Pecorino pepato cheese and leek charlotte with smoky baked beans
Rosa Matto serves up a warming cheese and leek savoury pudding, perfect for this weekend’s cool weather.
for smoky baked beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
200g mushrooms, chopped
1 fresh bay leaf
4 sage leaves, roughly chopped
2 tbsp rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
1 tsp smoked paprika
400g can chopped tomatoes, with liquid
1 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
dried chilli to taste
400g 2 x cans cannellini beans, drained
salt and pepper
Warm the olive oil and cook the onion until transparent, but not coloured. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook. Put in the herbs, paprika and canned tomatoes with all their juice. Add the molasses, vinegar and chilli. Cook until much of the liquid has evaporated and add the cannellini beans. Cook further until the sauce is as thick as you prefer. Adjust for seasoning. Serve warm with the charlotte.
for pecorino pepato cheese and leek charlotte
makes enough for 6 small aluminium ramekins (100ml)
2-3 thin stems of leek, white part only
2 tbsp butter
1 cup cream
2 tsp cornflour
90g pecorino pepato cheese, grated
2 large eggs
salt and pepper to taste (adjust salt to the saltiness of the cheese)
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
extra butter, for greasing the ramekins
1 cup well-toasted panko crumbs for garnish
Thoroughly grease the ramekins with butter, set aside while you prepare the leeks. Cut the leeks into 3cm lengths or to fit the height of your ramekins. Blanch the leek until just tender when pierced with a small sharp knife, they should retain some resistance. Remove from water.
Heat butter until foaming, and brown the leeks on each side.
When cool enough to handle, cut in half lengthwise and line the greased ramekin. Set aside as you prepare the cheese mixture.
Preheat the oven to 160C. Have ready a kettle of boiling water and a deep-sided baking tin to use as a bain marie.
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Put the cream into a small saucepan. Add cornflour, stirring carefully. Add a little salt, freshly ground pepper and a touch of nutmeg. Place the saucepan on the stove and bring to just under boiling point.
In the meantime, whisk the eggs with the grated pecorino pepato.
Once the cream has almost reached a boil, remove it from heat and add a little to the beaten eggs. Slowly add the remaining cream, stirring carefully.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared leek-lined ramekins.
Place the ramekins in the deep-sided baking dish, add the boiling water and bake at 160C for 20 minutes or until the custard is set. (It may take longer if using ceramic ramekins.)
When the charlottes are set, let them cool for 5 minutes before turning out and topping with the toasted panko crumbs. Serve with the smoky baked beans.
This recipe first appeared in the July 2025 issue of SALIFE magazine.
