Delicious and so easy to make; Baked Camembert stuffed with Black Garlic & Thyme and topped with Balsamic Sun-Dried Tomatoes.
If you are on any kind of diet you may want to look away now as I take no responsibility for anyone diving head first into a wheel of camembert! But with Easter coming up I thought this would make the perfect quick and easy starter (appetizer) if you have guests round for lunch. Similarly if you are catering for a crowd put a couple of these out with some crudities and you will have a guaranteed party food winner.
First up lets talk about the Black Garlic. Sainsbury’s kindly sent me a bulb of black garlic from Balsajo to try. I was a little unsure how to use it at first so decided to open it up and try it. And oh my…. what a surprise I got! Black garlic is essentially normal white garlic that has been aged. The cloves are soft, almost jelly like. The strong and overpowering smell and taste that you get with raw white garlic is gone, instead leaving a lovely subtle and mellow garlic flavour, almost like it has been roasted. It is also slightly sweet with a sticky caramel-like texture to it. Absolute bliss!
I am a huge cheese fan and love nothing more than flavouring baked camembert with some crushed garlic. The raw garlic can however be a little overpowering against the delicate flavours of the cheese but within seconds of trying black garlic I knew it would make the perfect accompaniment.
I scored the camembert and stuffed the sliced cloves into the cheese, along with some fresh thyme. I thought the sweet flavours of the black garlic would go really well with some balsamic sun-dried tomatoes so I added these to the top and finished the whole thing off with a balsamic glaze. I served it with the remainder of the black garlic along with some toasted ciabatta.
I can’t wait to experiment some more with black garlic. Next to try on my list is with some spaghetti and olive oil for a really simple dinner. I also think it would be amazing on pizza. The possibilities are endless!
**DISCLAIMER** I was asked by Sainsbury’s to create a recipe using black garlic and was compensated for my time spent doing so.
PrintBaked Camembert with Black Garlic & Balsamic Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 2-4 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: European
Description
Delicious and so easy to make; Baked Camembert stuffed with Black Garlic & Thyme and topped with Balsamic Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 x 250g / 8oz round of camembert (boxed)
- 1 bulb black garlic
- 10 sprigs fresh thyme
- 50g / ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes
- ½ tbsp of oil (from bottle or from jar of sun-dried tomatoes)
- ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
- balsamic glaze to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c / 350f.
- Remove the camembert from all its plastic packaging and place it back into the box, leaving the lid off. Score the top of the camembert with a sharp knife.
- Remove 3 cloves of black garlic from the bulb and slice each into 4 or 5 pieces. Push these into the camembert, along with some thyme.
- Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into smaller pieces and mix with the oil and balsamic vinegar. Place half of the tomatoes in a bowl to one side. Pile the remaining half on top of the camembert and top with a few sprigs of thyme.
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. Stick a knife into the centre of the camembert to be sure that it has melted enough. If it hasn’t, return to the oven for another 1 or 2 minutes.
- Drizzle the camembert with balsamic glaze and serve with toasted ciabatta, the remaining sun-dried tomatoes and black garlic.
Lauren says
CAn’t believe what a big difference the black garlic makes! It’s amazing. I used to serve baked camembert a lot when we had people over and was just using regular garlic but I’ll definitely be using your recipe from now on.
★★★★★
Fiona says
Hi Ciara, thank you so much for this delicious recipe! I’ve never even heard of black garlic! I made a modified version for Christmas Day and it was a big success. I will definitely be making it again 🙂 I hope you don’t mind if I post my modified recipe on my blog, linking to yours as the inspiration? Hope you had a lovely Christmas xx Fiona
Flick @TheyCalledItTheDiamondBlo says
I couldn’t resist clicking on Lucy’s link to your post after seeing your beautifully adorned camembert. Summer meals can’t come soon enough!
http://www.theycalleditthediamondblog.com
★★★★★
Ciara Attwell says
Its the perfect summer evening treat isn’t it. Especially with a nice bottle of wine!
Krati says
Some new combinations here, loved the photographs..beautiful colours!!
Ciara Attwell says
Than you Krati!
Laura @ KneadWhine says
Oh Ciara, what are you doing to me? I can imagine dunking a hunk of white bread into that gorgeous cheese. Amazing!
Ciara Attwell says
That’s exactly what we did! Just dove straight in!!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
WOW this looks good. All I need is a good crusty bread and glass of red wine and I’m set.
Ciara Attwell says
YES! We ate it with some ciabatta toasted on a griddle pan and it was DIVINE!!!
Margot @ Coffee & Vanilla says
Oh, that is just amazing!!!!
★★★★★
Ciara Attwell says
Thank you Margot. It tastes so good…too good. I want MORE!!!
Kerry @ Kerry Cooks says
This looks SO DELICIOUS! Get in my mouth cheese! So intrigued by the black garlic too, will have to try it
Ciara Attwell says
Its so so good Kerry. I can’t believe I had survived this long without knowing about the wonders of black garlic!
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
This is one of my favourite tweets and this looks incredible. I love that it has sundried tomatoes in it.
Ciara Attwell says
Thanks Dannii. Its definitely my new favourite treat dish. Definitely whipping it up again when we have guests at Easter.
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
WOW. I was going to comment on how stunning your baked camembert is (which it is!!) and then I saw the picture of the black garlic – which is equally stunning! I’ve had smoked garlic before but never heard of black garlic, will definitely keep an eye out for that! And what better way to serve it than with gooey cheese 😉
Ciara Attwell says
Definitely keep an eye out for it Becca. I think you’ll love it! And it’s so good with the cheese. Too good cause I just want to eat it all the time now!!
Erin says
Baked camembert is one of my favourite things – black garlic and sun dried tomatoes with it sounds like a winner! Loving the photos.
xxx Erin
★★★★
Ciara Attwell says
Thanks Erin. This is certainly worth trying. The black garlic and sundried tomatoes make it a little different too!
Rachel says
This looks so good. Definately one I’m going to try!
Ciara Attwell says
Please do. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Munchies &Munchkin says
I love black garlic ..my daughter likes to eat as if it were a sweet! I also love any cheese and sundried tomatoes so this definitely appeals!! X
Ciara Attwell says
Ha ha I can see how she eats it like sweets. It has that soft texture doesn’t it. Amazing!