Truffled cashew cheese with seeded crackers and caramelised pears

Start by soaking the cashew nuts for 2 hours. All you need to do is add them into a bowl and cover with water. Drain the soaked nuts and tip them into a blender. Discard the soaking water, add the fresh water and the probiotic capsule into a Vitamix container and blitz until you get a smooth texture

Make sure not to overheat the mixture while blending as this will kill off the probiotics

Once blended, transfer to a glass or plastic container. Do not use a metal one as the mixture won’t ferment. Leave the container outside the fridge for 24 hours with a tea towel or muslin cloth on top so that the mixture can breathe, and to keep out any insects or flies

After 24 hours the mixture will be slightly fizzy and bubbly, which means it has fermented, so give it a good mix. Place a proper top on the glass container and leave it in the fridge for later use

In a pan, add olive oil and the shallot and fry for 5 minutes until lovely and soft, then take off the heat. Grab the cheese mix from the fridge and add the shallot, lemon and truffle oil, season with salt and pepper and give it a good mix. This can now be eaten straight away as a cream cheese or aged into 2 round-shaped ‘Camembert’-like cheeses

If you are going to age your cheese, get two metal rings and grease with olive oil on the insides

Place the rings on greaseproof paper on a flat surface (a small chopping board or a plate). Pile in the cheese mixture up to the top, then flatten

Store in the fridge, uncovered, for 5–7 days until the cheese has produced a natural rind. At this point, gently remove the metal rings – the cheese is ready to eat

To make the crackers to serve with the cheese, combine all the cracker ingredients except the flour in a bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Preheat an oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

When the seeds have soaked up all the water, add the flour mix and give it a good stir. Line a baking tray (baking sheet) with greaseproof paper (wax paper) and spoon out the mixture and, using a spatula or spoon, even it out on the tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Take the crackers out of the oven and mark out perfect squares on the warm dough with a sharp knife, but don’t cut them through completely, just enough so that it is easy to separate them later

Put the crackers back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes until they are cooked through and dry

Before serving, heat some olive oil in a medium pan and add the pear slices. Cook them for 5 minutes on each side until beautiful and golden

Just before taking the pan off the heat, add the maple syrup and a sprinkle of black pepper. I love creating a proper ‘cheese board’ by serving the pears and the crackers with the cheese