JULY 2017 – PICNIC THEME
BREAD
Baton / Fresh Peas / Perroche / MayFly NZ Sauvignon
Flatbread / Roasted Tomatoes / Grilled Mushroom / Beenleigh Blue / The Den SA Pinotage
Buttermilk Bread Roll / Spanish Olive Crisp / Chutney / Mull Cheddar / Neige Ice Cider served in a picnic basket
Focchia / Watermelon / Cucumber / Feta / White Port w/ Double Dutch Cucumber & Watermelon Tonic
Strawberry Tart / Fresh Strawberry / Ricotta / Mateus Rose
CHEESE
Perroche
A soft, rindless goats’ cheese made by Charlie Westhead at the Neal’s Yard Creamery in Dorstone, Herefordshire. Delicate and lemony, it uses traditional rennet. It has no added rind, but retains its structure despite being a fresh cheese.
Beenleigh Blue
Made by Ben Harris from Ticklemore Cheese in Totnes, Devon, from the milk of 250 Friesland sheep. They are grazed outside Spring – Summer and Ben only takes their milk January to July to make Beenleigh Blue, which sees seasonal variations – form being flinty and minerally early season to more rich and robust later in the year.
The original recipe for Beenleigh Blue was developed by the founder, Robin Congdon and based on Roquefort, although it turned out to be quite different.
Once the Beenleigh Blue is set, it is dry salted on the outside, pierced and then aged in the ‘cave’ for three weeks to encourage the blue mould to form. The cheese is wrapped to discourage further blueing, then aged for a further three months at low temperatures to allow the complexities and the flavour to develop slowly.
Isle of Mull Cheddar
Made by Jeff and Chris Reade near Tobermory on the Isle of Mull on a farm powered entirely by a hydroelectric plant (fed by water channels that took them fifteen years to dig out) and two wind turbines that they also erected themselves. Summers are short on the island, so the herd of mainly Swedish Red and Meuse Rhine Issel cows spend a good deal of the year inside. They are fed on a diet that is split evenly between silage and spent grain husks, known as draff, from the distillery in Tobermory a mile or so away. The cheeses can have a wetter texture and a more alcoholic and fermented flavour, which was often put down to the draff in the cows’ diet. It is matured for between 13 and 15 months.
Feta
This is a barrel aged Feta made by the Roussas dairy near Volos on the Pelion Peninsula in mainland Greece. The cheese is kept in a small amount of brine to coat and preserve the cheese without covering it which would make it too salty.Feta is a protected name and herds of goats or sheep roam freely on scrubby pasture. The young ‘cheese’ is put in barrels and topped up with brine for about 100 days.
Westcombe Ricotta
Made by Tom Calver at the Westcombe Dairy near Shepton Mallet in Somerset since 2011. Westcombe Dairy is famous for making Cheddar, but ricotta is made from the whey left over from the cheddar making process which uses the curds.They say, “Our Somerset Ricotta is light and fresh tasting, with a rich, slightly grainy texture and a pleasantly salty, full dairy flavour. Ricotta can bend to almost any culinary use, from starters to desserts. If you’ve never had it, try some simply spread on toast with a little jam or olive oil, or drizzle it with honey as a quick dessert. It’s also perfect for cakes, pastries and puddings (try it in a cheesecake instead of cream cheese), and makes a lovely addition to savoury pasta or pastry dishes.”
WINE
MayFly New Zealand Sauviginon
The Den, South Africa, Pinotage
Neige Ice Cider, Canada
Sagrado White Port / Double Dutch Cucumber and Watermelon Tonic
Mateus Rose
