Saint Agur: 8 brilliant blue cheese recipes
Sweet, salty, tangy and creamy all at once, Saint Agur is the queen of blue cheeses. We’ve pulled together four year-round favourites and four festive ideas from Raymond Blanc that make the most of this delicious cheese.
Saint Agur: 8 brilliant blue cheese recipes
Sweet, salty, tangy and creamy all at once, Saint Agur is the queen of blue cheeses. We’ve pulled together four year-round favourites and four festive ideas from Raymond Blanc that make the most of this delicious cheese.
Blue cheese is a flavour that divides opinion, but it’s important to note – not all blue cheeses are created equal. Many of us in the UK have grown up with Stilton as our benchmark for blue cheese, but so far as blue cheese goes, Stilton is among the most intense, salty blue cheese you’ll find anywhere. If that isn’t your bag, don’t be put off – you might still enjoy something smoother and more rounded, like Saint Agur. The French blue is produced in Auvergne in central France, and has a much creamier, softer flavour, with a little of the metallic piquancy that defines a good blue cheese.
Saint Agur’s creaminess makes it an excellent cooking cheese – it melts easily into sauces and soups and caramelises nicely under a grill if you crumble it over cheese on toast or a Welsh rarebit. Equally, it’ll hold its own in a salad, and you can crumb it into all sorts of different doughs and batters to flavour pancakes, breads, scones and more.
Aside from the classic Saint Agur wedge, the cheese is also available in a spreadable Saint Agur crème. This softer version is great for sauces and dips – you can stir it through pasta for an easy weeknight meal, or spice it up with all manner of things to make different dressings.
If you have a wedge or tub of Saint Agur sitting in your fridge and you’re looking for some recipe inspiration, you’ve come to the right place! Read on for some of our favourite Saint Agur recipes, including four festive dishes from the legendary Raymond Blanc.
Braised baby gem and peas topped with Saint Agur
A little crumbled Saint Agur is a great way to liven up any side dish. Lettuce is normally resigned to salads (or left in the bottom of the salad drawer) but charring it gives it a new lease of life. This is a perfect side to serve alongside roast lamb or beef – the blue cheese works perfectly with red meat, and you can use braise the lettuce in the leftover meat juices!
Saint Agur scones with fig relish and honey walnuts
This sweet and savoury snack could happily be a starter or a cheese course! Blue cheese and fig is already a match made in heaven, but adding a Saint Agur scone to the mix takes things to another level. The scones couldn’t be easier to make – just rub the Saint Agur into your dry ingredients then make and bake the scones as normal. We love the sweet, sharp combination of candied walnuts and fig relish, but these scones are just as good with fresh figs if they’re in season.
Steak tacos with Saint Agur sour cream and pickled shallots
This recipe takes steak and blue cheese – an exceptional flavour combination – and wraps it up in something a little more street food inspired! A dusting of dried oregano on the steak is a nod to the Mexican roots of this dish, and the Saint Agur crème is offset with a little sour cream and charred spring onions for smoky depth. Scatter over some pickled shallots, wrap it all up in a warm corn tortilla and you’re done!
Saint Agur gnudi with sage butter sauce
These little dumplings originate in Tuscany, where they use a mixture of flour and ricotta to create a light, pillowy gnocchi. Gnudi aren’t as dense and chewy as their potato-based cousins, but they require a bit more time and care to make; it takes a good twenty-four hours to drain and dry the ricotta, but after that you’re good to go. Mixing some Saint Agur in with the gnudi dough gives the final result a lovely depth of flavour – we’ve paired them with a classic sage butter but there’s plenty more you could do!
Celeriac and apple salad with Saint Agur dressing
Winter comfort food is all well and good, but sometimes it's nice to have something fresh that cuts through the richer fare the season brings with it. This salad combines seasonal celeriac and sweet apple for a deliciously crunchy dish that's bound together by a simple Saint Agur dressing.
Saint Agur palmiers
We never seem to have enough snacks around Christmas, whether it's because people are around or we're just indulging that little bit more. Rather than relying on ready-made stuff in the shops, however, little bites like these Saint Agur palmiers are fantastic to have on-hand. Best of all, they can be prepared then frozen, ready to pop straight into the oven whenever needed.
Roast turkey crown with apricot, pistachio and Saint Agur stuffing
For many of us, Christmas is the only time of year when we actually eat turkey – so it makes sense to make it as special as possible. That usually means whipping up a knockout stuffing to serve with it, and this sausage meat, apricot, pistachio and Saint Agur one definitely ticks all the boxes. The cheese ensures it remains moist rather than drying out and becoming crumbly, binding everything together with a mild savoury tang.
Saint Agur crème and blueberry roulade
We know what you're thinking – blue cheese in a dessert?! But it actually works incredibly well. The Saint Agur Crème adds a mild, subtle savouriness to the blueberry and mascarpone filling, doing the same job as the salt in salted caramel (but with a bit more oomph). It's a simple, make-ahead dessert too, which is ideal around Christmas time.
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