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.

Halibut with Celeriac & Potato Rosti

Although halibut is a fish that can take a fair bit of flavour, and I adore punchy flavours, this is one fish that I don't like to mess around with too much. This is because it has one of the best flavours of all of the flatfish - also its the largest. It tastes creamy and buttery and just perfect simply pan fried with a lovely sauce. Here I have made a white wine & caper cream sauce which is delicious.

I have also served this with a potato and celeriac rosti, which some people assume is difficult to make, but its so simple. Ideally if you use a chefs ring too it not only looks lovely, but has some bite which you don't get with the flatter, smaller, free style ones. A rather posh looking and tasting meal that you can make any night of the week!

For the rosti:

1/2 celeriac, peeled
1 large potato, peeled
1/2 onion, peeled
salt & pepper
1 tbsp. oil
knob of butter

Method:

Grate the celeriac, onion and potato into the middle of a clean tea towel. Season with salt & pepper and bring up the sides of the tea towel so that the vegetables are in a ball. Twist and squeeze the water out. Grease the chefs rings with a little butter and place in a lightly oiled non stick frying pan.

Pack the vegetables neatly into the rings (to the top of the ring) and flatten off. Fry on a low/medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, before carefully turning over with a fish slice. Add a little more oil.. Cook the other side for 5 minutes and then add a little knob of butter. After 8 minutes it should be cooked through. Check by pushing a sharp knife through the middle - you will feel that its cooked.

For the sauce:

Add 1 cup white wine to a small pan and put on a medium/high heat. Cook until reduced by half. Make up 1 cup vegetable stock from a cube and add to the wine. Again cook until reduced, this time by about 3/4 so you have about 1/2 cup of concentrate. Add 1 tbsp. chopped capers, salt & pepper and 100ml double cream. Heat through and its ready.

For the halibut:

Simply season lightly with a little salt & pepper and fry in a smear of olive oil for about 4 minutes each side (depending on the thickness - mine were thick).

Serve with fish with the rosti and some steamed green beans and then spoon some sauce over the fish. Serve and enjoy!

Note To make life easy: I premade the sauce ready to be heated up before serving