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Recipe

Baked Brie with Chilli Apple

this what we lookin at people!

A whole wheel of brie in a dish, apple slices pressed into it, chilli over the top, into the oven. It is twenty minutes and it holds a room.

The dish matters more than it sounds. Bake it in something with sides — once the inside goes liquid, the rind can split, and on a flat tray you lose the lot. A small glass dish catches everything and doubles as the serving vessel.

Chilli on apple against hot cheese. Sweet, sharp, hot, fat, all in one bite, and the flatbread is only there as a shovel.

Feeds
6
Hands-on
10 minutes
In the oven
20 minutes
Dish
With sides

Half an hour, and it has to be eaten hot, so time it to land when people do.

Baked brie with apple slices and a sesame flatbreadTwo wheels of brie being cut on the board
Shot the night it was made. Open any picture for the full photograph.

What you need

The dish

  • 1 whole brie, 1 lb, rind on
  • 2 firm apples, cored and sliced thin, skin on
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes, plus more to finish
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves (from my garden)
  • Coarse black pepper
  • A squeeze of lemon, over the apples

To serve

  • 2 sesame-crusted flatbreads, warmed and torn
  • A few fresh red chillies, for the table

How it goes

  1. 1 — Score the top rind in a crosshatch

    Shallow cuts about an inch apart, through the rind only. It gives the melting cheese somewhere to come up through and stops the whole top splitting at once.

  2. 2 — Keep the rind on, all of it

    The rind is the container. Cut it off and the cheese spreads into a thin layer and goes oily instead of staying molten in the middle.

  3. 3 — Press the apple slices into the scores

    Lemon squeezed over them first so they do not brown, then tucked into the cuts and around the sides of the wheel.

  4. 4 — Honey, chilli, thyme and pepper over

    Honey drizzled across, then chilli flakes, thyme and a heavy grind of black pepper. The chilli will mellow in the oven, so put on more than you would eat raw.

  5. 5 — 350°F for twenty minutes, not hotter

    A moderate oven melts it evenly. At 425°F the outside splits and the fat separates before the centre has even softened.

    pro tip — Press the top gently with a finger at eighteen minutes. If it gives like a water balloon, it is ready. If it still resists, give it four more.

  6. 6 — Warm the flatbread while it bakes

    Dry hot pan, ninety seconds a side, until it puffs and blisters. Torn rather than cut, so there are edges to hold.

  7. 7 — Straight to the table in the dish

    It is perfect for about fifteen minutes and then it starts to set. More chilli over the top and fresh chillies beside it.

This what we lookin at people! Nothing else needs to be on the table. LFG.

More of what comes out of this kitchen on the food wall.

Every picture on this page is one of mine. I paint for a living the rest of the time — that is the gallery, and the originals are for sale.