I’d never even heard of Witch’s cheese until someone asked me about the recipe. I googled it and quickly found it’s a typically Dutch (Twents) dip that’s used as crostini topping, sauce for pork chops, cheese spread, a vegetable dip and even dressing. Pretty versatile.

Went to the store and there it was: Zuivelhoeve Heks’nkaas. Tasted it and in all honesty… wasn’t too crazy about it. To me it has a really chemical aftertaste and is overly sweet, but the basic idea was really good.

I threw a bunch of ingredients together and we loved the result. It’s not an exact one-on-one (is it ever when you’re copying factory food that has a gazillion additives?) but it turned out delicious.

 
Ingredients:

8 oz celeriac remoulade
1 tub Philadelphia
3 thick slices leek (or spring onion)
small handful flat-leaf parsley
10 chives
1 small garlic clove
1/4 heaping tsp dried dill weed
1 heaping tbsp sugar (more if you like it sweeter)
3 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp Hellmann’s mayonnaise
pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

This is the commercial product. It had a light green hue and was pretty creamy. I think in spite of what the ads say, it doesn’t contain a whole lot of cream cheese.

As it turned out, a celeriac root remoulade was the best basis for the spread. Tried to find celeriac, but couldn’t, so I opted for pre made instead.

Basically this is just grated celeriac root mixed with mayo, salt, pepper, a little Dijon mustard and some lemon juice. Nothing fancy.

 
I used all of it. Next time I’ll probably use only half of it. I opted for my food processor, best way to get everything creamy.
 

Gotta love Philadelphia.

Three thick slices leek, flat-leaf parsley and chives give this spread a lot of flavour.

Add a pinch of salt, a sprinkling pepper, the dill weed, sugar, garlic, vinegar and mayo.

That’s it. Looks pretty, doesn’t it? Too bad we’re gonna mash the heck out of it.

Blitz a few times, check the flavour and try to get a good balance between sweet and sour. For me the amounts used were perfect.

Somehow it works really well with bread. it’s fresh, slightly sweet and sour… it just works.