Sharpham Rustic is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese with a crumbly texture, golden colour and a delicate, slightly citrus flavour. It melt beautifully making it perfect to cook with. Friend of Sharpham and food writer, Harry Hook, has created this delicious vegetarian dish with a cheesy, cruchy, caramelised topping especially for our March spotlight cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 Butternut squash
- 1 Leek
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 3 tbsp Crème fraiche
- 2 tbsp Clotted cream
- 150 g Sharpham Rustic - sliced
- 2 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 3 Slices of bread
- Sage
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190c
- Take your butternut squash halves and slice them horizontally as thinly as you can. You can use a mandolin if you like or enjoy the cathartic process of slicing with a knife. Leave them in a bowl while preparing the rest of your ingredients.
- In a slick of olive oil, add your sliced leeks to a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Allow to gently sauté for no longer than 5 minutes.
- In a jug, combine the crème fraiche, clotted cream, nutmeg and 175ml hot water.
- Drizzle olive oil into a heat-proof baking dish. Construct a layer of butternut squash slices in concentric circles. Scatter over a thin layer of leeks, a third of the cheese and half a dozen sage leaves. Pour a third of the crème fraiche mixture all over, before seasoning all over. Repeat the process, finishing with laying down butternut squash slices as neatly as possible.
- Cover with a lid or foil and bake for approx. 20 minutes.
- In the meantime, make some breadcrumbs for a crispy topping. Using a food processer, blitz the bread with the remaining 50g of Sharpham Rustic and some sage leaves until you have breadcrumbs. After 20 minutes, add the breadcrumbs to the top of the gratin and return to the oven for a final 20 minutes or until caramelised all over.
- Enjoy! Maybe with a green salad or crusty bread.