For many of us, Christmas is all about eating and drinking. The kids love tucking into their chocolate Christmas morning, and when I was their age I loved nothing more than scoffing a box of Hazelnut whirls, which, in my opinion, were the best ones from the Roses jar - remember Roses jars? no plastic boxes in the 80's, it was quality glass jars all the way. In fact I still have one.
These days I'm more into savoury delights, especially cheese. To enjoy cheese to its fullest there also needs to be chutney. Upon checking my pantry for my stash of home made chutney I was horrified to find that I only have one jar left - it's unlabelled so I'm not quite sure if it's Asian Chilli or Caramelised Onion, but either way I needed to rectify the situation immediately.
I needed to empty some excess from the freezer & found some cranberries and rhubarb in there so decided to put them to good use and make some spicy chutney. You can make chutney out of pretty much any fruit or veg so if you don't have exact ingredients don't worry, just replace them with something else - extra onion, courgettes, carrots, peppers, butternut squash. Anything with a bit of substance to it, otherwise it will end up like a smoothie.
Once I'd made the chutney I wanted to try it out immediately, so I bought a camembert, and lunch was sorted.
Spicy Cranberry & Rhubarb Chutney - makes approx 3 jars
2 onions
2 apples
375g rhubarb
3 tomatoes
1 red pepper
175g cranberries2 red chillies
2 cloves of garlic
300ml white wine vinegar
350g granulated sugar
tbsp mixed spice
- roughly chop the onions, apples, rhubarb, tomatoes & pepper, and add them to a large saucepan
- add thinly sliced chilli, crushed garlic, vinegar, sugar & mixed spice
- bring to the boil and simmer for approx 30-45 minutes, until it's thick
- pour into sterilised jars
Baked Camembert
1 whole camembert
home made chutney
olive oil
sprigs of rosemary
- remove any plastic packaging from the camembert
- if it comes in a wooden box place it back into it & onto a baking tray, or into a suitably sized ovenproof dish
- using a sharp knife, cut a crosshatch pattern in the top of the camembert
- drizzle with a little olive oil & spoon some chutney on top
- stick a few sprigs of rosemary into the cheese
- bake in a preheated 200C oven for around 10-15 minutes, until the cheese has melted
Serve with bread or crackers, a few rocket leaves and some balsamic roasted tomatoes
Perfect as an appetiser to share, as a lunch, or just because.
If you're looking for a really impressive way to serve your camembert, then you must see this beaut from Jenny - it's her very aptly named Bad Boy Brioche.
