Baked Camembert with Oven-Roasted Grapes
A warm winter appetizer...French-style
Contrary to how cheese is presented and served elsewhere, in France, most of the year people don’t futz around too much with cheese. You won’t find cheese boards with chocolates and gummy bears on them. There are no berries, no M&Ms or yogurt-covered pretzels, no cherry Twizzlers, chocolate-covered peanut butter cups, or caramel corn, all things I’ve seen on social media cheese boards. And nope, there are no butter boards either. We just eat it from the slab.
But in the winter, fromageries may sell or suggest cheeses with something in the middle—such as marrons glacés (candied chestnuts) or almonds and dried fruit—made for baking during the winter when thoughts (and stomachs) turn toward melty delights, which include raclette and fondue.
I was recently gifted some Camembert and Brie cheeses from a French company that sells them in the U.S. Due to laws, raw milk cheeses that have been aged less than two months can’t be shipped into the U.S., although aged cheeses like Comté, Gruyère, and Parmesan can be. (France isn’t immune to food concerns either and there’s a government website that lists food products—including bottled water and strawberry tarts—that have been flagged as harmful.)
I don’t know why I’m telling you this before a recipe for cheese, but I’ve never done things the way you’re supposed to, and it’s too late to stop now. Generally, I do buy raw milk cheeses (and the worst cheese fiasco in the U.S. concerned pasteurized cheese), but with this pasteurized cheese, I thought it would be fun to bake it along with a fall/winter-friendly topping of roasted grapes.
Since I’m on a roll here of alienating people 😆, let’s talk about balsamic vinegar. I remember sometime in the ‘80s or ‘90s when little brown bottles of it started appearing in America, and we all ate (or drank?) it up, adding it to salad dressings, making us feel a little more sophisticated. At least it did to me.
Nowadays, I’m not a fan. I don’t like how, when added to vinaigrettes, it turns the dressing brown (and sweet), and I don’t like lettuce coated with brown sauce nor do I like sweet dressings on my salads. But, like everything, it’s good to not be too stuck in your ways, and I do find that adding one or two drops…not spoonfuls, to a vinaigrette, rounds it out.
I know, I know, we’re very fortunate to get excellent cheese in France, and even the corner supermarkets have raw milk Camembert du Normandie. But the Isigny-Ste.-Mer cheeses they sent me (this isn’t a sponsored post) are available in the U.S., and they even distribute them at Costco. And I’m sure there are artisanal cheeses in America (and elsewhere) that rival, or are better than, some French cheeses that would work here.
They’ve been trying to get rid of the wooden boxes in France, but, oddly, no one talks about the staples they use to close them. Years ago, an American food magazine published a recipe for baked cheese, and readers wrote in that their boxes unfurled, and cheese flowed all over their oven. That’s because in the U.S. they use glue on the boxes, and in France, they use metal staples.
When I worked in professional kitchens, it was forbidden to have a stapler anywhere near the food, or even the kitchen. But nowadays I see receipts stapled to food delivery bags (which I discovered during Covid—which worried me as much as the virus—when to-go food became a “thing” in Paris. Any errant staple around food terrifies the still-OCD ex-restaurant cook in me. Personally, I’d rather eat raw milk cheese than a staple.
Something that seems to be imported the other way is seedless grapes. An American friend who raised her kids in France was surprised, and delighted, to discover seedless grapes during a trip to the States. And nowadays, I’m seeing grapes sans pépin more and more in France.
Even though I prefer wine grapes, such as muscat, use what you can find. Seeded grapes are still the default in France, and people don’t mind the staples. I mean, the seeds.
Baked Camembert with Oven-Roasted Grapes
4-6 Appetizer-sized servings
Outside of France, and even within, a variety of cheeses are called “Camembert,” as well as Brie. The best in France are Camembert du Normandie, Brie de Meaux, and its lesser-known cousin, Brie de Melun, although other cheeses are generically called Camembert and Brie.
The Camembert I used here was 8.8 ounces (250g), but if your cheese is larger, just increase the cooking time to suit it. It’s ready when it feels very warm and liquidy when you touch it on the top, in the center. While I do say this is an appetizer, we’ve had it for dinner with a big salad and a baguette, to smear the warm cheese and grapes on.
This recipe makes a few more grapes than you’ll need, but they’re really good on ice cream or in a bowl of yogurt with a spoonful of the liquid. Wine grapes have the best flavor, such as muscats, but they also come with seeds. Ditto with Concord grapes. Feel free to use grapes with seeds or grapes sans pépins (seedless). Note that the darker varieties of grapes will have the richest color and flavor.
3/4 cup (180ml) red wine (or grape or apple juice with a little squeeze of lemon juice)
2 tablespoons honey
1-2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (not the premium, aged kind)
1 pound (450g) red- or dark-skinned grapes, still on their stems, if desired
One 8- to 9-ounce (250g) Camembert, at room temperature
Optional: 1/4 cup (30g) toasted hazelnuts, skins rubbed off and very coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
Pour the red wine into a small baking dish that will hold the grapes in a single layer, with not a lot of room around them. Stir in the honey, brown sugar, and vinegar. Place the bunches of grapes in the dish. gently turning them over a few times to get them coated with the liquid. (You can also vary things by adding sprigs of thyme, orange peel, a little rosemary, or black pepper to the mix, as shown in one of the photos.)
Roast the grapes in the oven, turning them over once, midway through baking, until they are soft and cooked through, about 45 minutes. Depending on the type of grapes, they may take more or less time, so start checking them at the 30-minute mark.
Remove the grapes from the oven and reduce the temperature of the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
Remove the Camembert from the box and any packaging, and place the cheese in a small baking dish. I use a small gratin dish, but an ovenproof skillet or small baking sheet lined with parchment paper will work as well. (Just keep an eye on it during baking if using a baking sheet as sometimes the cheese may run out of the bottom.)
Bake the cheese for 10 to 12 minutes, until it feels very warm and liquidy in the center.
Remove from oven and top with bunches of grapes, spooning the flavorful liquid generously over the top. Scatter the nuts over the top, if using.
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The thing I like most about your newsletter (besides the delightful recipes), is your willingness to express strong opinions on a variety of subjects--it's why I subscribe!
This story reminded me of my first time in Paris. I was staying with a friend who was studying for a PhD there. One evening we went to dinner at her Italian boyfriend's apartment. For dessert, he brought a bowl of grapes out of the kitchen. Having never eaten any grape that was not green and was not purchased from a Midwestern supermarket, I was first disappointed, then astonished by the complex, musky, floral sweetness that enveloped me when he set it on the table.
My friend told me later that Italians know how to shop.