Best uplifting blue cheese recipes to cheer you up on Blue Monday

The best blue cheese recipes to cheer you up on Blue Monday

by Great British Chefs 13 January 2017

16 January is officially the most depressing day of the year, but if there’s one thing that can put a smile on our face it’s a massive portion of something cheesy. Take the blue out of Blue Monday and turn it into one of these fantastic dishes.

Great British Chefs

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews.

Great British Chefs

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews.

Dark days; cold blustery weather; a failure to stick to our new year’s resolutions and a hefty dent in our wallets post-Christmas. These are just a few of the reasons the third Monday of January is known as the most depressing day of the year, aka ‘Blue Monday’. While the evidence behind it (some pretty questionable mathematics) is far from solid, the months of January and February are always a bit grim, with summer a long way off and nothing but rain and the odd shiver to look forward to.

But it doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom! The best way to lift your spirits in this trying time is by having a great meal to look forward to, and there are few things that aren’t improved with a generous helping of cheese. In homage to Blue Monday’s name, we’ve collected eight of our favourite blue cheese recipes to shoo away those deflated feelings and put a penicillum roqueforti-infused smile on your face. Enjoy!

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Beetroot and fig filo pastry tartlet with Oxford blue cheese

Beetroot and fig filo pastry tartlets with Oxford blue cheese

by Adam Gray

Butternut squash, pear and gorgonzola flatbread tart

by Adam Byatt

While there’s a certain appeal to wallowing in unhappiness with your significant other, complaining about the things you both hate while dreaming up plans of starting new careers, giving it all up to go travelling or just refusing to get out of bed, it’s even more fun to share something tasty. Blue cheese tarts are pretty simple to make and allow you to combine the salty, creamy, tangy flavour with all sorts of fruits and vegetables. Adam Gray opts for earthy beetroot and sweet figs, while Adam Byatt includes pear – the perfect bedfellow for blue cheese – and wedges of butternut squash.

Take comfort in the classics

Waldorf salad

by Graham Campbell

Broccoli and Stilton soup

by Sally Abé

Seeing as blue cheese has been around for thousands of years, it’s no surprise that it’s a key element in some seriously iconic dishes. The Waldorf salad, originally created in the late 1800s at New York’s Waldorf Hotel, simply combines apple, celery, grape and walnut in a mayonnaise sauce, but many versions these days also come with crumbled blue cheese. Graham Campbell takes things a step further by dehydrating his grapes, caramelising his walnuts, pickling his celery and creating a smooth blue cheese cream. If that sounds a little bit much for your currently fragile state of mind to handle, then Sally Abé’s Broccoli and Stilton soup is quick, simple and delicious.

Treat yourself

Gorgonzola-stuffed guinea fowl with cavolo nero and chestnuts

by Theo Randall

Homemade beef burger with Stilton rarebit, burger sauce and chunky chips

by Matthew Tomkinson

One of the best cures for the January blues is comfort food, and it doesn’t get much more comforting than burger and chips. Matthew Tomkinson ups the ante by whisking up a quick Stilton rarebit, which after a quick blast under the grill until bubbling, turns a run-of-the-mill burger into something found in only the finest of gastropubs. Pub grub not your thing? Not to worry – Theo Randall takes beautiful guinea fowl and serves it Italian-style, stuffed with Gorgonzola on a bed of cavolo nero and chestnuts.

Something sweet

Roquefort and cinnamon doughnuts, white chocolate and cognac jelly

by Pascal Aussignac

Port and Stilton truffles

by Paul A Young

Blue cheese in a dessert? Yes, it can be done, so if your gloomy mood can only be satiated by something a bit unusual, these are the recipes for you. Master of cocoa Paul A Young manages to combine it with port inside a truffle – with truly delicious results – while Pascal Aussignac takes a true fine dining approach and makes mini cinnamon doughnuts filled with chocolate and Roquefort, served with a quenelle of Cognac jelly.