Happy New Year all. I missed recommending a cheese last week in the general confusion of the festive period, but here is your first cheese of the week for 2017.
Thomas Hoe Aged Red Leicester is made by the Long Clawson Dairy in Leicestershire. It’s not what you expect from an ‘ordinary’ red leicester – it has a visibly dry texture, a deep orange colour, and a strong, sweet, caramel flavour. If sales in the shop are anything to go by, it proved popular for many people’s Christmas cheese selections.
Another tip for your Thomas Hoe Red Leicester, particularly if it has aged a little too much and is past its best, is to use it for cooking. How about smoked haddock, leek, and Thomas Hoe Red Leicester fishcakes? Poach the fish in milk, add some leek rings to soften, flake the fish, mix with potato mashed with some of the ‘fishy milk’, throw in the leek and grated Thomas Hoe Red Leicester, shape, and stick in the oven til they crisp up (or something like that anyway – it’s Mrs Monty who does the cooking. I get lumbered with the washing-up).
Monty