Madhouse recipe : Brie with fruit and nuts en croute

Madhouse Daddy and Juliette are both big fans of stinky French cheeses, so when I saw a wedge of Brie in the reduced-to-clear section of the supermarket, I threw it in my shopping basket. For some reason, nobody ate it though, so a week later, when I saw this recipe for Brie en Croute on the Food Network website, I thought it would be a great way of using it up. The original recipe used caramelised walnuts but I used up some odds and ends from the cupboards.

 It would have been great but for some reason, my brie didn't melt - it would have been much better with camembert, raclette or reblochon, which all melt to create a gooey ooziness that would have been perfect. If you click through to the original recipe, you'll see that that's what their brie did too - maybe there was a problem with mine ! The flavours worked well together but it was a bit dry and needed the creaminess of melted cheese.

Brie with fruit and nuts en croute

ingredients :

a sheet ready-made puff pastry

1 brie

a handful of dried fruit and nuts (I used a mix of almonds, pumpkin seeds, soya beans and cranberries)

a little milk to brush

Lay the puff pastry out in an ovenproof dish. I was a bit heavy-handed when brushing with the milk and the pastry stuck like glue to the foil so with hindsight, I wouldn't put it on foil - just use a greased baking sheet or dish.

Because my brie was a wedge shape that would have been very uneven inside the pastry, I chopped it into vaguely equal sized chunks.

Scatter over a good handful of fruit and nuts - use whatever you have, to add some crunch and sweetness to contrast with the (what should have been) salty, creamy cheese.

This was I used which worked well, but it was just a case of whatever was in the cupboard.

Fold the edges of the pastry to the middle, press together to seal and brush with milk.

Bake at 180° for half an hour until the pastry is golden brown and cooked through.

The texture was disappointing but the flavours worked well and it was a great way of using up odds and ends.

Adding to this month's #KitchenClearout linky.