Month: March 2018
What to Serve at Your Easter Table
Earlier this week, we shared with you our Easter gift ideas including fantastic Easter baskets and beautiful chocolate bunnies. Today, we’re here to help you with your Easter lunch or dinner. Serve up these simple, but fun, dishes and you’re sure to create a day to remember. After all, coming together with family and friends is all about creating memories. We’ve given you an idea for an appetizer, entree, dessert and a cake, so read on to find out everything that you need to know.
Deviled Eggs
We all know that it isn’t Easter without eggs. Deviled eggs make a great starter or canape. They can be prepared in advance so that your guests can enjoy them whilst you finish preparing your meal. This is especially great if you will be at church in the morning and then preparing lunch. It often feels like everyone has a family recipe for deviled eggs, but the basic is to hard boil eggs, mix the yolks with mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper, and disperse this onto the egg whites. Sprinkle them with paprika and serve. If you have a special trick, then let us know in the comments!
Roasted Leg of Lamb
This is a classic at Easter. Use a simple rub of lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Roast your lamb with some garlic cloves that can be used to make delicious gravy. Serve it with plenty of vegetables, but especially go for spring flavors like carrots, green beans, radishes and beets.
Scalloped Potatoes
A great side dish, especially when it’s spring and heavier potato dishes like mash seem too much. Use fresh cream for an extra decadent dish. You can even mix in some gruyere for a twist on the classic.
Jello Bunny
This retro option is one to make if you have children attending your party. Grab a bunny shaped jello mould and fill it with your favourite flavor of jello. Leave it to set. Make a separate bowl of green jello. When the time comes to serve, chop the green jello up and lay it on a platter to look like grass. Turn the bunny out onto the grass and serve.
Simnel Cake
This is a traditional cake made in Britain to celebrate Easter. You might not have tried it before but it’s delightful and fairly unchallenging to prepare ahead of time. It is a light fruit cake, packed with dried fruit and a layer of almond paste in the middle. It is topped with a marzipan layer and eleven marzipan balls, which each represent the disciples. The top is briefly grilled to give it a toasted, nutty flavour. You can try making this at home or it may be stocked in some stores that sell British goods.
We hope that you have enjoyed our Easter ideas. We want to take the opportunity to wish all of our customers a very Happy Easter. As always, we are grateful to have you. We’d love to hear how you will be celebrating Easter in the comments.
Celebrate Easter with Shisler’s Cheese House
With Easter coming up this weekend, we have everything you need here at Shisler’s Cheese House. Read on to find out all about our gift options and how to make this Easter extra special for your loved ones.
Our Easter gift baskets are perfect for sharing with loved ones. You can purchase online or in store. Inside you will find Marble Cheese, Dried Fruit Chips, Yogurt Pretzels, Heggy’s Chocolates, Wild Maple Walnut Syrup, and Muddy Trail Mix.
We know that this is the perfect mix of treats. Chocolate for a sweet tooth and marble cheese for savory lovers, with dried fruit and trail mix to keep your energy up after all of the Easter fun. You could even hide each element of the basket to create a treasure hunt. Who says that kids get to have all the fun? Certainly not us!
If you’re looking to give a pure chocolate gift, then you need to look no further than Heggy’s Solid Chocolate Bunnies. These are a real treat with 20 oz of chocolate. They are available in both milk and white chocolate, so you can pick one up for everyone in the family.
If you are looking for some more grown-up chocolate options, check out our whole chocolate section. You’ll find dozens of products that will cater to every taste. Grab some Brazilian coconut or chocolate truffles for those friends that always want to try something new. Pick up a Heggy’s chocolate gift box for that special someone in your life. Take some Heggy’s milk chocolate turtles into work and share some Easter joy with your colleagues. We offer sugar-free treats for your health-conscious friends and caramels for those who just don’t like chocolate (we know it’s surprising, but they are out there!).
If you have your own Easter gift ideas, we can create a custom basket for you. Custom baskets can include anything currently available on the website. This is perfect if you know someone who would prefer cheese and pickles to chocolate, even at Easter. You could create a box full of dark chocolate treats or even pick our healthier options such as our sugar-free chocolates. Call us today for a quote!
If you are ordering online, please check our shipping policy to ensure that your gifts will reach you in time. If you can, pop into the store. We love to meet our customers face to face and help you find the perfect gifts.
We want to wish all of you a fantastic Easter weekend. How will you be celebrating? Let us know in the comments!
How to Use Different Cheeses as Pizza Toppings
After our recipe for great pizza, we decided to show you different ways to use cheese as a pizza topping. Whilst you might always put the same cheese on your pizza, there are so many different ones to try. You can combine them with other toppings to create endless possibilities.
It’s the absolute classic pizza topping. Serve mozzarella simply with tomato sauce and fresh basil. Make sure that you grate it evenly to create the delicious, cheesy effect. If you want to create a really special pizza, drizzle pesto over the top and add some arugula after baking.
Gruyère originated in the Alpine region between Switzerland and France in the eleventh century. Pop gruyère cheese on a pizza with ham and garlic. It’s like the croque monsieur of pizza toppings! You could even try gruyère on a white pizza, using bechamel or a creamy garlic sauce instead of tomato. If you haven’t tried this before then we urge you to give it a go. It works especially well with green vegetables like spinach and asparagus. You could even go Florentine style and add an egg on top!
Blue cheese is a perfect salty pizza topping. Pair it with bacon or red onions for an exciting pairing. Our Danish blue cheese would also be delicious with other cheeses too. Find your perfect four cheese pizza and let us know what it is in the comments. This is certainly a grown-up pizza idea, so serve it with a bold glass of red wine.
Spicy Cheese
Try our super hot ghost pepper cheese to add an extra kick to your pizza. Try it with fresh chilies and pepperoni if you’re feeling spicy. You could cool it down with some vegetables or a sour cream dressing. You could even try adding ground beef with spices to create a taco flavored pizza!
Manchego is a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese with a rich, tangy taste. Try it as a pizza topping with olives or sundried tomatoes. Add lots of herbs for extra flavor – try oregano, rosemary or basil.
Lucerne Cheese has a light and smooth flavor, but is low in sodium and fat. We recommend pairing it with your favorite vegetables. You might not always think of putting vegetables on a pizza but it’s a great option and a way to create a fresher pizza than the average toppings. Our favorites are peppers, courgettes and sweetcorn. You can even try something more unusual like roasted eggplant, artichokes or broccoli.
Next time you have a pizza party, make your own dough, put out some unusual cheeses, and you are sure to impress your guests. Even if you’re not having a party – this is sure to make for a fun Friday night in!
We hope that you have enjoyed these pizza topping ideas and that you’ll love trying something new. Let us know what you’ve tried in the comments.
5 Surprising Cheese Traditions
Of course, here at Shisler’s Cheese House, we love cheese! Today we are going to tell you about five surprising cheese traditions from around the world. Read on to find out why some people like maggots with their cheese and where you might find cheese on the menu for breakfast.
- Cheese Rolling – Gloucestershire, UK
In late May, in the heart of the Cotswold countryside, you will find the shouts and screams of people running down a hill in pursuit of cheese. A 9lb round of Double Gloucester cheese is thrown down the incredibly steep hill and the competitors chase it down. The winner gets the cheese. Supposedly, the competitors are supposed to catch the cheese but as it can move at up to 70 miles an hour, this is almost impossible.
2. Live Insect Larvae – Sardinia
Casu marzu is a Sardinian cheese that starts out as pecorino. It undergoes the digestive action of the larvae of the cheese fly Piophila casei. This makes the texture of the cheese extremely soft. Some people do not eat the larvae but many do. The cheese is considered to have gone bad if the larvae have died, so they will be eaten alive. This is certainly not a cheese tradition for the faint-hearted. Would you try it?
3. Cheese for breakfast – many countries
Whilst it might not be on every breakfast plate in the US, many countries around the world enjoy cheese for breakfast. In Brazil, they enjoy cheese with ham and bread, alongside a cup of coffee. Germans serve cheese with cold meats, bread, and jam. In Turkey, breakfast will often consist of cheese with bread, butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, jam, and honey. In Sweden, they eat their cheese with fish or cold meats, mayonnaise, and vegetables. We’re not sure about mayonnaise in the morning, but we definitely endorse adding cheese to your table at breakfast time.
4. Maturing cheese in a cave – Somerset, UK
Cheddar Gorge in Somerset is world renowned for the creation of cheddar cheese. But did you know that some of the cheese is aged in the caves of the gorge? The constant temperature and high humidity are perfect for aging cheese. You can even go exploring in the caves and see the cheese maturing for yourself. The cheddar will be firm with a strong, tangy kick after aging. If you can visit, do!
5. Cheese with Fruit Cake – Lancashire and Yorkshire, UK
It has become a tradition in Lancashire and Yorkshire to serve a slice of fruit cake with a slice of crumbly, tangy cheese such as Wensleydale. The combination of sweet and savory is very popular. The cake is packed full of dried fruit and often flavored with brandy, whilst the cheese adds a sharp, salty contrast.
We hope you enjoyed our tour of some of the cheese traditions around the world. What are your cheese traditions? Let us know in the comments!
How To Make Pizza From Scratch
It’s one of America’s most loved dishes: pizza.
The perfect combination of dough, sauce, cheese and your favorite toppings comes together to create a taste explosion. But do you know how to make it from scratch? Read on to find out how.
Make your dough
Whilst the toppings become the star of the show, the dough is arguably the most important part of pizza. Without it, the dish literally falls apart.
You will need:
35oz white bread flour
1tsp sea salt
0.5oz dried yeast (2 sachets)
1tbsp sugar
4 tbsp olive oil
A mixing bowl
A jug
Start with the white bread flour. Sieve it into a bowl and mix in the salt.
In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and oil with 22 fl oz of lukewarm water. Leave it for a few minutes. It may foam slightly, this is normal.
Mix the water, yeast, sugar and oil into the flour gradually, pulling in more of the flour each time you mix.
Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes, until it is soft and springy.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover it with cling wrap and leave it to double in size. This should take about an hour.
After the proving time, take the dough out and knock the air out of it. Knead it again.
Divide the dough into enough balls to make your pizzas. This should make 6 to 8 medium pizzas.
If you are saving them for later, cover them with cling film and keep them in the fridge. Otherwise, go ahead and move onto the cooking stage.
Baking your pizzas
One of the best ways to get restaurant quality pizza at home is with a pizza stone. This allows the top of the pizza to cook whilst keeping the base of the dough crisp.
If you have one of these then first you will heat it in the oven until it is very hot. Do this by placing the stone into a cold oven and then switching the oven on to let it come up to temperature. Be very careful when moving it in and out of the oven.
Roll your pizza dough balls out to make flat rounds of dough.
Whilst the stone is warming, you can get on with the fun part – topping your pizzas!
First add your sauce, then your toppings, then your cheese. Experiment with variations on all 3 to find your favorite pizza. This is such a fun activity for a party because everyone gets to try out their own ideas.
Do not grease or oil the stone, but you can add some cornmeal to stop your pizzas from sticking. When the pizza stone is hot, add your pizza to bake. You can do this using a pizza paddle but it is not necessary if you don’t have one. Wait for your pizza to be lovely and golden before taking it out of the oven.
Let it cool slightly, slice it and dig in.
We hope you enjoy making your own pizzas at home. Let us know what your favorite toppings are in the comments!
Love Cheese? Then You’ll Love These Cheese Desserts!
If you love cheese as much as we do, then you’re probably already eating it at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But have you tried cheese desserts? Read on to find out how you can add cheese to every course of your meal for delicious fun.
1. Cheesecake
This is the classic. When you saw ‘cheese desserts’ your mind probably went straight to cheesecake. It’s a classic for a reason; delicious, easy to make, and a crowd pleaser, cheesecake has a place in all of our hearts. Try experimenting with different biscuits for your base, add flavors to the cheese or even create a glaze to go on the top. The possibilities really are endless!
2. Fritters
Soft cheeses like ricotta make delicious fritters. Combine it with orange and honey in this recipe to create a sweet treat. You can even keep the leftovers and serve them for breakfast!
3. Cake with Goat’s Cheese Frosting
You’ve tried cream cheese frosting on carrot cake, but you can take this to the next level with an apple cake and goat’s cheese frosting. Apple is often combined with cheese because it has just the right acidity and this cake is no exception. Try the recipe here.
4. Dessert Pizza
We love pizza and we love dessert, but have you combined the two?
Try topping puff pastry with a spreadable cheese like mascarpone and delicious fruits like peaches or raspberries. You could even whip up a pizza dough and top it with chocolate spread and marshmallows for a rocky road style dessert pizza. You can find more inspiration here.
5. Cookies and whoopie pies
Instead of sandwiching your cookies or whoopie pies with buttercream, try mascarpone or ricotta. This works especially well with caramel flavors. Trust us, you’ll be convinced!
6. Parmesan pound cake
Are you always on the hunt for a great pound cake recipe? This one is a little bit unusual, with the addition of parmesan, but you’re sure to have fun asking your friends to guess what the secret ingredient is.
7. Rhubarb and ricotta
You might usually think of turning rhubarb into a pie or a cobbler. Instead, simply stew it down and then serve it with a spoonful of ricotta on top. The creaminess of the cheese cuts through the tart fruit; it’s a perfect combination.
8. Strawberries and mozzarella
Fresh mozzarella pairs beautifully with the sweetness of strawberries. Stew the strawberries down and simply spoon them over mozzarella. You can add black pepper or basil to the dish, although you might find that this strays too far from the realms of dessert.
9. Apple Pies with Cheddar
Cheddar and apple is a well-known combination on a cheeseboard, but you can also use cheddar in your apple pies. There are several ways to add the cheese but our favorite is to mix some into the pastry and then grate some over the crust before it goes in the oven.
10. Dessert Grilled Cheese
Grilled cheese can be sweet or savoury. Try brioche with brie and raspberry for a great dessert. Serve it up at a party to wow your guests!
We hope you’ve enjoyed our list of cheese desserts! Which would you try making? Let us know in the comments?
Choosing the Perfect After Dinner Cocktail
Earlier this week we brought you our recommendations for pre-dinner cocktails. Today, it’s the turn of the post-dinner cocktail. When dinner is finished, you want to be able to move away from the table and continue the party. Creating a batch of after-dinner cocktails is the perfect way to show your guests how welcome they are and ensure the fun doesn’t stop.
Read on to find out what we’re recommending to finish off an evening in style.
1. Espresso Martini
Instead of serving coffee after dinner, serve up a coffee cocktail. Your guests are sure to love them and they’re a great pick-me-up if you’re playing after dinner games.
Shake 1 part coffee, 1 part coffee liqueur and 2 parts vodka over ice. Strain into a martini glass and top with a coffee bean.
2. Mint Chocolate Martini
After dinner chocolates are nothing compared to this quick and easy cocktail. Pair the classic chocolate and mint flavours for a sweet treat.
Simply shake 1 part vodka, 1 part creme de menthe and 2 parts chocolate liqueur over ice. Strain into a martini glass.
3. A Grasshopper
Another cocktail that goes for a hint of mint after dinner. You could even replace dessert with this sweet drink.
Shake 1 part creme de cacao, 1 part creme de menthe and 1 part fresh cream over ice. Strain into a martini glass.
4. Irish Coffee
An espresso martini isn’t always ideal for a cold night. Warm up your guests by making an Irish coffee instead.
Make your coffee how you like it and then add Irish whiskey, a teaspoon of brown sugar and a little cream. Serve this in mugs so that guests can warm themselves up.
5. Porto Flip
This cocktail certainly isn’t for everyone. This is for the more adventurous guest. Port is a traditional after dinner drink but this gives it a twist.
Shake 1 ounce brandy, 1.5 ounces port, 0.5 ounce simple syrup and a whole egg together. Strain it into a highball glass and grate a little nutmeg over the top. Challenge your guests to guess what’s in the drink!
6. A glass of something simple on the rocks
This isn’t a cocktail, but it might be one of the best options after dinner. If you don’t want to be distracted by shaking up drinks and you just want to settle into an evening of easy conversation, then decant some high-quality liquors and serve them up with plenty of ice and glasses.
A glass of great whiskey is sure to please, but you can also serve brandy, port or dessert wine. You could even create a platter with our scotch collection of cheeses.
We hope you have enjoyed our post-dinner cocktail ideas. What do you like to serve and drink after dinner? Let us know in the comments!
6 Pre-Dinner Cocktails to Wow Your Guests
Having previously brought you our top tips for planning a dinner party and how to cater for picky eaters, today we’re continuing with our hosting tips. You always want parties to start with fun, so today we are giving you some pre-dinner cocktail ideas to help make that goal a reality.
We’ve chosen cocktails that can easily be made in a pitcher to serve many guests if you like, although all of them offer customization options. We know that you love tips that cut down on preparation time and it even more important when you’re entertaining.
1. Aperol Spritz
Aperol Spritz has the taste of summer. It’s a perfect cocktail choice if you’re serving Italian cuisine, or even if you’re just ordering pizza!
Pour 3 parts Prosecco and 2 parts Aperol over ice. Finish with a dash of soda water and garnish with an orange slice.
2. Gin Gimlet
This classic has been served before dinner for many years and it couldn’t be easier to make. You could even have a variety of gins on hand and let guests pick their favourite.
Simply pour 2 parts gin with 1 part lime juice over ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.
3. Martini
A true classic. There are so many ways to serve a martini, but the basic recipe mixes 5 parts gin with 1 part vermouth. This can be shaken or stirred and garnished with an olive or a twist.
This is another drink that you can serve according to your guests’ liking.
4. Champagne Cocktail
Champagne is the perfect way to make sure that your party starts with a pop! The traditional champagne cocktail is very simple. Put a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute, add 2 – 3 drops of bitters, and top up with champagne.
5. Mimosas
Whilst traditionally a brunch option, they can still work well as a pre-dinner cocktail. Serve a selection of fresh juices so that guests can mix up their own. The classic is one part orange juice with one part champagne, but other citrus juices work well. We especially love grapefruit for a real zing. You can use peach juice to make bellinis and even a green juice can be delicious when topped with champagne!
6. Make your own
Instead of creating a batch of cocktails, put out various ingredients with cocktail shakers and plenty of garnishes. Let your guests create their own cocktails. Make sure you have plenty of glassware on hand, the classic spirits and some unusual ingredients to experiment with. You can even make it a competition!
We hope you enjoy our pre-dinner cocktail recommendations. What do you like to serve to guests before dinner? Let us know in the comments.
Bread: How to Make It
We all love bread. It’s perfect for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of course, our preference is to eat it with cheese. Today, we’re going to show you three ways to make your own bread.
1. Make it completely from scratch
If you’ve never made bread before, you’ll find that it’s much easier than you think. All you need is flour, salt, yeast, some kind of fat, and water. You can change various elements of this, but we’ll show you how to make a simple white bread.
You will need:
500g/18oz strong white bread flour, plus a little extra for dusting
2 tsp salt
7g/ 1/4oz sachet of dried yeast
3tbsp olive oil or melted butter
300ml/10 fluid oz water
A mixing bowl
A loaf tin
1. Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and oil/melted butter a little at a time.
3. Mix everything together until you have a dough. You may not need all of the liquid to achieve this, but likewise, if it is a little stiff you can add more water.
4. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until you have a silky, smooth dough. There are lots of videos available online if you haven’t kneaded a dough before.
5. Put the dough into an oiled bowl and leave it to rise for one hour. It should double in size.
6. “Knock back” the dough. This involves pushing the air out of it and kneading it again briefly.
7. Shape the dough into your loaf tin. If you don’t have a loaf tin, line a baking sheet with parchment and form the dough into a ball. In both cases, leave it to prove for another hour.
8. Bake at 420F for 25 – 30 minutes until it is golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.
9. Cool on a wire rack.
You’ll want to dig in straight away, but allow it to cool slightly so that it is easier to slice.
2. Use a bread maker
A bread maker essentially involves putting the ingredients above into the bread maker and letting it do the work. They will usually come with lots of recipes so that you can make different types of bread as well as preparing pizza dough or cakes that you can then bake in the oven.
Often, you can even set a bread maker so that it makes bread overnight and you wake up to the smell of freshly baked dough in the morning.
3. Use a pre-made mix
These are available in lots of supermarkets. Usually, you simply add water, knead the dough and put it in the oven. This is a quick way to make bread but we would recommend making it from scratch if you have time. It only takes a little longer but the taste is incredible.
Once you’ve conquered the technique, you can start changing your creations. Try wholemeal, multigrain or even add herbs and spices.
Now all you have to do is decide how you want to eat your bread. Slather it with butter, add some cheese, dip it in soup: the choice is yours!
