Baked Camembert with Mango Chutney

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Take the camembert out of the fridge while the oven comes up. A wheel that starts fridge cold melts at the edges before the middle has moved.
2. Unwrap the cheese, remove any plastic and any staples, and sit it back in the base of its box on an oven tray. Use a small lined dish if the box is not sound.
3. Score the top rind in a shallow crosshatch, about 5mm deep and 2cm apart. Push the garlic slivers into the cuts and lay the two whole thyme sprigs across the top.
4. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes for a 250g wheel, or 20 to 22 for a 320g one. It is ready when the top has puffed a little and the centre gives under a light press, the way a set custard does. Start checking at 15 minutes. Left too long, the cheese splits into oil and curd and nothing brings it back.
5. While it bakes, tear the pita into shards, set the crackers, almonds and pear around a board, and put a small knife and a spoon within reach of everyone.
6. Lift the tray out and spoon the chutney straight from the jar over the hot cheese, letting it settle into the cuts. Strip the thyme leaves over the top, then add salt flakes and a good grind of pepper.
7. Serve inside 10 minutes. It is at its best in the first few, and it firms as it cools. One trip back into the oven for 2 minutes will loosen it again, but only one.

Make ahead, and what to do with the rest

The cheese cannot be baked ahead, but the fiddly part can. Score the wheel, push in the garlic and thyme, cover it in its dish and keep it in the fridge for up to a day. Bake it straight from cold with 3 or 4 extra minutes. Do the board at the same time and cover it with a tea towel.

Baked cheese does not survive a second reheat; it turns grainy. Cold leftovers are better used as an ingredient. Scrape what is left into a hot jacket potato, or spread it on sourdough with a spoon of the chutney and put it under the grill until it blisters.

The jar is the part that keeps. Opened, it lives in the fridge for a couple of months, and it earns its shelf space: with cold ham or roast chicken, in a cheese toastie, stirred through mayonnaise for a sandwich, or alongside a curry, which is what the company had in mind first. If you would rather make the condiment side yourself, our old-fashioned tomato relish is the other jar we reach for with cheese.

Questions we get asked

What do you serve with baked camembert?

Something rigid enough to scoop with. Torn pita shards, seeded crackers and thin sourdough toast all carry a load of molten cheese, where a thin water cracker snaps in the dip. Then add something sharp and something crunchy: sliced pear or grapes on one side, salted almonds on the other. One 250g wheel feeds 4 to 6 people as a starter.

How long do you bake camembert for?

15 to 18 minutes at 180°C for a standard 250g wheel, or 20 to 22 minutes for a 320g one, baked in its box on an oven tray. Score the top first so the heat gets into it. It is done when the centre gives under a light press and the surface trembles when you move the tray. Past about 20 minutes the fat separates out.

What chutney goes with cheese?

Chunky fruit chutneys with vinegar in them, rather than smooth sweet conserves that slide off. Mango chutney is the safe answer with a soft white cheese such as camembert or brie. Cheddar takes a tomato and apple chutney or a tomato relish. Blue cheese wants something sweeter, a dried-fruit chutney or a fig conserve. One spoon per wedge is plenty.

One jar covers this twice over, which is a cheap way to turn a supermarket cheese into a course. The Regimental Condiment Company range runs to chutneys, relishes, mustards and conserves at $6.95 for a 110g mini and $12.95 for the full jars, and the crackers to eat them with go in the same order. Shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100, and orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched from Geelong that day.