PUFF PASTRY PIBS & CHRISTMAS CAMEMBERT with speedy festive chutney
PUFF PASTRY PIBS & CHRISTMAS CAMEMBERT with speedy festive chutney
We’ve ramped up a traditional baked camembert with pastry-wrapped pigs in blankets for dipping. There is also a super-speedy, full-flavoured festive chutney that can easily be whipped up. While your camembert and sausages bake in the oven.
A great festive centrepiece. The Pigs in Blankets cookbook (Ebury Press ) from the Jolly Hog, ramps up a traditional baked Camembert with pastry-wrapped pigs in blankets for dipping.
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 25 minutes
For the Pigs in Blankets
- 20 chipolatas
- 20 slices of bacon
(You can buy PIBs in The Food Company here in the Algarve, in Almancil, Guia, and Portimão).
For the wreath
- 500g block of puff pastry flour, for dusting
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
- ½ tbsp black sesame seeds
- ½ tbsp white sesame seeds
- 250g Camembert wheel, in wooden box fresh rosemary, to serve
For the chutney
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
- 1 tbsp mixed spice
- 80g currants or raisins
- 50g dried apricots
- 100g dried figs
- 100ml balsamic vinegar
- 60g soft brown sugar
- 100ml water
You will need a 20cm cake tin.
- Role and wrap each chipolata in a slice of bacon.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut out a circle roughly 28cm in diameter. Transfer to the lined baking tray.
- Place a 20cm cake tin in the centre of the pastry circle and cut 12 lines from the edge of the cake tin to the edge of the circle to create 12 sections, like a clock.
- Place one pig in blanket diagonally on each pastry section and roll up towards the cake tin. Working your way round the clock, repeat until 12 sausages are wrapped in the puff pastry.
- Brush each sausage roll with a little of the whisked egg. Sprinkle over the black and white sesame seeds.
- Unwrap the Camembert and place it (still in its wooden casing) in the centre of the cake tin. Place the spare pigs in blankets in the cake tin around the cheese and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
- In the meantime, make the chutney. Place the red onion in a heavy-bottomed saucepan along with the butter. Gently fry the onion over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes until it begins to soften.
- Add the dried mixed herbs and mixed spice to the pan and continue to cook for a further 1 minute. Add the currants or raisins, apricots and figs to the pan and pour in the balsamic vinegar.
- Sprinkle in the sugar and stir all the ingredients together. Pour in the water and bring to a simmer. Allow to gently simmer for 15–20 minutes until the fruit has softened and the liquid reduced. Once thickened, remove from the heat and allow the chutney to cool and further thicken.
- Remove the cake tin from the oven and place it and the puff pastry pigs on a serving board.
- Add the cooked spare pigs in blankets to the top of the Camembert. Spoon the cooled chutney into the cake tin around the edge of the baked Camembert. Finish with a little fresh rosemary and serve.