TO DRINK: Jean Daneel Chenin Blanc, an elegant wine with a touch of rounded oak to complement the creaminess of the Camembert and toastiness of the pistachios, and classic apple flavours to match the zingy, fruity salad.
Camembert brûlée on pistachio biscuits with apple salad
Ingredients
- PISTACHIO BISCUITS
- 50g ground pistachio nuts
- 50g ground almonds
- 80g castor sugar
- 170g cake flour
- 200g butter
- 1 large egg yolk
- CAMEMBERT BRÛLÉE
- 300g Camembert, cut into large pieces
- 180ml milk
- 120ml fresh cream
- 5ml (1 tsp) salt
- 4 large eggs
- APPLE SALAD
- 1 apple, finely julienned
- 1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
- 30ml (2 tbsp) pistachio nuts, roughly chopped and toasted
Instructions
To make the pistachio biscuits, preheat the oven to 170ºC.
Mix the ground pistachios, almonds and sugar, then mix in the flour.
In a separate bowl, mix the butter with the egg yolk, but do not beat. Fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture and work until you have a smooth dough.
Roll the dough out on a baking tray to 2mm thickness and bake for 10 minutes.
Remove the dough from the oven and cut it into rectangles for the biscuits (about 24, depending on what size you want them to be).
Put the biscuits back in the oven and bake for a further 7 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool.
For the brûlée, reduce the oven temperature to 150ºC.
Gently heat the Camembert, milk, cream and salt in a pot over medium heat until the cheese has melted.
Remove the cheese mixture from the heat, strain it through a fine sieve and vigorously whisk in the eggs to prevent curdling.
Bake in a bain marie until set, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Cut the cooled brûlée into small rectangles the same size as the pistachio biscuits.
Mix together the ingredients for the apple salad.
To serve, place a slice of brûlée on top of each biscuit, and finish with a small spoonful of the salad.
