Baked Brie with Caramelised Pears, Shallots and Thyme
This moreish party nibble is impressively presented. Be sure to use a hearty, good-quality crusty loaf of bread for this recipe.
Ingredients
Serves: 10
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 pears - peeled, cored and sliced
- 5 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1/2 teaspoon light brown soft sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 (250g) round loaf crusty bread
- 1 (200g) wheel Brie
- 75g flaked almonds
Method
Prep:20min ›
Cook:55min ›
Ready in:1hr15min
- Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4.
- Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add shallot; cook and stir for 1 minute to soften. Add thinly sliced pears; cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in white wine, brown sugar, thyme, salt and pepper; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until the liquid has evaporated and the pears have lightly caramelised, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
- Cut a Brie-sized hole in the top of the crusty bread to within 1cm of the bottom. Cut the removed bread into pieces for serving; set aside. Score the Brie around it's edge, using a paring knife to cut .5cm deep. Cut in half by looping a strand of very thin string or dental floss around the scored Brie and pulling the ends in opposite directions.
- Place the bottom half of the Brie, cut-side-up, into the loaf. Top with 1/2 of the pear mixture and sprinkle with 1/2 of the almonds. Place the remaining brie half on top, cut-side-down, spread with remaining pear mixture, and sprinkle with remaining almonds. Place on a baking tray.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until soft and gooey. Serve with sliced bread and crackers.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(44)
Reviews in English (36)
Did a trial run of this and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe - 15 Dec 2011
This is amazing! Served it as main appetizer at dinner party. My friend Michelle made it (can't take the credit) and used toasted walnuts and dates instead of pears & almonds. Also, we added 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and used brandy instead of white wine. Delicious! Try it! - 24 Oct 2008 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Thanks for the fab recipe, this was absolutely delicious! All the flavours complemented each other so well. My partner got sliced sourdough by mistake, but we still managed to make it work by gently squeezing it into a pan to hold the slices together. Otherwise, I made the recipe as posted and the four of us ate the whole thing in about 5 minutes!! Edit 04 Jun 07 - Last two times I made this, to serve a couple more people, I used two brie, side by side with a little gap in between them, still in the one loaf of bread. I doubled all the other ingredients too, so there was more pear topping to add to the extra cheesey goodness! - 25 Mar 2007 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)