BAKED CILIA WITH HONEY, HERBS & VERJUICE

Let’s go retro. Here’s a throw-back to 80’s entertaining. Back then a starter of melted brie served with crusty bread and perhaps some pickled gerkins was met with a “wow!” Really who doesn’t like hot molten cheese? My local, modern choice for some melting, gooeyness is Cilia, Main Ridge Dairy’s camembert style cheese, served with sour dough toasts made by Mother Mary’s for scooping. Bake it in a coating of local verjuice, honey and woody herbs, then dip in.

200g Main Ridge Dairy Cilia

Honey, to drizzle

1 tablespoon Sally’s verjuice

2-3 thyme sprigs

1 teaspoon rosemary leaves

100g packet Mother Mary’s sourdough toasts

Pre-heat oven to 190°C (170°C fan-forced).

Remove cheese from the packaging and place in the centre of a 20cm square of baking paper. Transfer paper lined cheese to a small baking dish just big enough to hold the cheese. Pierce the cheese with point of a small knife in four or five places, then push the thyme leaves into the cuts. Drizzle the top with verjuice and about ½ tablespoon of honey and scatter over the rosemary leaves. Loosely place a piece of foil over the cheese being careful it doesn’t touch the top (this protects the top of cheese browning too much). Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling around the edges.

Quickly transfer the baking dish to a serving board. Serve hot drizzled with a little extra honey. Dip in.

Other toppings could include a tablespoon chopped walnuts or hazelnuts, or replace the verjuice and honey with 2 tablespoons of Torello Farm ‘Jam for Cheese’

Recipe by Fiona Hammond, August 2024