Left over cheeses? Make Fromage Fort!

Fromage Fort is a french cheese spread made by blending together left over bits of cheese with a few additions.

Traditionally you'd use the left overs from a classic cheese board - i.e. two hard cheeses and two soft - but it really doesn't matter that much. Any cheeses will do. I used manchego, garlic and herb roule, goat's cheese, a blue cheese (Saint Agur), and a camembert that had been baked with honey, garlic and rosemary.

Now there's nothing wrong with these cheeses, but the holiday feasting is over and this is the best way I know to ensure they don't go to waste.

Weigh your cheeses together and drop into a food processor, add a quarter of their weight of dry wine or sherry.

I had 500gm of cheeses, so added 125gm of sherry.

BUT NOTE - add the liquid a little at a time - you're looking to make a cheese spread, not a cheese sauce, and the amount of liquid needed will depend on the cheeses used.

You also need to add a large clove of minced garlic for every 250gms of cheese (so I added two cloves) along with pepper (not salt - cheese is salty enough) . You can also add herbs of choice or chilli flakes - have a little play with the flavours you like.

Then......blitz.

This mixture can now be rolled into a sausage with some greaseproof paper and frozen for months or decanted into a serving bowl and kept for up to 2 weeks covered in the fridge.

Slice discs straight from the freezer or direct from the fridge to melt on toast, baked potatoes, or the tops of stews, or simply as a cheese spread in sandwiches (you'll need to thaw the frozen discs first, obviously)