It's perfect for Friday nights in.
Who says a two Michelin-starred chef can't bung a cheese in oven and call it dinner?
"This is a delicious and simple way to enjoy this fantastic British cheese," says Simon Rogan. "All it needs is a few sprigs of thyme for some flavour and some hot, crusty bread for dipping in. The chutney is an extra indulgence, but this recipe makes enough to enjoy with a cheeseboard or pate another day."
Ingredients:
(Serves four to six as a starter)
250g Tunworth cheese in a box
A few sprigs of thyme
Hot crusty bread or toasted bread crisps, to serve
For the Fig and Apple Chutney:
5 juniper berries
1tsp coriander seeds
2 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
400ml cider vinegar
200g Bramley apples, peeled and grated
300g demerara sugar
130g white onions, finely diced
100ml fresh apple juice (shop-bought is fine)
130g dried figs, roughly diced
60g golden raisins
1tsp salt
20ml Calvados
1kg Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6. Meanwhile, to make the chutney, put the juniper, coriander, cloves, cinnamon and star anise in a piece of muslin and tie it with string to form a bag.
2. Put the bag in a large, heavy-based saucepan with all the remaining ingredients, except the Calvados and diced apple. Slowly reduce over a low heat until you have a thick, jam-like consistency, stirring regularly so it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.
3. Add the Calvados and reduce for one to two minutes to the same jam-like consistency.
4. Add the diced apple and cook gently for five to six minutes, until the apple is tender but still holds its shape and you have a thick chutney consistency. Remove from the heat, cool at room temperature, then transfer to a container and chill in the fridge.
5. Make a few slits in the top of the whole cheese and poke the thyme sprigs into the slits. Put the Tunworth cheese, in its open box (the top of the box removed), in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until soft and gooey. Remove from the oven and serve immediately in the box, with the chutney and hot crusty bread or bread crisps.
Rogan: The Cookbook by Simon Rogan is published by HarperCollins, priced £30. Available now.
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