Satisfying. Cheesy. Rich. Chunky.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin.

Three cheeses equaled three bovines in my mind and as I have a fondness for petroglyphs, or rock art, I indulged here with a three cow pie in a rock art style, with a hint of the blue veins of blue vein cheese for good measure. This piece is really something in real life with loads of texture and a shimmery effect from all the colour shades which was really hard to catch.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

Cheese, cheese, cheese. This is a dairy fest with a handful of vegetables. Based on the River Cottage 'Leek & Dorset Blue Vinny Tart', this has evolved into full blown deep pie, or tart for purists, with far more cheese and versatile with the veg. It's a bit of a 'clean out the bottom of the fridge' meal and it tastes fantastic. I think the key to the flavour is using a blue vein cheese you really quite like.

shortcrust pastry at least 25x25cm, stretched to fit a deep 23cm pie dish
1 medium to large leek, washed well and sliced fine
solid (not leafy) winter veg to total 400g including the leek, chopped in small bite pieces - broccoli works well, also consider turnip, swede, carrot, pumpkin, cauliflower, celeriac
250g cream cheese
250ml/1 cup water
1 teaspoon honey
a few cracks of black pepper
100g blue vein cheese, grated or chopped small
200g other cheese such as tasty or feta, in chunky cubes
4 eggs

Pre heat your oven to 180C and if you prefer your pastry cases baked blind, then prepare this first.
Put the leek, winter veg, cream cheese, water and honey in a pot.
Heat gently to melt the cream cheese into a sauce, then simmer very gently until the veg are softened. The idea is to have them mostly precooked before going into the pie.
When the cream cheese vegetable sauce is ready, remove from the heat.
Add a few cracks of black pepper to taste and the blue vein cheese. Mix and let the cheese melt.
Let the sauce cool for a few minutes and in the meantime, take your pastry shell in a pie dish, and fill it with the other cheese cubes.
Thoroughly mix the eggs into the sauce.
Pour the sauce into the pastry shell on top of the cheese cubes.
Bake at 180C for at least 40 minutes or more until the sauce has set. It should be firm like a quiche.

Makes a pie 23cm diameter and 5cm depth which serves 6-8 with sides.