Gluten-free Breaded camembert / goats cheese

For a treat every now and then I used to eat deep-fried crispy cheese with salad when I was at a restaurant. I never made it as it seemed an inconvenient sort of food, with several steps. However, I have discovered it is really quite simple.

I had a bag of breadcrumbs from one of my own bread loaves. I am getting into the habit of making a loaf when I make bagels so that I can crumb it and store these crumbs in a tub in the freezer, as they are so handy for a variety of meals. Use whatever bread you like to eat. The amount of breadcrumbs isn’t too critical. If you like a thick coating you can dip the cheese in both egg and breadcrumbs twice, so you will need more than if you just have a single thin coating.

Ingredients

Cheese wedges or whole mini-cheeses. For two people for a light lunch I used a quarter of a Camembert (55g) and a half a soft goats cheese with a rind called Capricorn (40g). Each of these was cut into two.

Breadcrumbs – about half a cup full.

1egg, beaten

vegetable oil for frying

Method

Roll the cheese segments in the egg and then in the breadcrumbs, taking care to cover all the sides. As I wanted to use up the egg and the breadcrumbs I did this twice, which gives a thicker crust.

Heat a wide frying pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Thinly. Heat until the oil just begins to shimmer.

Place the breaded cheese into hot oil and fry on each side until golden. Turn gently.

Either eat straight away or place in a warm oven until you are ready to eat. They should be crisp on the outside and meltingly soft inside.

Serve with a salad and a spicy or tart sauce. We had baby spinach and a homemade chilli jam.

Goats cheese

Camembert