I first arrived in London roughly at the same time as Raymond Blanc emigrated to England. I grant it to you, emigrating the same year is a tenuous connection. However, when I was asked to write about one of Chef Blanc's St Agur Blue recipes I couldn't resist. On reflection, it might have been the opportunity to cook with St Agur which made me come out of blog-posting retirement. Whichever of the two, I am glad I did.
St Agur looks a little like Roquefort with its coloured mould veins, though the end product is far less salty and much creamier. It comes from the same area, L' Auvergne, the Velay mountains to be precise. But, if Roquefort goes back to 1411, cheese lovers had to wait for a little over 550 years to enjoy St Agur. This relatively new cheese was developed in 1988 a little after Raymond and I moved to England.
Cooking with blue cheese is not easy, one has to judge perfectly how much to add to the dish or the cheese will quickly overcome the other flavours. I thought a versatile Parsley Sauce would be a good bet for those who would like to jazz up their menu. Sorry, Raymond, your recipe was a tat too strong for our taste but it's easy to tweak.
For the vegetarian version think endives, as the slightly bitter taste will be mellowed by the strong flavour of the cheese
Here we go, and as a treat, I have added some of Chef Raymond Blanc's other suggestions
Ingredients:
25g butter, unsalted
25g plain flour
250ml whole milk
100g St Agur Blue Cheese (personally I would go for 70g and add more if necessary)
1 bunch parsley chopped finely
Method:
Melt the butter in a saucepan,
Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, add the milk and whisk until the butter and flour have evenly dispersed.
Back on the heat and bring to boil, stirring all the time
Simmer for 2 minutes
Take off the heat, whisk in the St Agur blue cheese and chopped parsley and place in a sauceboat ready to serve with ham.
Disclaimer: I was contacted by St Agur's PR to review the recipes. I received samples for the trial, no money was exchanged, views are my own.