blackpepper
4-6 fleshy, mild red chillies (or2redpeppers)
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, picked
150g stoned black olives
200g feta-style cheese
4 tbsp yoghurt (optional)
If using dried chickpeas, drain them and put in a pan with the bay and garlic. Bring to a simmer, skim, then reduce the heat and simmer for 35-40 minutes, until tender. Strain the chickpeas and return to the pan. Squeeze the flesh out of the garlic cloves into the pot, add the oil, agood couple of squeezes of lemon juice and lots of salt and pepper; give them a light bash with a potato masher and set aside. If using tinned chickpeas, gently heat the oil in alarge pan with a chopped clove of garlic for a couple of minutes, add the drained chickpeas and heat through, then add the lemon juice and seasoning, and bash as above.
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Halve the chillies, remove the seeds and place in a small roasting tin. Season, trickle over a little oil, cover with foil and roast for 35 minutes, until tender.
Chop half the parsley with the olives to a fine-ish texture, add alittle oil and mash to a loose paste.
Gently reheat the chickpeas and divide between four warmed plates. Tear the chillies and break chunks ofcheese on top, then spoon on the olive mixture. Add a few dabs of yoghurt, if using, scatter over the remaining parsley leaves and serve.
