Roka Gouda Cheese Crispies 100 g (Pack of 8)

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In 1965, she opened a shop, Elizabeth David Limited, in Pimlico, London, where she sold Le Creuset pans and other hard-to-get-hold-of kit. The store, with its marvellous window displays, was as influential as her books would eventually be, pioneering a new generation of shops devoted exclusively to kitchenware. But it was also a business disaster, and she severed her links with it in 1973. Thereafter, she devoted herself to a more scholarly kind of writing: English Bread and Yeast Cookery was published in 1977, and Harvest of the Cold Months: the Social History of Ice and Ices appeared posthumously, in 1994. She became a vociferous critic both of the supermarkets, and of the 80s "foodie" culture as satirised in The Official Foodie Handbook by Ann Barr and Paul Levy, a volume she loathed ("To be sure they are skilful enough in the arts of toadying to their public and providing it with a little giggle at itself, but the meaning of satire in the true sense eludes them," she wrote in her review for Tatler).

Having so very much wished – and for ages! – to gingerly attempt to home-make my most loved cheese biccies, Roka Cheese Crispies, here follows the result. The company ROKA was founded in 1949 in Delft (the Netherlands) by Jo Roodenrijs, as a side business to his patisserie shop in Delft, the Netherlands. The name ROKA comes from his family name ROodenrijs and KAastabletten (which means cheese crispies). The company specialized in the production of very high quality, crispy puff-pastry biscuits, abundantly flavoured with over 30% matured Gouda cheese. Mr Roodenrijs strived to deliver the best quality to his customers. I believe the perfect ratio of juice to fizz is one-third the former, two thirds the latter – and the juice must be strained through a fine sieve or tea-strainer before use. And there will be ICE! A mimosa soon warms up in the glass, further exacerbated by the warmth of a paw around it. Furthermore, please don’t serve mimsy mimosas; that champagne should be served in a flute is misguided, here. I use a fine-glass beaker with three or four ice cubes stirred in when serving, along with an optional tiny slug of Cointreau. Cheese and sesame puff-pastriesAdd the cheese, butter and paprika to the chorizo oil and stir to combine. Finely chop the crispy chorizo, then add to the cheese mixture, along with the remaining ingredients. Knead the mixture together by hand until it forms a soft dough. If cooking from frozen, take them out and leave in a warm kitchen for about 30 mins ahead of slicing. They will slice better, with a serrated knife, if semi frozen. I have grown up loving cheese and being completely and utterly addicted to it. I totally blame my mum for this as it is something that is clearly in the genes. She has always told me that when she was in her teens that she would go and buy scraps of cheese with her waitressing money and melt in a pan and then have it on some bread.

In 2002 the company was sold to Wim Bontje, who already had had a very successful career in the cheese industry. Wim invested a lot in ‘state of the art’ new production lines respecting the original recipes and production process. 2016 So I will come into the office to bring Dominic his lunch and there will be box after box. Well you should have seen his eyes dart open when he realised that he had a box of cheese crispies behind him and he didn’t even know. I am particularly fond of a braised, small joint of meat cooked with whole endives. Pork is possibly my favourite choice, especially with sage and much garlic to infuse meagre, though intense, savoury cooking juices. But here we are at Eastertide, when it would seem perverse not to go down the Pascal route. Please don’t waste a cut of ruinously expensive tender spring lamb here, even if available, for this is a slow affair, with the meat close to falling away from the bone, once ready to eat; save spring cuts for a little later, say late May, when both its cost has somewhat diminished, a touch more flavour has further emerged and, whichever joint preferred, should be cooked pink. Simon Hopkinson first met Elizabeth David in 1984, or thereabouts, at Hilaire, the Chelsea restaurant of which he was chef. She came for supper with Valerie Eliot, and the widow of the poet was wearing – he remembers it vividly – a polka-dot dress. "I was very excited," he says. "Because I was a fan." By this time, David was in her early 70s and a little frail (in the early 1960s, she had suffered a cerebral haemorrhage, and in the 1970s, she was in a serious car accident). As a result, she had a miniature appetite. "She ate like a bird. But I remember that I'd made a consomme, very clear and gorgeous, from some prawn shells. She asked for a second helping, and I was so pleased." Made brave by this, at the end of her lunch, the young Hopkinson left his kitchen, clutching a copy of An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, David's collected journalism and the book of hers that he loves the most. She duly signed it for him, and so began a friendship that would last until she died in 1992. The sales of these supreme delicate Cheese Crispies was so popular that the factory in Delft became too small. In 1984 the Roodenrijs family decided to move 140 km north to Emmeloord, a new town in a polder, land reclaimed from the IJsselmeer which was part of the sea before this. Here in Emmeloord they built a completely new factory. 2002

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ROKA Cheese Crispies have an excellent unique flavour and texture. The unique taste comes from the high percentage (30%) of real matured cheese which is used. The texture is really unique because every single biscuit is made from refined puff-pastry, consisting of 90 layers (45 layers of dough and 45 layers of cheese). Our Crispies are still baked according to the original recipe created in 1949. Ever since, ROKA has continued to focus on making the finest quality cheese biscuits, made from the best ingredients to create those special moments of indulgence. Roughly slice up into the pot a small onion and 6-7 medium-sized white mushrooms, along with 3 crushed garlic cloves and 2 broken sprigs of rosemary. Pour in a glass of dry white wine and bring up to a simmer. Reintroduce the lamb, closely cover with a tight-fitting sheet of dampened greaseproof paper (or foil), reattach the lid and slide into the oven. Once 20 minutes has elapsed, remove and turn the meat over. Turn the oven down to 150C/gas mark 2 and continue to cook for a further 30 minutes. Meanwhile, take the endives, trim away any tired leaves and, using a small, sharp knife, remove the little core from the base (its most bitter part) using a tight circular cut; it will emerge as a tiny cone. Put the endives in a bowl and squeeze over the juice of a small lemon. When she was pregnant with me she said her addiction was tubes of Primula soft cheese that she would squirt as she walked around the supermarket and by the time she got to the till she would have finished it. Plus whenever she is out for dinner her dessert of choice is always cheese and biscuits and I must admit she is the only person I know that likes that horrible blue mouldy cheese. The deliveries at our house always seem to come on a Friday. Dominic is normally in the office on that day so is usually dealing with lots of different delivery companies which he hates. Not that we hate reviewing things, it is the fact that you get the same courier companies each week and each week they can’t find our house, even though they eventually found it the week before and it is so easy to find.