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CHEESE

How to make this weird but delicious cheese snack

Cheese marinated in brandy with vanilla. Food writer John Duxbury shares his recipe with The Local.

Published: 16 September 2016 06:59 CEST

How to make this weird but delicious cheese snack

Who can say no to cheese? Photo: John Duxbury/Swedish Food

Summary

Makes: 20-30 bites sized pieces

Level: Very Easy

Time: 15 minutes (including 10 minutes cooking time) plus 50 minutes cooling and marinating time

Great for nibbles at a Swedish-themed party

Ingredients

1 vanilla pod

100ml (1/2 cup) water

100g (1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar

100ml (6tbsp) Xanté (pear brandy)

100g (4 oz) Västerbottensost*, cut into bite-sized pieces

Cocktail sticks for serving

*If you can't get hold of Västerbottensost, use another good quality hard cheese, such as Cheddar.

Method

1. Cut the vanilla pod in two length-ways and scrape the seeds out into a small saucepan. Add the water and caster (superfine) sugar to the pan and heat over a moderate heat, stirring carefully until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

2. Leave to cool and then add the Xanté. (If you are making the marinade a day or two in advance, pour it into a jar, making sure to add all the vanilla seeds too, and store in a fridge.)

3. About 30 minutes before required, add the cheese pieces and gently turn them in the marinade.

4. After 30 minutes, transfer the cheese pieces to a serving dish and garnish with some pieces of the vanilla pod.

Tips

– Make the marinade in advance and keep it the fridge. Bring it out of the fridge a couple of hours before required and then add the cheese to the marinade about 30 minutes before required.

– If you haven't got any Xanté, add some slices of pear in step 1. In step 2 replace the Xanté with 6 tablespoons of brandy. (Eat the pear slices afterwards with some yoghurt: delicious!)

– Provide cocktail sticks as the cheese will be sticky.

Recipe courtesy of John Duxbury, Editor and Founder of Swedish Food.

Italian recipe of the week: The perfect spaghetti carbonara

An authentic carbonara sauce has only three ingredients. Photo: Flickr/Wine Dharma

Pasta alla carbonara (literally translated as 'coal workers’ pasta') is one of the most well-known and loved Italian delicacies: the creaminess of the eggs contrasting with the crispy guanciale makes it a pleasure to eat.

The origins of carbonara sauce are still uncertain. However, the recipe doesn’t appear until 1944, which prompts some speculations on how this delicious recipe came to be.

READ ALSO: The original recipe for authentic bolognese sauce

The most widely recognized theory is that this beloved Italian dish is an American adaptation of the traditional cacio e ova: when the Allied troops were stationed in Italy toward the end of World War Two, they got fond of pasta cacio e pepe, but to give them a “back home” flavour, they added smoked bacon to the recipe.

Roman people enthusiastically adopted the new dish, and quickly added it to their cooking.

They swapped the bacon for guanciale (the fat from a pig’s cheek) as they already had pasta recipes using guanciale and Pecorino cheese, the other two being pasta alla gricia and bucatini all’amatriciana.

Tips

Don't use Parmesan cheese for this recipe. However, if you're having difficulties finding guanciale, pancetta can be used instead.

Never add cream to the recipe: the creaminess is given by the sheer amount of grated Pecorino – so don't skimp on it!

READ ALSO: Silvana's ten golden rules for cooking pasta like the Italians

Ingredients

360 g spaghetti
120 g guanciale
4 eggs yolks
1 whole egg
150 g Pecorino Romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Step 1:
In a non-stick pan, fry the guanciale in its own fat until slightly crispy, taking care not to brown it too much.

Step 2:
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and the whole egg with salt and pepper. Stir in the grated cheese until a thick cream is obtained. Add the cooked guanciale and reserve.

Step 3:
Cook the spaghetti al dente. Reserve about 100 ml of the cooking water. Drain the pasta well, and immediately pour the pasta into the bowl with the eggs. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg.

Step 4:
Add a little bit of the reserved cooking water, and mix well so as to coat all the pasta. If the sauce is still too dense, add some more cooking water. If too runny, stir in more cheese.

Step 5:
If necessary, season with more salt and pepper. Serve immediately sprinkled with extra grated Pecorino cheese.

Silvana Lanzetta. Photo: Private

Silvana Lanzetta was born into a family of pasta makers from Naples and spent 17 years as a part-time apprentice in her grandmother’s pasta factory. She specializes in making pasta entirely by hand and runs regular classes and workshops in London.

Find out more at her website, Pastartist.com, including this recipe and others.

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