A Year in Cheese: A Seasonal Cheese Cookbook – a recipe book and guide to enjoying cheese at its seasonal best – is a truly lovely book. An ardent cheese-obsessive myself, I respect the dedication that Alex and Léo Guarneri, the brothers behind the London branch of Androuet, have for the medium:
"There's nothing better than cheese that's been made with the love, care and passion of an expert producer at the right time of year."
The original Androuet was founded in Paris, in 1909, by Henri Androuet: "the first man to travel across France to bring regional cheeses back to Paris and introduce the flavours of the mountains and the countryside to the city.” He also redefined the role of the fromager as someone who cares for the cheese as it ages, rather than only selling it.
Spring
goat's curd
Brillat-Savarin
the fresh cheeses
Globe artichokes in white wine with Délice des Cabasses curd cheese, samphire & breadcrumbs
Fregola pasta with Ossau-Iraty & courgette with ricotta-stuffed courgette flowers
Chabichou du Poitou röstis with girolles & poached duck eggs
Brillat-Savarin cheesecake with marinated cherries
For Alex and Léo Guarneri: "Seasonal cheese is about listening to nature, understanding the grazing and birthing cycle of the animal that's being milked, knowing what they're eating at which time of year, and recognising optimum maturing and ageing times."
Summer
ricotta
mozzarella
the soft cheeses
Green and white asparagus with Red Leicester crisps & sauce vierge
Chilled tomato soup with ricotta & basil oil
This seasonal focus is of real interest to me. It's a concept I don't always find easy to incorporate into my shopping and cooking. Growing up visiting supermarkets, where all the same cheeses are available all the time, leaves its mark.
A Year in Cheese groups common types of cheese around each of the four seasons, helping simplify this complexity, with recipes to match. The cheeseboard guides - spring, summer, autumn and winter - are creative and elegant, and you can see at a glance what specific cheeses might be best for today's dinner table.
The recipes, by Androuet’s head chef Alessandro Grano, are absolutely stunning. Unfussy and gently rustic, they are enormously appealing - I have listed a few of my favourites with each season. A worthy addition to my collection of cheese cookery books, alongside Patricia Michelson and Peter Graham, to name but two cheese heroes.
Autumn
cheddar
Gruyère
the semi-hard cheeses
Montgomery cheddar & pale ale rarebit with cauliflower
Galettes Bretonnes with wild mushrooms & Gruyère
Parmesan, cardamom & spicy Lincolnshire Poacher crisps
All the dishes (which include both savoury and sweet) showcase a particular cheese, but the supporting ingredients are also allowed to shine – bright vegetables and herbs, flavourful oils, papery crusty breads…
Each recipe includes a description of the cheese used and the place that makes it, its production processes, what the animal was fed on and the cheese’s resulting flavours and aromas.
Winter
Reblochon
Comté
the bold cheeses
Mont d'Or Vacherin melt
Risotto with white truffle & Castelmagno
Chocolate fondants with a blu di bufala heart
Vintage Gouda ice cream with pumpkin & amaretti biscuits
Continental cheeses dominate in this book, as you would expect from a shop born in Paris, but British cheeses are also represented in all their newly nuanced glory.
Echoing the food, the photography in this book is muted, restrained and gorgeous. Despite the matte finish and hazy, soft light, the pastel colours shine through.
Highly recommended.
Available on Amazon or wherever you buy your books.
