Red Leicester Rarebits with Pickled Cucumber

Red leicester makes for an especially appetising deep ombre rarebit that spars here with a sweet and sour relish of cucumber and apple

Serves 6

6 large or 12 small slices sourdough

Rarebit Mixture:

30g sourdough (excluding crusts)

250g red leicester, cut into chunks

30g unsalted butter

3 tbsp stout, eg Guinness

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

1 medium egg

sea salt and black pepper

• Place the bread for the rarebit mixture in the bowl of a food processor and whiz to crumbs. Add all the remaining ingredients for the mixture and blend to a paste. You can make this well in advance, in which case transfer it to a bowl, cover and chill it.

• Toast the bread, then spread thickly with the rarebit mixture. Place on a low shelf under a grill to cook the inside of the mixture, either medium heat for 5 minutes or low heat for 5-7 minutes, turning it up to brown the top. Serve piled with the relish (below) and season to taste.

Pickled Cucumber

1 cucumber, peeled, quartered lengthways, deseeded and thinly sliced

sea salt

50ml water

50ml cider vinegar

1 tsp caster sugar

½ eating apple, quartered and cored

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp coarsely chopped

flat-leaf parsley

• Season the cucumber with salt in a large bowl, set aside for 30 minutes then rinse in a colander. Bring the water and vinegar to the boil with the sugar in a small saucepan, pour over the cucumber and leave to cool. Drain the cucumber in a sieve and dry on a double thickness of kitchen paper. Slice the apple the same size as the cucumber; combine them in a bowl. Toss with the oil and stir in the parsley.