Miles Collins

A recipe for Cropwell Bishop…

Cropwell Bishop is a great blue cheese made on the border of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. These two counties make up two of the three counties where stilton cheese can be made and called stilton with Derbyshire being the other. It seems rather ironic that it takes its name from a small village in Cambridgeshire but cannot be made there or anywhere else other than the three counties I mentioned.

The cheese is still made by a family run business in the Vale of Belvoir and they continue the traditions of two previous generations in making superb blue and white stilton. Finding a good stilton for anything other than a cheeseboard and one which doesn’t crumble can be difficult, taste, obviously is paramount but I have to give careful consideration to how it presents and Cropwell Bishop doesn’t let me down.

I like to cut rough chunks out of a whole cheese and then contrast that visually with something a little more precise. I often pair stilton with fruit, nothing new there but it’s what you do with the fruit that can make the difference.

I use two fruits; pear and charantaise melon. The pear is poached in a stock syrup flavoured with white wine, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, bay and peppercorns until just cooked. The melon is served as is, scooped out and left to let the colour and fresh taste of a charantaise to do all of the work.

The pear and melon remind me of Italy and Dolcelatta so I add some walnuts and single wild rocket leaves dressed with Tuscan olive oil to tie it all in. Everyone knows that celery is served with cheese but rather than go for the usual sticks I use the leaves and heart where all the flavour and aesthetic possibilities lay. You can use other cheeses such as Dolcelatta and Roquefort but if you have a suitable cheese made on your doorstep then give it a go.

If blue cheese isn’t your thing then try a Lancashire or a Wensleydale, if you live in the US (as many who read this blog do) then I’ll leave it up to you!