Thanks to the BBC ipad app I can finally watch Nigel slaters simple supper series. I guess it's not really surprising that I also love his tv show - a fan is a fan after all. But seriously it's great! He just knows how to make simple things. A lot is about how to make the best out of what you have in the fridge and how to make left overs shine. Something I'm not very good at. He's also focussing on growing your own vegetables .

One thing we always have lying around in the fridge is all sorts of old cheese pieces. One of his tips was throwing a bit of hard left over parmesan into your soup and cook it with the other ingredients it gives your soup a nice earthy flavor. Take the cheese out before serving the soup though.
But the dish we are raving about here is his Leftover cheese dish.

Grate the cheese roughly, some bigger bits are nice too. Add plenty of fresh thyme, black pepper and some nutmeg.
Add the egg yolks and the cream - mix.
Beat the egg whites. Mix the cheeses mixture with the egg whites mix it good but carefully.

Butter 3 ovenproof dishes, sprinkle on some grated parmesan. Add the cheese and sprinkle on some more parmesan. Add some more thyme leaves.
Bake for 10 minutes in a very hot oven.

Serve with green salad and some fresh bread.

A new favorite at our place. Mozzarella di Buffala served with a marinade of slightly fried spring onions, a small dash of balsamic vinegar, lemon and lemon zest salt, pepper, very good olive oil and plenty of chopped basil.
I make the whole marinade in the pan over medium heat. In the end I add the basil and let it sit for some minutes. Add it to the mozzarella when it's still warm so the cheese starts to melt a bit.

Goes well with plenty of vegetable salads, good bread and red wine of course.

After a brief discussion with the lady down the cheese shop, I made my first cheese pies - they turned out absolutely delicious!

~ Serves 3 when accompanied by salad ~

Recipe:

1. Mix up cheese with all the ingredients except the pastry ;) in a bowl and let settle for half hour.
2. Preheat oven at 220 degrees
3. Butter a cup cake tray generously, press thinly rolled puff pastry into the shapes
4. Fill them two thirds with the cheese mixture
5. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, bottom heat only for the last 5 minutes.

Christoph Bruni and his cheese is well known here in Bern. He sells and produces some of the best cheese in the region. The only place to buy is on the farmer Market Tuesday and Saturday. Be prepared to wait half an hour till it your turn. Regardless all the people waiting Christoph takes his time to serve every customer and lets you know everthing about the cheese you buy. He only sells the finest cheese mainly from small producers. The visits remote producer and brings their products down to the market.
Today I bought a Toggenburger Sheep cheese from a woman who has only ten sheep. A real rarity.

Clockwise from top left:

- Fresh chèvre with ash
- Montgomery Cheddar
- Quince puree
- Le délice du chèvrier
- Brie du Maux
- Brebis
- Manchego

and stilton with port

The fresh chèvre was lovely especially with the quince ( it's just impossible that there are people who don't like chèvre ), the Montgomery from uwe delicious, the délice du chèvrier is alway a favorite of mine. The Brie and the brebis still not quite ripe enough. The Manchego I bought because of Alex James latest cheese testing in the Observer but it's not really my type.
The Stilton with port we got from uwe is delicious.

Montgomery cheddar and Stilton cheese

Christmas Pudding

Thanks uwe!