Steve Cooper is one half of Pistachio & Pickle, a deli and dairy based in Islington, London. His truffled cheeses fly out of the door every year around Christmas, and he was kind enough to show us how to create them at home. All it takes is a few ingredients and a couple of minutes, and you’ll be rewarded with a cheeseboard centrepiece of the highest calibre.
Any soft cheese will take on the flavours of truffle, but Steve uses Tunworth, a multi-award-winning British cheese made in Hampshire, as it’s just the right size for truffling at home and has a unique earthy flavour that complements the truffle particularly well. He also uses jarred truffles preserved in oil (with chopped pistachios in to reflect the dairy’s name) rather than fresh; not only are they more affordable, but the oil helps spread the flavour more evenly throughout the cheese.
Ingredients:
1 Tunworth Cheese
A dollop of mascarpone
A jar of black truffle (optional with pistachios)
Method:
- Start by finely chopping the truffles and nuts.
- Mix them into the mascarpone to create a paste – this means the truffle flavour will be even throughout.
- Slice the Tunworth in half horizontally and spread the truffle mixture on one half of the Tunworth as evenly as possible. Then, place the other half on top – like a truffle and cheese sandwich.
- Leave the cheese in the fridge for a few days to allow the flavours to meld together.
- Enjoy it as part of a cheeseboard or bake the cheese, like you would a camembert, scooping it up with bits of bread or Peter’s Yard Flatbreads.
Recipe and image courtesy of www.greatbritishchefs.com
