Masseys More than just another village Shop

The Quicke family have been farming in Newton St Cyres for over 450 years. The dairy is set in 1500 acres of stunning Devon countryside, where their herd of 330 cows provide the rich creamy milk to make the Quickes cheese and butter. Care for this beautiful environment and the welfare of our animals lie at the very heart of the Quickes philosophy.

The most famous cheese in the Quickes range is the Traditional Mature Cheddar, very different from the block cheddars that flood the market today. By slowly maturing a muslin-wrapped truckle for a year, they allow it to breathe, producing a beautiful rinded cheese with a unique and complex flavour.

From Mild through to Vintage, there is a Quickes Traditional Cheddar to suit every palette and we currently have the following in stock:

Red Leicester, Cheddar with Herbs, Mature Cheddar, Medium Cheddar and Extra Mature Cheddar

Here’s a ‘Quicke’ summer quiche to make for an easy supper.

Posted under Food ideas, Recipes

Gorgonzola is not so much a blue cheese as a green cheese: its distinctive, soft green veining brings an unmistakable element to its smooth, creamy body and generally mellow tangy flavour. The strength of flavour varies according to the age of the cheese: sweet and soft when young (when it can also be known as Dolcelatte), as it ages it becomes firm, crumbly, robust and spicy.

It freezes well, though after freezing it will become extra crumbly and is then best used in cooking or salads. Its flavour becomes milder and sweeter during cooking; it melts deliciously when stirred into a simple risotto.

Here’s a recipe for Jamie Oliver’s Apple & Walnut Risotto with Gorgonzola

Gorgonzola Facts

Gorgonzola with Marsala is the Italian equivalent of Port and Stilton. Gorgonzola also pairs well with champagne, full bodied red and sweet red wines, and with pears, apples, peaches, nuts and raisins.

Gorgonzola was first made in the village of that name outside Milan, though the village has now been absorbed into the city after centuries of urban growth. Some date the history of Gorgonzola production precisely to 879 AD, others go as far back as the Romans – but however long its pedigree it remains hugely popular worldwide. Many cheese makers have attempted to imitate Gorgonzola, but it is protected as fiercely as fine rare wines, and imitators are unable to replicate the balance of moulds which continue to give it its distinctive flavour. These moulds occur naturally in the caves where it was first ripened centuries ago.

Trivia point – The London Stock Exchange is known as ‘Gorgonzola Hall’ because of the greenish marble used in its interior!

Posted under Food ideas, Recipes, Shop news

We’ve taken all the hard work out of shopping for cook books. Just  launched:  our cooking shop.

To start with, we’ve searched for cook books from some of the celebrity chefs we all love and hate. Let us know if we’ve missed your favourite – we’ve only picked a few to start with.

And given the recent news from the farmers’ survey which indicated that many children don’t know about the origin of every-day food ingredients, we thought it would be a good idea to include cook books for children and cooking equipment for children in our lists.

Our final launch category is cooking with vegetables. We’re all dealing with post-Christmas belt-tightening, and looking for healthier ways of dealing with food. What better way than to increase our fruit & veg intake. If you’re looking for new ways to prepare your daily 5, have a browse through our bookshelf now.

We’ll be adding categories from time to time – special diets and seasonal cooking come to mind. Which others would you like?

Photo credit: Roland

Posted under Recipes, Shop news

Here’s another another quick and easy recipe – this time for a starter – that you can make from basic store cupboard ingredients. It can be refridgerated for a few days after making.

1 x 210g tin of sardines in oil
4 hard boiled eggs
30ml mayonnaise
10 – 12 drops Worcester sauce
Pepper
30ml stiffly whipped double cream

Crush the sardines in a bowl, add the mayonnaise and mix thoroughly.
Roughly chop the eggs and then crush them through a sieve.
Add about 2/3 of the eggs to the sardines together with the Worcester sauce and pepper , whip the cream and stir in.
Place the mixture in an open dish and sprinkle the remaining egg on top.
Serve as pate.

Many thanks to Judy Oswald for this recipe.  If you’ve got any favourites you’d like to share, please pop them on an email to Marc and we’ll publish them on the website.

Photo credit: Desheboard

Posted under Recipes

Originally created in 1816 by Trappist monks at the Abbaye du Port du Salut in Entrammes in the Loire Valley, by 1873, the cheese was being sold in the market in Paris. The name was registered in 1874 and Port Salut has become a  popular cheese with British customers.

Port Salut is a mild flavoured, soft cheese that can be used in cooking and is equally good on a cheese board.

Here are a few recipes you could try if you’ve got Port Salut in your fridge. Or you could pop in an pick some up from the shop if any of these make your taste buds tingle.

French Farmhouse Pork

A very quick pasta bake recipe with Port Salut

Jumbo jacket potatoes

Posted under Food ideas, Recipes, Shop news