Colin Spencer was for a while the Guardian's cookery columnist - and he was a vegetarian. One of his columns was about mousses and this cheese one - which is more like a loaf - really appealed to me.
I belong to a book group and one day a member suggested we had our meeting at lunch time in her garden. I brought a cheese mousse,. because it's vegetarian and everyone else was bringing ham and chicken and pudds. It went down very well. I didn't take a picture of it - and the images of "cheese mousse" on Google are ridiculous - this is what it looks like though:
I belong to a book group and one day a member suggested we had our meeting at lunch time in her garden. I brought a cheese mousse,. because it's vegetarian and everyone else was bringing ham and chicken and pudds. It went down very well. I didn't take a picture of it - and the images of "cheese mousse" on Google are ridiculous - this is what it looks like though:
This is of course a madeira cake, which is what it resembles most. It is basically a very firm souffle, and the recipe is approximately as follows. You need to start it the day before you want to eat it.
4 oz butter, 4 oz flour - melt together and make a roux. Then add about 6 oz double Gloucester cheese and some mustard powder and let the cheese melt into the mix (alternatively use Sage Derby cheese and a couple of sage leaves - if you can find the cheese). Separate 6 eggs, beat the yolks in the mixture, season with salt and pepper (nutmeg can be good, extra Parmesan if the cheese lacks flavour, more cheese even). Whip the egg whites stiffly - and fold in to the cheese mixture. Line a loaf tin with backing parchment and bake in a medium oven (Gas 4/180 degrees) for 25 minutes. Then turn off the oven and leave to cool. Allow to stand (and settle) for a day, then serve in slices with a sour cream sauce. Traditionally this should be 1 pot of sour cream, with 1 tablespoon of crushed green peppercorns, but I don't much like that. This year I added some finely chopped chives, parsley and spring onion and a few grinds of mixed pepper to it and it was very nice and complemented the cheese loaf rather better.
What I ate
At lunch: cheese mousse, very good coronation chicken made by my friend Betty, Anne B's tabouleh, delicious, Bernadette's wensley dale and tomato tart - also excellent, and some fruit, and a sliver of my strawberry tart.
At supper: Left over harira from the previous evening, green salad.
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