Cheeseboard centrepiece: Baked Brie with pears and almonds. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Dried fruit is an often overlooked part of South African cooking culture. They can be eaten just as they are, of course, but it’s when you drench them in liquid, which they then soak up, that they truly come into their own.
This was a whole Dalewood Petit Brie, which is compact and smaller than your average whole Brie, as the name suggests. It’s deliciously creamy and, if allowed to age a while before use, it attains a deeper flavour.
The container in which you bake it needs to be barely millimetres wider than the Brie itself, otherwise it will flow as it melts. I used a small glass pie dish, which was almost too big but there was minimal flowing, as it were. The result was a bowl of cheesy delight.
Toasted almonds added crunch and a counterpoint to the sweetness of the pears, and thyme gave the dish a subtle herbiness.
Ingredients
(Serves 6-8 as part of a cheeseboard)
1 whole small Brie, such as Dalewood Fromage Wineland Petit Brie
Cooking spray
100g dried pears
100ml hanepoot fortified wine
50g roasted almonds, crushed
A few thyme sprigs
Melba toast or savoury biscuits
Method
Chop and toast the almonds.
Slice the dried pears into thin slivers. Put them in a bowl with the hanepoot and leave to steep for half an hour.
Pour the pears and hanepoot into a saucepan, bring to a boil, and simmer them until the pears are soft and there is half of the liquid left. Set aside.
Spray the base and sides of a suitable vessel in which to bake the Brie. Place the cheese in it. Use a sharp knife to score the top rind in a diamond pattern, but don’t cut too deep. Push thyme sprigs into the scoring slits, here and there.
Bake the Brie in a preheated 180°C oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove to a rack.
Reheat the pears and their syrup. While the baked Brie is still hot, pour the syrup over and spoon on the pear slivers.
Scatter chopped toasted almonds over. Serve with melba toast or savoury biscuits. DM
More about Dalewood Fromage
Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here
Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.