Blue cheese crème brûlée

Chef Matthew Street says: “Vale of Camelot blue cheese is made with pasteurised Friesian Holstein cows’ milk and vegetarian rennet in Somerset. A satisfyingly rich cheese with rounded, complex flavours, a piquant finish and a smooth, creamy mouth feel, it lends itself perfectly to this blue cheese brûlée starter. In the restaurant we cook the brûlée in a tray and cut into portions, but six ramekins will also do the job.”

45 MINUTES + CHILLING | SERVES 6 AS A STARTER | EASY | V GF

egg yolks 6 double cream 570ml

blue cheese (we use Vale of Camelot) 150g

black peppercorns ground to make 1/2 tsp FOR THE GLAZE

caster sugar 1 tbsp

demerara sugar 1 tbsp

1 Heat the oven to 140C/fan 120C/gas 1. In a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, whisk the egg yolks just to break them up. Put the double cream in a pan over a low heat and gently warm, then crumble in the blue cheese and add the pepper and 1/2 tsp of salt.

2 Stir the cream in the pan with a whisk for a few minutes as it warms to break up the cheese until the large parts have melted. When the cream and cheese mixture has warmed, slowly pour over the eggs, whisking so as not to scramble the yolks with the hot cream.

3 Put six ramekins in a baking tray half filled with just-boiled water and pour the mixture into the ramekins. Bake for 25-30 minutes. If the brûlées look like they’re colouring too much, cover with foil for some of the cooking time. The cooked brûlées should have the slightest of wobbles.

4 Take the tray from the oven and allow the ramekins to sit out for 5 minutes, then remove from the tray and chill for at least 30 minutes.

5 While the brûlées are chilling, make the glaze. Grind the sugars to a fine powder using a pestle and mortar. To serve, take the brûlées from the fridge and use a teaspoon to dust the tops of the brûlées with the sugar, then glaze with a blowtorch – if you don’t have a blowtorch then a grill on the highest temperature will also work. Serve this with your favourite chutney (beetroot works well) and some fresh sourdough bread.

PER SERVING 582 kcals | fat 56.7G | saturates 33.7G | carbs 8G | sugars 8G | fibre 0G | protein 10G | salt 1G