How to curate the perfect cheeseboard for Easter

Patricia Michelson, owner of London's much-loved cheese shop La Fromagerie, shows you how to put together a very special cheeseboard for the Bank Holiday weekend
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Patricia Michelson10 April 2017

The long Easter weekend is a perfect time to enjoy a cheeseboard chosen for its affinity to the changing season as well as sharing with friends and family.

If the weather is good and we can sit outdoors, this is a great setting to enjoy cheese, since the freshness in the air not only lifts our spirits but also our tastebuds. I serve both red and white wines but also a Pale Ale from Kernel Brewery as I love this with the cheddar. I’m a great fan of Riesling and for this selection, I’ll be enjoying a Southern Rhone red too.

This cheeseboard features fresh goat's cheese with shaved truffle, a rich triple creme (perfect with light wines and champagne), two classic hard cheeses, washed rinds for those who need a bit more oomph and a couple of blues to round it out.The selection is a real crowd pleaser from young to old and if there’s any of the Brillat Savarin left I’d suggest popping it on top a toasted Hot Cross Bun.

Easter weekend cheeseboard

Cheeses

Caprini al Tartufo [2], Piedmont, Goat (120g)

Brillat Savarin, Normandy, Cow (500g)

Montgomery's Cheddar, Somerset, Cow (300g)

Tomme de Savoie, Savoie, Cow (300g)

Rollright, Oxfordshire, Cow (300g)

Epoisses, Burgundy, Cow (200g)

Beauvale, Nottinghamshire, Cow (300g)

Bleu des Causses, Rouergue, Cow (300g)

Best cheese board and knife sets- in pictures

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Accompaniments

Box of La Fromagerie Biscuits

Tasting Notes

Straw Mat for Serving

1. CAPRINI AL TARTUFO

Piedmont (Pasteurised Cow & Goat’s Milk)

The ultimate luxury treat. A fresh handmade goat’s cheese topped with shaved truffles. The earthy woody aromas give way to the sweet/sharp lively taste of the cheese. A perfect start to the cheese selection.

2. BRILLAT SAVARIN

Lizines, Île-de-France (Unpasteurised Cow’s Milk)

Triple cream cheese lightly covered with a brilliant white bloomy rind. Rich and silky, eaten fresh, when there is a lactic tang to the taste, becoming more dense, closer textured and nuttier in flavour with a little maturing. The spring cheese is a perfect accompaniment to rosé and Champagne.

3. MONTGOMERY’S CHEDDAR

North Cadbury, Somerset (Unpasteurised Cow’s Milk)

Jamie Montgomery makes a superb unpasteurised farmhouse cheddar using traditional rennet, with immense skill, and the crumbly textured cheese melts in the mouth. The lovely grassy aromas offset the fruity mellow rich taste that lingers gently on the tongue. A mouthful of spring meadows.

4. TOMME DE SAVOIE

Savoie (Unpasteurised Cow’s Milk)

This is the alpage (high mountain) cheese using the morning and evening milk adding semi skimmed milk to the full fat milk, with an aromatic crust redolent of stone cellars. As the seasons progress you will see a different colour in the pate becoming deeper in colour and more robust taste, but spring and early summer milk is more fresh and lactic.

5. ROLLRIGHT

Little Rollright, Oxfordshire (Pasteurised Cow’s Milk)

The cheese-making dairy is just 50 yards from the farm’s milking parlour and the milk arrives still warm & easy to transform into curds. David Jowett’s cheese follows a process of brine washing the rind to develop its own native yeasts and bacteria, giving the beautiful peachy apricot hue with a taste that is not too strong but resonates a sweet woodland aroma.

6. EPOISSES

Burgundy (Unpasteurised Cow’s Milk)

Soft cheese with a brine and Marc washed deep apricot coloured wrinkled rind. Camembert shaped, with a juicy rich flavour. The taste has a wonderfully aromatic mellow yet bold taste with an almost melting quality and slightly flaky consistency.

7. BEAUVALE

Nottinghamshire (Pasteurised Cow’s Milk)

Matured for seven weeks, during which time it is turned and looked after in the Stilton cellars at Cropwell Bishop, the result is a well-balanced and supple blue, threaded with delicate blue moulds with flavours deepening into savoury, almost meaty tones.

8. BLEU DES CAUSSES

Rouergue (Pasteurised Cow’s Milk)

A stylish blue cheese, gutsy and aromatic in the style of Roquefort. Crumbly texture with well-defined blue moulds partners full bodied wines admirably. The mineral sweet/salty taste is perfect to partner with both red and white wines.

Patricia Michelson is the owner of La Fromagerie, which has two shops in London in Marylebone and Highbury; you can buy the Easter cheeseboard here for £90; lafromagerie.co.uk

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