Brock Hall Goats' Cheese Delish-Dish: perfect as a starter for four or supper dish for two....This recipe was devised from fresh ingredients from my "fridge & field" this evening. I love the taste of this tangy, fresh soft goats' cheese from Shropshire-based Brock Hall Farm and the excuse to use Dairy House's creme fraiche is never one to be missed. Combined with the lemony/citrus taste of fresh sorrel and the subtle green fennel from a fresh head of seeds, this simple recipe is delicious served straight from the pan or left to cool and serve at room temperature. While I was picking the sorrel I found some salad leaves, rocket & peppery mizuna, coriander sprigs & flowers, a few cherry tomatoes & basil leaves and the nasturtium flowers, leaves & dill flowers all gathered together to create an attractive salad.
Gather your raw ingredients together:
2 largish shallots
1 clove of garlic
1 oz/25 g Netherend organic farmhouse butter
splash of Shropshire Oils rapeseed oil
six largish leaves of sorrel with their stalks
2 organic free-range eggs
2 oz/50 g Brock Hall Farm soft, goats' cheese
2 oz/50g Dairy House creme fraiche
splash of non-homogenised/GM Mawley Town Farm milk
green fennel seeds
pinch of Halen Mon sea salt
grind of Malaysian black pepper
Melt the butter with a splash of oil in a 8"/20 cm shallow frying pan.
Add the shallots and soften in the butter. Crush the garlic and add to the onions after a couple of minutes. Remove the stems from the sorrel leaves and cut into 1/2"/1cm lengths and add to the onions continue to stir until all are softened.
Sprinkle in the green fennel seeds at the end of the softening process.
Crack the eggs into a roomy mixing bowl then add the creme fraiche and the soft goats' cheese.
Beat with a balloon whisk, adding a little milk if the mixture is too thick. Season with salt & pepper.
Shred the sorrel leaves and fold into the egg mixture along with with softened onion mixture from the frying pan.
Wipe the frying pan with some kitchen roll, smear the pan with a little butter/oil and heat. When the pan is hot pour in the complete mixture, swirl across the base of the pan and level with a spatula. Cook for a few minutes until the underside is brown and the mixture is shrinking away from the sides a little.
Transfer to under a hot grill or to a pre-heated oven and continue cooking until the top has set and browned a little. It should be soft & springy. Run a palette knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen then invert a flat plate over the top, carefully turn over and out. Serve with freshly picked salad leaves and a honey/ginger dressing.
GOOD, CLEAN, HONEST & FAIR are the watch words of the International Slow Food movement and ones which I also like to follow. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to use ingredients that are as local to me as possible and of course only those that are grown, produced and made by small-scale independents hence all the "name-dropping" in my recipes. Even the black pepper corns are from a Slow Food producer in Sarawak, Malasia! Obviously substitutes can be made and a recipe is just a guideline - do as you will or wish!
