What to do with a quarter of a metre of cheese?

Last weekend was the Entlebucher Alpabzug, where the cows come down from their summer in the alpine pastures. They get dressed up, wear their best (loudest) bells, and parade through the villages. And this means one thing...cheese. Glorious mountain cheese.

Sam and I went a bit overboard in our cheese purchasing (he would argue that it was a normal amount of cheese because Switzerland), but that means that we have cheese bounty that we need to use.

And what better way than this classic cheese tart?

Our bounty came from the wonderful Alpkäserei Schlacht and Alp Tannisboden Käserei.

one recipe Wähe Dough, or enough dough to cover you pan

150 ml milk

125 ml cream

3 eggs

pinch of nutmeg, salt, and pepper

350 g hard cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 200° C / 400° F / gas mark 6.

Roll out your dough and line a 28 cm (11 inch) round springform or tart pan. Poke the bottom of the dough all over with a fork, then keep the tart shell cool (preferably in the freezer) until you have the filling ready.

Whisk together the milk, cream, eggs, and seasonings. Add the grated cheese and mix together.

Place your tart pan on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then pour the cheese mixture over.

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the top is brown and the filling has set.

• To save time, you can use store-bought dough like Kuchenteig / pâte brisée / pasta per crostate to line your pan.

• This is about enough dough for a 28 cm (11 inch) round baking form. I used a 28 x 20 cm (8 x 11 inch) rectangular tart pan and had a bit of dough left over.

• For best results, use at least two different hard cheeses. Typically a mix like Emmental and Gruyère work well, or other hard Swiss cheeses like Appenzeller or Vacherin. Of course, if you can get your hands on real Swiss Alp- or Bergkäse, then this is ideal.

• You can make the smaller Chäschüechli, little cheese tarts, by lining a muffin pan with your dough and filling the individual tarts. Bake for about half as long.