On Sunday I went with my family to the Famers Market in Schull, West Cork, which is always a nice trip as there’s always a great atmosphere and even better food. The Gubbeen Cheese stall has to be my favourite and I quickly bought a big chunk of their soft goats cheese and cranberry roulade, and also a small wheel of their Gubbeen Oak Smoked Cheese (my personal favourite). I have been working my way through the cheese since then and last night decided to try it in a pasta dish, so below is the recipe I dreamt up. The oyster mushrooms and bacon really compliment the smokey cheese and the walnuts give a nice little bite!

 Gubbeen Cheese has been a family favourite for years. We went on a tour of the Gubbeen dairy and smokehouse when we were small and the fascination has grown since then! There’s obviously a sense of pride that such a famous cheese comes from Cork, and it’s important to support our local producers, but more importantly it tastes amazing. Its a really good Irish cheese and you can get it almost anywhere, so I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

Ingredients (serves 2):

100g Gubbeen Oak Smoked Cheese grated

70mls milk

1 egg yolk

12 oyster mushrooms sliced

4 rashers (smoked or streaky would be best)

Bunch of scallions finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

Handful walnuts chopped

Pasta (I used spelt pasta but just use your favourite)

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

1. Heat some oil in a pan on a medium flame, add the garlic and scallions. Cover the pan with a lid to sweat them to prevent them from going crispy.
2. Cut bacon into lengths (approx 1 inch by 1 cm in shape) and add to pan and let cook away for 5 minutes. Put your pasta into a saucepan filled with boiling water, some salt and oil and let to cook away.
3. When bacon is cooked, add the sliced mushrooms and walnuts and cover with lid to allow to sweat.
4. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to pan with the bacon and veg.
5. Mix the egg, cheese and milk and add to the pan- let it cook for about a minute or so (before the egg starts to cook!). Give it a good stir to make sure the pasta is coated evenly with your cheese sauce and the sauce is heated enough.
6. Remove from heat, season with salt and pepper and serve in deep bowls! Enjoy!