For me an abundance of cheese in the fridge makes a great Christmastime

There’s something decadent about having ripe cheeses on crackers with chutney and maybe a toot of Port on the side.

Serving a cheeseboard is a great way to entertain easily.

It removes the need for a big meal and your guests can eat as little or as much as they like. You don’t need an assortment of 10 different cheeses either – I find a good cheddar, a soft cheese and a blue cheese will cover all bases.

We’re blessed in Northern Ireland to have great cheesemakers like Mike Thompson who produces the raw milk Young Buck blue, Kevin and Julie Hickey who make the Dart Mountain range, Paul McLean who makes Kearney Blue and Mark Wright who makes triple cream Ballylisk.

These are world class cheeses recognised on the global stage and something for us to be very proud of. Making cheese is a labour of love and the best thing you could do this festive period is to seek out these cheeses in your local deli and support them.

Add some local chutneys, crackers or bread and you have an stunning but simple feast.

Cheese straws are one of those old fashioned snacks that are really quite addictive.

In fairness there’s a lot to love – crisp pastry packed with cheese.

A simple way of making them is to buy ready rolled puff pastry, cut it into strips, brush with egg yolk and sprinkle with parmesan before baking.

If you want to do them properly I’ve added a recipe here where you make a cheese pastry dough that you roll, cut into strips that you twist slightly and bake.

It’s worth remembering that ready rolled puff pastry is vegan – if you’re going to use cheese make sure you give it a good send off with a proper butter based pastry.

My other recipe this week is for a baked cheese custard. You can use any cheese you like but cheddar or blue types are best.

The cheese is melted into cream then whisked into an egg mixture, poured into ramekins and baked in a bain marie to wobbly deliciousness.

Serve them at room temperature with pickled grapes and a date and apple dressing.

Serve some good bread or crackers on the side or I’ve added a recipe for breadsticks here. They have some goat’s cheese in the mix (substitute cream cheese if you don’t like goat cheese) so you’ll get a bumper dose of cheese.

Rather than make the custard, wrap a Ballylisk in parchment paper, then foil and bake for 15 minutes in a 180oc oven.

Open up and garnish with the pickled grapes, date and apple dressing and breadsticks or crackers to dip. Simple but stunning.