Baked Camembert & Onion Strings

Its usually at the weekend where I have time to make my favourite type of food. Different salads, bread, cheese... here I have made a lovely cheese dip from the baked whole camembert with the moreish texture of onion strings. Serve with crusty bread, fresh tomatoes, a good chilli sauce and dip away!

For the cheese:

1 whole camembert (the one in a thin box is best)
1 spring fresh thyme
1 small clove garlic, peeled
drizzle olive oil

Set the oven to 200 C. Unpack the cheese from the plastic and put the whole cheese back in the box uncovered. Chip away little bits of the top so you have a little cheese exposed from the white rind. Cut the garlic into little slivers and insert. Sprinkle the thyme leaves over the top and drizzle with oil. Put on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

For the onion strings:

Slice 1 onion into the thinnest slices you can with a very sharp knife or a mandolin. Soak in 1 cup milk for about an hour. Put 1 cup flour into a bowl and add salt & pepper and 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper.

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy based saucepan to about 1 inch in height up the sides of the pan. Test the heat by flicking in a pinch of flour. When it sizzles, its ready. Using kitchen tongs pick up some of the onion out of the milk and dump into the flour mix. Coat well and put into the hot oil. The onion will take about 20 seconds to cook and crisp up. Drain on kitchen paper and repeat until all the onion is cooked. Sprinkle with a little salt.

Serve the baked cheese with the onion strings, chilli sauce, crusty bread to dip in the cheese and a fresh tomato salad.