Baked Brie

"What would you like for dinner?" asks Raul. "I really have nothing in mind but it is a stormy cold afternoon and time for a treat."

"How be I cook?" asks Drew. "That would give you a break."

"But not a treat," mutters Raul before suggesting, "Why don't you bake that Brie that you bought spontaneously because it was on sale? Otherwise it will expire."

"Easily done," says Drew. Drew first baked a Brie when he hosted his first pre-Christmas Christmas dinner  in what was then a new apartment and he lived there alone except for the dog. Pre-Christmas Christmas was a tradition between Drew and his friends Nancy and Candace. Family obligations meant that a celebration together was hard to co-ordinate so they, for many years, held the dining, drinking and gift exchange well in advance. The first few years were at restaurants but then Candace offered to cook one year (seared steaks, her "famous" Caeser salad and double-baked potatoes) and Nancy the next (crab legs, Candace's "famous" Caeser salad and trifle). Drew figured it was his turn and despite the skeptical cries of protest insisted on cooking the entire dinner himself. Very calculatingly he prepared five dishes figuring at least two would turn out. Surprisingly all five were delicious and it became a legendary five course feast. The baked Brie was the first course.

Baked Brie looks fancy and tastes delicious but Drew's method is simplicity itself, especially after his niece and nephew gifted him with a proper Brie baking dish. Of course he does cheat and instead of making a pastry just buys a roll of Poppin' Fresh Croissant dough.

Raul sits in the rocking chair by the kitchen and struggles not to interfere while Drew peels and chops an apple into little pieces. The apple came from a forlorn Boy Scout struggling to sell his quota in front of No Frills. Drew had breezed obliviously by with a polite "Thank you but not right now" but Raul stopped and traded a toonie for an apple. "It reminds me of when my boys were fundraising," he mused.

"And you made his day," admitted Drew who was feeling particularly like a callous heel at that point. Making a great baked Brie will not make up for that but will make him feel better.

The apple pieces are squirted with lime before being coated with cinnamon and a dash of brown sugar. There should also be chopped pecans but there are none in the cupboard so Drew substitutes a handful of cashews that R&D bought two flats of when they were on sale at Food Basics for a price that was practically a steal. The wheel of Brie is sliced in half and then comes the tricky part. Getting the dough out of the tube is always a messy process. "Perhaps if you didn't smash it so heavily against the counter," suggests Raul from the safety of his rocking chair. But the dough is already oozing out of the broken casing and Drew tears it apart and lines the baking dish, bottom and sides, with a layer of dough. The bottom half of the Brie is popped in, the filling layered in, the top half of the Brie placed on top, and the result is covered in dough. The entire concoction goes into the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

"Delicious," enthuses Raul as he spreads the results on a slice of crusty bread. "But rich and filling."

"That's the cashews," says Drew. "The pecans aren't as oily. It really is more of an appetizer than a main course. If there were six of us eating this it would be a perfect prelude but for the two of us . . ."

"It is a bit much," agrees Raul. "But I would like another helping please."