After writing about waste a couple of weeks ago, I checked my fridge and found I had seriously overbought on cheese. So, taking the view that I should practise what I preach and not waste any of it, this time it’s all about cheese.

I don’t think anyone really knows how many different cheeses are made throughout the world, but there must be thousands, with every country having its own native specialities. Some have just a few, while others make literally hundreds. France likes to think it makes the most varieties, with Gen. Charles De Gaulle once famously declaring that nobody could govern a country that has 246 cheeses – although the number often changes depending on who is quoting it!

I have some cheesy favourites that I have been making for years, and one in particular, Blue Brie chicken, has now become my youngest son’s ‘signature’ company dish. It can be prepared in advance, it doesn’t take long to cook, and the cheese gives a delicious flavour to the sauce when it leaks out and, according to my daughter-in-law, he receives lots of praise for it, although I’m not sure that his mum gets any credit.

My husband’s relationship with pasta is much the same as mine with fish; we eat it if we have to, so being a pasta lover myself, I have to make it ‘interesting’ for him and add things he likes. He loves both cheese and spinach, so a lasagne with lots of both proves to be quite successful. It’s also a good choice when cooking for vegetarians.

Another perennial favourite is a cheese and potato tart. Sometimes I add chopped bacon, sometimes tomatoes, but this time I added roughly chopped pancetta lardons. It’s a useful tart in that it can be served hot or cold, with a salad or vegetables for dinner, on its own as a snack, or packed in a lunch box for school, work or a picnic.

For dessert, there’s crostata di ricotta – or is it a dessert? I’m never quite sure, but either way, a slice is nice with a cup of tea at teatime, or with coffee after dinner.

Apart from the well-known De Gaulle quote, I’ve found others relating to cheese, but I particularly like the one that could only have come from a Frenchman, gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, that says: “A dinner which ends without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.”

But I think the best quote is by Robert Louis Stevenson, who said: “Many’s the long night I’ve dreamed of cheese – toasted, mostly.” A squidgy toasted cheese sandwich anyone? Lovely!

Blue Brie chicken

(Serves 4)

4 large chicken breast halves
100g wedge of Blue Brie
Seasoned flour
30g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots or 1 small onion, chopped
100ml dry white wine
250ml good chicken stock
Salt and pepper
4 tbsp cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or parsley

Cut the fillets from the back of the breasts and save them for another use. Using a thin, sharp knife and starting at the top, thick end, slide the knife into each breast to about three-quarters of the way down. Cut towards one side a little, then turn the knife over and cut towards the other, creating a pocket about the width and length of two fingers. Cut the cheese into four finger-sized sticks and slide a piece of cheese into each piece of chicken.

Roll each breast in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess. Heat half the butter and oil in a frying pan and fry quickly on both sides in the hot pan until browned. Transfer to a plate.

Wipe out the pan with kitchen paper and heat the remaining butter and oil. Stir in the shallots and cook for two minutes. Add the wine and boil rapidly until almost evaporated. Stir in the stock, season with salt and pepper and return the chicken to the pan.

Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through, then transfer it to a warm serving dish, cover and keep warm.

Bring the sauce to the boil, lower the heat, stir in the cream and let it bubble for a few minutes to reduce slightly. Taste, adjust the seasoning as necessary, stir in the thyme and pour the sauce over the chicken.

This is nice served with tiny new potatoes and broccoli.

Three-cheese and spinach lasagne

(Serves 4)

400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
300g cooked fresh spinach
500g ricotta cheese
Salt and pepper
40g butter
40g flour
500ml milk
4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Grated nutmeg
9 sheets lasagne
60g grated mozzarella cheese

Put the tomatoes into a pan, together with the vinegar and sugar, and simmer until they are quite thick. Heat the oil in another pan and fry the onion until soft but not brown. Add the garlic and fry for a minute more.

Drain the spinach, squeezing out as much moisture as possible, put it into a bowl and roughly chop it, then add the onion, the ricotta and plenty of salt and pepper and mix well.

Rinse and dry the onion pan. Melt the butter and stir in the flour. Cook gently for two minutes, then gradually blend in the milk to make a smooth sauce. Add the Parmesan, a large pinch of nutmeg, season with salt and pepper and simmer for another two minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190˚C. Spread half the tomatoes into a rectangular baking dish and cover them with three sheets of lasagne.

Add half the spinach mixture and a third of the cheese sauce, then add another three sheets of lasagne, the rest of the spinach mixture and another third of the cheese sauce.

Top with the remaining lasagne, the rest of the tomatoes and spread over the rest of the cheese sauce.

Sprinkle with the mozzarella, and bake for about 40 minutes until brown and bubbling.

Cheese and potato tart

(Serves 6)

3 large potatoes (about 500g) peeled and thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Half a 150g pack pancetta lardons, roughly chopped
23cm uncooked shortcrust pastry case
150g pack grated Emmenthal or Gruyère cheese
2 tbsp snipped fresh chives
3 eggs
150ml cream
100ml milk
Salt and pepper

Drop the potato slices into boiling salted water, bring back to the boil and cook until just tender, then drain and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C and put in a baking tray. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onions until starting to soften, then add the garlic and fry for two more minutes. Stir in the lardons and fry gently for another five minutes.

Spread half the potatoes into the pastry case, then scatter over half the onion mixture, half the cheese and a tablespoon of the chives. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes, onions, cheese and chives.

Whisk the eggs, cream and milk together, season well with salt and pepper, then pour the mixture into the tart. Stand the tart on the hot baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 180˚C and continue to cook for another 25 to 30 minutes or until the tart is set and the pastry is cooked.

Cut into wedges and serve warm with vegetables or cold with salad.

Crostata di ricotta

300g plain flour
Pinch of salt
175g caster sugar
150g butter
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp iced water
900g fresh ricotta
2 eggs, beaten
Grated rind of 1 lemon and
1 orange
100g chopped candied citrus peel
50g chopped glacé cherries
50g chopped dried apricots
50g dark chocolate chips
Icing sugar for dusting

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, add two tablespoons of the sugar, then rub in the butter.

Mix the egg yolks with the water, stir it into the flour and mix to a dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190˚C. Beat the ricotta,eggs and the remaining sugar together, then add the lemon and orange rind, candied peel, cherries, apricots and chocolate chips and mix well.

Roll out three-quarters of the pastry and line a shallow 29-centimetre round baking tin and spread the ricotta mixture over the pastry.

Roll out the remaining pastry, cut into one-centremetre strips and use them to make a lattice over the filling.

Bake for about 45 minutes until just starting to brown. Allow to cool, then dredge with icing sugar and serve.