Baked smoked sheep cheese with pear

Queso Idiazabal horneado con pera

Idiazabal is a Basque aged cheese, made exclusively from whole unpasteurized sheep's milk. This rinded cheese ripens for two to five months. The Basque shepherds discovery by pure chance that it can also be smoked. In the past they stored the ripened cheeses, before they went to market, in the shepherds' huts. When a fire was lit in the fireplace, the smoke drifted throughout the hut. In time, it became clear that the smoke gave its aroma and flavour an interesting twist. 

By Tapas Together Edinburgh