There’s one of those trendy cooking videos doing the rounds on Facebook for a stuffed Camembert. I’m sure you’ve seen it. And it’s bugging me. Because it is literally everywhere. Tempting me. Teasing me. This recipe simply HAS to be cooked!

I’ve always wondered if the recipes in those glossy videos are that easy in real life. Do they really turn out that good?

I have pretty much all the ingredients to try out this beauty. That’s bugging me too. Why? Because I am supposed to be having a healthy juicing weekend!

Resistance is futile. Some things just have to be done.

You can swap the lardons for mushrooms if you’d like to keep this vegetarian. I added some spinach too, as I’ve got a glut (which I was supposed to be juicing)

THE RECIPE

Baked Stuffed Camembert in a Pastry Crust (serves 2 – RSF)

Ingredients

1 whole Camembert (250 gr – chilled and not overripe)

½ a small onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely chopped

A small handful of pancetta or bacon lardons, or sliced mushrooms (or both!)

A handful of spinach, blasted 1 min in a medium microwave and squeezed dry  (optional)

1 small potato (peeling optional. I used sweet potato)

A little oil if using mushrooms instead of lardons

Some fresh thyme or rosemary (optional. I used dried)

A sheet of ready rolled puff pastry, approx. 28-30cm across

1 egg yolk, loosened with a fork

Some toasted sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)

Some salad to serve.  Or more spinach in my case;-)

Method

Fry the onion and lardons (or mushrooms with a little oil in that case) in a non-stick frying pan until everything is softened and the lardons, if using, are golden. Add the garlic, herbs,  season and cook for another minute or so.  Set aside to cool.

Boil or steam the potato, cool and slice thinly.

Halve the Camembert horizontally with a serrated knife. Place the bottom half in the middle of the puff pastry sheet. Top with the onion mixture and spinach, if using. Flatten gently.

Add the potato slices, overlapping. Place the other Camembert half on top.

To wrap in the pastry, cut the pastry, from the middle outwards into 8 equal sections. Use a cup or glass to cut each section into a flower petal. Fold each petal over the cheese in overlapping motion.

Place onto a greased baking tray. Brush over a little egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds.

Bake in a 180 C oven for 30-35 mins until puffed up and golden.

Serve with lots of greenery to counteract the cheesy richness. Could have done with some balsamic roast cherry tomatoes on the side to be fair.

TIPS:

If you cut the pastry the way the video suggests, you will likely get cheese leakage (I certainly did!). Make a little wall with your left over pastry all around the bottom half of your giftwrapped package to keep the cheese in.

The egg wash will glue the pastry leaves together, so they won’t rise a lot. To give them a better chance of rising, paint a little over each individual leaf as you fold it over, rather than at the end all over the seams.

Also, there’s quite a bit of pastry on the top due to the overlapping petals. So cook for as long as you dare without char-coaling the lot to ensure the pastry is cooked. Loosely cover with a tent of foil if the pastry gets too dark (tight covering could prevent the pastry from crisping up).

I think this would work well filled with my caramelized balsamic onions too.