Halfway between a pudding and a cheese course, this lovely combination functions as a very cool take on either. I’ve given a simple and delicious recipe for homemade digestive biscuits, but of course you could use a good ready-made variety.
Serves 4
400g ripe blackcurrants
50–100g caster sugar
300g light, fresh, unrinded goat’s cheese (unsalted if you can get it)
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
For the digestives
125g porridge oats
125g wholemeal flour
125g cold unsalted butter, diced
75g soft light brown sugar
A generous pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
50–75ml milk
Start with the digestives, if you are making your own. Put the oats into a food processor and blitz briefly to break them down a bit. Add the flour, butter, sugar, salt and baking powder and blitz again until the mixture forms crumbs. With the motor running, trickle in just enough milk to bring the dough together. Tip it out on to a lightly floured surface and shape into a thick disc.
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes (this makes a very firm dough, so if you chill it for longer you will need to take it out of the fridge for a little while before rolling out).
Preheat the oven to 180oC/Gas 4 and grease two baking sheets or line with baking parchment. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 3–4mm – as it’s slightly crumbly, you may find it easiest to do this between two sheets of cling film or baking parchment. Cut out the dough using whatever shape cutter you like or, as I do for this dish, just tear it into in large rough pieces that you can break up before serving. Bake for 10–15 minutes until brown around the edges and golden in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Place the blackcurrants in a pan with 50g caster sugar. Cook for 1–2 minutes over a low heat until you have a very lightly cooked compote that is still on the sharp side. Add more sugar only if you really think it necessary.
Break the biscuits into pieces and place on serving plates (you’ll have some left over for the biscuit tin, to serve with cheese). Top with the goat’s cheese and a sprinkling of lemon zest, spoon over some blackcurrant compote and serve straight away.
SWAPS Use fresh cream cheese or ricotta instead of goat’s cheese, and feel free to replace the blackcurrants with gooseberries.