Spiced Ground Beef in Wine and Baked Camembert

I found this yummy recipe at "Cherry`s English Kitchen" blog http://cherrysenglishkitchen.typepad.com
Really quite good! And no, this isn`t going to turn into a food blog for reasons already seen and yet to be seen. She`s named it "Winter Rut Spag Bol That Tastes Even Better The Next Day".
Decided to give it a try last night. An unusual
and tasty combination of spices and herbs that I would never have
thought of combining. Just added a few extras to the pan as
well....salt and pepper and a small dollop of uh...um...uh....ketchup hehe. It probably didn`t need that because as it sits, the taste becomes richer. And I made
some Italian crusty bread to go with it rather than pasta. And a part
bottle of thePinot Noir. This is a nice wine. I`m not much of a wine drinker, but I like this type. I definately
need some napkins on that table and place mats. But alas, it`s easy to
just have a slap down dinner after a work day. This was just a bit more
extravagant for the week than usual though....


"Oh, yes please..."

Then I baked some Camembert in the oven. A gorgeous recipe below at bottom of post.

We had the cheese with these surprisingly good baguettes rather than as the recipe states.

As I reached over to sample the Camembert, I took in
the aroma of fresh bread and spices.....and knocked the wine glass over
right smack into the cheese :)

Luckily it all sponged off nicely with a paper towel and only one soggy wine soaked baguette. I seem to be on some sort of roll lately.......

Angus was busy elsewhere...


Baked Camembert with Garlic Ciabatta Toasts

Fingers of hot garlic toast dunked into melted parchment-baked cheese are great for sharing.

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main course
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
496kcals/30.1g fat/10.4g saturated fat/1.9g salt/1.9g sugars per serving


Ingredients
220g whole Lubborn Somerset Camembert
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
½ X 15g pack fresh thyme
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil


For the garlic toasts
1 pack Loyd Grossman 4 Mini Ciabatta
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, cut in half
½ X 20g pack fresh flat-leaf parsley
Sea salt


Instructions
Preheat
the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Lay the cheese in the centre of a
30cm-square piece of baking parchment. Using the point of a sharp
knife, make lots of deep slits in the surface of the cheese. Place the
garlic slices, along with a little piece of thyme, into each slit.

Drizzle
the surface of the cheese with the tablespoon of oil and add a
scattering of coarsely ground black pepper. Gather the parchment up to
form a purse and tie with kitchen string. Bake for about 10 minutes
until the cheese is melted in the middle.

Meanwhile, make the fingers of toast. Preheat the grill to medium. Cut the mini ciabatta in half diagonally and then cut each piece in half lengthways
to make thin, elegant fingers. Toast the bread until golden. Drizzle
with olive oil and rub generously with the cut garlic clove. Scatter
lightly with the parsley, rubbing it into the bread so that it sticks.
Sprinkle with a little sea salt.

Remove the cheese from the oven and serve immediately in the paper. Use the garlic toasts as scoops.

Cook's tip
Other types of cheese with a rind, will also work well cooked in this way. Try Vacherin Mont d'Or.

This recipe was first published on Waitrose.com in May 2006.