Recipes / Sides
Braaied camembert with chutney
A whole camembert with garlic and rosemary, warmed in foil or a small pan over medium coals until runny, topped with chutney and eaten with toasted bread.
- Prep
- 10 min
- On the fire
- 15 min
- Plan ahead
- 30 minutes out of the fridge
- Serves
- 4 as a starter
Ingredients
To serve
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with the burners on high and the lid closed for 10 minutes, then turn them down to medium so the lid thermometer settles at 175 to 200°C (350 to 400°F). Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Close the lid between turns. It cooks a little faster than an open braai, so start checking about 5 minutes early.
- Take the camembert out of the fridge 30 minutes before you cook it. Unwrap it and throw away the paper and the box.
- Cut a shallow criss-cross pattern into the top rind with a sharp knife. Push the garlic slices and small pieces of rosemary into the cuts.
- Drizzle the oil over the top. Wrap the cheese in two layers of foil with the join on top, or put it in a small cast-iron pan.
- Set it on the grid at the edge of medium coals, join side up. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes without turning it.
- While it cooks, brush the bread slices with oil and toast them over the coals for 1 to 2 minutes a side.
- Lift the cheese off the fire. Open the foil, spoon the chutney over the top and serve it hot with the bread.
Done when: the sides feel soft and give when you press them with tongs, and the middle is runny when you cut into it.
Tips
- Do not leave it too long. Once the rind splits, the cheese runs out into the coals.
- Warm the chutney in a small pot at the side of the fire if you want it hot.
- This is a good thing to hand round while the meat cooks. Braai garlic bread also works for dipping.
Camembert is French, but a whole cheese warmed on the braai and spooned over with fruit chutney has become a common starter at South African braais. The chutney is the local part. Its sweet and sour taste cuts through the rich cheese. It needs only a corner of the grid and is ready long before the meat.