Baked Camembert with Garlic and Rosemary {With Toasted Ciabatta}
Baked Camembert make the perfect Saturday night splurge for two, or a casual starter for four. Turn a Camembert into a hot, sticky, cheesy dip flavoured with garlic & rosemary and scoop it out with toasted ciabatta. Pure heaven.
I like to wrap it in baking paper before it goes in the oven - I think it turns out better and it saves. Make sure you have a really ripe squidgy camembert as the flavour will be so much better. Chutney, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and so on make good accompaniments.
Baked Camembert with Garlic and Rosemary
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2 as a main, 4 as a starter
Ingredients:
1 whole ripe camembert (in a box)
2 - 3 cloves garlic
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary (or dried herbs of your choice)
Ciabatta loaf, sliced and toasted, to serve
Method:
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200 C. Take your camembert out the fridge one hour before you bake it so it is at room temperature. If you bake a cold camembert it is likely to curdle.
Removed the camembert from the box and other packaging. Stab the top of the camembert all over to make several slits. Peel and thinly slice the garlic, and slot the garlic slices into the slits in the camembert. At least 3/4 of the garlic slices should be buried in the camembert.
Break the rosemary springs into little tufts and slot them into the camembert next to the garlic. The camembert should now resemble a little flowerbed.
Take a sheet of greaseproof or baking paper around 30cm square. Place the camembert in the centre of the square and bring the four corners of the paper together and twist them, wrapping the paper around the camembert. Place the camembert back into one of the wooden boxes and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes until the centre of the camembert is melted and runny. You can check this by unwrapping it and gently inserting a knife into the camembert. When baked, unwrap the top of the camembert and serve using sliced of toasted ciabatta (or other crusty bread) to scoop out the cheese. The garlic and rosemary are not great to eat, they are there just to provide flavour, so you can remove them before serving if you wish.
