TGIFOOD
What’s cooking today: Baked Camembert with ginger, sultanas and almonds
Baking a round of Camembert and dressing it with sweet and savoury topping is like turning Cinderella into the belle of the ball. The Camembert can be the finest available, but it’s highly rewarding to give a modest shop-bought one this star treatment.
Key to baking a Camembert or Brie is that it needs to be contained so that it doesn’t ooze out all over the pan. The rather fine versions that come in a round box are ideal and the ones usually used for a baked Camembert. However, you can use a simple local one and choose a dish in which it fits quite snugly. Which is what I did, there being no fancy-schmancy ones in my home town.
Ingredients
1 whole Camembert
1 x 2 cm piece of very fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into slivers
½ cup water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 thyme sprig
¼ cup sultanas
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp almond flakes
Method
Boil the sugar, water, ginger and thyme together with the sultanas until it turns syrupy. Add 2 Tbsp honey and simmer for a minute or two. Reserve.
Toast the almond flakes in a dry pan till lightly golden. Reserve.
Preheat oven to 190℃. Place the Camembert in a lightly greased oven container just big enough to hold it, or cook it in its own box if it came in one. The smaller container in the photo proved perfect for my small Camembert. Bake it for 15 minutes.
Spoon the ginger/sultana mixture all over the top, and sprinkle flaked almonds over. Garnish with a sprig of thyme. Serve with savoury biscuits. DM/TGIFood
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