Baked cheese is such a versatile dish to serve; aperitifs, as a casual starter, an in-between-meals-snack and even as a cheese course after dinner. You may of course replace the Camembert with Brie or any other soft cheese with a runny centre and the blood orange with regular fresh oranges.
1 600g Camembert wheel (or 2-3 smaller ones)
1 roll store-bought puff pastry
egg wash: 1 egg and 15ml milk, whisked together
Blood Orange Sauce:
15ml honey
30ml red wine vinegar
180ml blood orange juice
15ml cold butter
2 oranges, segmented
a pinch of salt
For the baked cheese:
Preheat your oven to 190℃ and line a baking tray with baking paper.
Lightly dust a surface with flour and roll the pastry to a 3mm thickness.
Place the cheese wheel on the pastry and cut a circle 2cm wider than the cheese.
Now cut another pastry circle of the same size and drape it over the top of the cheese.
Lift the edges of the pastry at the bottom over the edges hanging down. Secure by pressing together with the tines of a fork.
Score the top of the pastry parcel with the back/blunt side of a sharp knife and brush the entire cheese parcel with the egg wash.
Bake for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to stand for about 20 minutes.
For the sauce:
Pour the honey, vinegar and juice into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce the mixture until syrupy.
Take off the heat, add the butter and whisk until amalgamated and you have a beautifully shiny sauce.
Add the orange segments to the sauce and spoon over the baked cheese.
My Whisk and I 