Friday at Five - Baked Brie & Beaujolais

1st of the Friday at Five series. Which includes an app fit for holiday happy hour and a wine I think it could be paired with it (very green on wine pairings so bear with me, advice is so welcome)

First up for Friday at Five is a baked brie paired with a Beaujolais. This seasonal bake is getting me in the MOOD for Christmas. We are fully skipping Thanksgiving this year as London already has festive lights adorning every tree…. From what I have seen Brie is often paired with a sauvignon blanc or a champagne but this one is particularly warm and seasonal so my mind goes to a red (truthfully my mind always goes to red). And with Beaujolais Nouveau day just yesterday, this felt right.

Beaujolais is a region within France located between Rhône and Burgundy. The specific wine I have chosen can be found in the village of Régnié-Durette. A lot of Beaujolais wines are quite light in color and bright with high acidity and fruit flavors. We were poured this absolutely delish recommendation when visiting Noble Rot Mayfair, Domaine La Bonne Tonne, Regnie 'Agath The Blues', 2022. The producer notes: Strawberries, Floral, Spice. Grape is Gamay (per usual for Beaujolais). Anne-Laure Grillet and Thomas Agatensi are newer producers to Domaine La Bonne Tonne with their first vintage in 2019. The Somm at Noble Rot assured us to keep an eye on these two for some awesome stuff in the future! With that, let’s get to the kitchen…

Puff Pastry Recipe (via Cordon Bleu):

Below you can find a super simple puff pastry recipe I learned in school. Honestly, puff pastry from the store works just as well. Though the shape of the store-bought puff pastry isn’t ideal. I would suggest cutting into an even square before getting started, and then using scraps for some anchovy twists or a sweet cinnamon and sugar treat.

***Important note: this recipe needs to be chilled for a minimum of 1 hr after its completion. I would suggest making dough the night before so you can very quickly throw together on Friday, even if a couple drinks have already been drank.

Ingredients:

• 250g cake or pastry flour (T45 flour, this is considered a strong flour because it’s moisture content is between 9.5% and 11.8%)

• 5g kosher salt

• 125 mL water

• 35g butter for browning

• 150g cold butter to go between our layers.

1. Sift flour into round bowl. Create a well in the middle, add water + salt + your 35g of browned butter. Begin to combine using your hands until you have a smooth and cohesive dough. Cover with cling film and place in fridge.

2. Next we want to grab a sheet of parchment paper, pretty big! We will be folding it in half to make a little sandwich for our butter. Place butter inside the parchment and roll on top until you get 15cm x 15cm butter rectangle (6in x 6in). Our goal is to have the butter the same general temperature as the flour mixture before folding in.

3. Dust a clean surface with flour. After about 15-20 minutes in the refridgerator bring out your dough and roll to 15cm x 30cm (6in x 6in). Place butter block inside and fold like a book over. Seal the sides lightly with your fingers (no butter should be showing).

4. Once it is sealed well to be sure butter won’t escape, roll to 20cm x 50cm (8in x 20in). Making sure to flour your surface if you feel your dough is getting stuck in between steps. We don’t want the dough to absorb too much flour or it will become dry, so be sparing.

5. TURN 1: We will do this “turning” motion 5 times total to build those flaky layers. To do this: place dough with the length running from left to right (rather than up and down which creates an ‘I’). Visualize the strip in 3 pieces (left, right, center). Fold the left side up over the center, then the right side over that. What you will see is 3 layers of our dough mixture overlapping one another. Turn your little dough book 90 degrees to get ready for the next roll.

6. TURN 2: Unless your butter is starting to melt out of the sides then we can start right away on turn 2. If you feel your butter is leaking out place back into the fridge. Otherwise, roll out your dough to 20cm x 50cm (8in x 20in) once again. Place in fridge for at least a 30 minute rest.

7. TURN 3 & 4: same as above. Roll out to 20cm x 50cm (8in x 20in). Make your book. Turn 90 degrees. Roll out to 20cm x 50cm (8in x 20in). Make your book. turn 90 degrees. Wrap in cling film and rest in fridge for another 30 minutes.

8. TURN 5 (FINAL TURN): Roll out to 20cm x 50cm (8in x 20in). Make your book. Now store for at minimum 1 hour in the fridge or until you’re ready for your bake.

Important that if you have leftover puff pastry it is still very much usable but don’t crumble it up! Fold it over itself and wrap tightly, this will preserve it’s flaky layering you worked so hard on.

Okay Baked Brie time…

• puff pastry

• 1 Brie wheel (soft cheese, also originating from France)

• 3-4 sprigs rosemary

• 1-2 sprigs tarragon (medium taste of anise, sub with sage or opt out if you’re not a fan)

• 1 medium clove minced garlic

• zest of 1 orange

• fig jam(store bought is totally fine, who cares it’s Friday!!)

• crostini, crackers, cheese vessel etc.

• salt to taste

Steps:

1. Prep your produce. Remove tarragon and rosemary leaves form their stems. Chop up finely. This will help release the oils of both herbs. Garlic should be peeled and minced.

2. Add olive oil or a neutral oil to a pan, we are going to lightly cook our aromatics. On a low heat add garlic to sweat it, herbs, and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 5 minutes so we can just soften everything and begin smelling those yummy holiday scents. Remove from heat and put aside.

3. Roll our puff pastry to a 30cm x 30cm square (12in x 12in) on a dusted surface. This needs to encompass your brie fully.

4. Cover your dough in a thin layer of fig jam. Top this with the garlic and herb mixture. Then zest your orange right over top.

5. Place your brie in the middle and begin folding in one corner at a time, stretching to the opposite side of each. Once you’ve folded in all four corners, do the same thing with the next four corners that have been created. If it’s not as neat as you like, don’t fret. It’s pastry, cheese, and butter… you cannot go wrong!! just be sure there are no holes. If you find any patch some up with puff pastry dough.

6. Optional step to add an egg yolk wash at this point. This will help to make it even more shiny and aesthetically appealing! Add some of your herb blend for decoration as well at this time.

7. Cook brie at 190°C (375°F) for a total of 35 minutes. We want it to be melty in the middle but flaky and golden on the outside. Start with your brie lightly covered in tin foil Then after 25 minutes take off the tin foil to get some more color on the top.

8. Let rest for 5 minutes or so, as it will literally be molten lava inside :) Add some orange zest on top to finish off. I personally like this with some toasted french bread but you can use whatever you’d like.

9. Apologize to your lactose-intolerant friend, and enjoy!

XXXO

Let me know if you make!!