Loaf-baked whole cheese with girolles recipe
Hosting a get-together? If you're looking for a shareable starter – or a fabulous side dish to serve as part of a larger feast – this irresistible baked cheese is sure to go down a treat.
The easy-to-follow recipe was created by food historian and writer Angela Clutton, author of a new cookbook inspired by one of London's most renowned food markets, Borough Market: The Knowledge.
"Camembert is really just one of many soft cheeses that would work well for this," says Angela. "I try not to get too caught up on marching to the market with a specific cheese in mind, but prefer to talk to the stallholders about what they have and what might suit what I want to do with it.
"For this, I’d be just as happy with a vacherin Mont d’Or or Époisses. Whatever cheese you choose nestles within a whole loaf and is then baked for tearing and sharing, its flavours layered up with garlic, mushrooms, honey and wine."
Ingredients
- 1 round baking cheese such as camembert (about 250–300g/9-10oz)
- 1 round sourdough or cob loaf
- 1 garlic clove
- 30 g butter
- 25 g small girolle mushrooms
- 0.5 tsp herbes de Provence
- 2 tsp honey
- 50 ml white wine or vermouth
Details
- Cuisine: French-inspired
- Recipe Type: Starter
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 25 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/gas mark 5.
- Cut the top rind off the cheese. Then cut the top off the loaf and pull out enough of the crumb inside that the cheese can sit comfortably in the loaf.
- Peel the garlic and cut into slivers. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low-medium heat. Cook the mushrooms until just softening, then add the garlic slivers and stir in the herbes de Provence. Take off the heat and stir in the honey and the wine. Mix well and season lightly.
- Sit the loaf on a large piece of foil on a baking tray. Spoon the mushroom mix over the top of the cheese, then spoon the rest of the juices over, allowing some to go over the outside of the bread too. Push at the garlic pieces so they sink into the cheese a little. Wrap loosely in the foil and bake for 20 minutes. Increase the oven temperature to 190°C fan/210°C/410°F/gas mark 6, open the parcel up just enough to reveal the cheese, and return to the oven for another 5 minutes to finish off.
- Cut or tear the loaf into wedges and serve immediately while the cheese is still meltingly hot.
Recipe extracted from Borough Market: The Knowledge by Angela Clutton (Hodder & Stoughton, £27). Photography by Kim Lightbody.
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