It’s summertime and there’s few things better than putting out a crostini spread to eat outdoors—especially if the start of the show is a grilled round of brie.
Of course I’ve never tried to grill brie on the barbecue before, and my grilling skills are pretty limited, so let’s see how this goes.
Before I start the grill I’m going to prep the toppings for my crostini, starting with a bulb of roasted garlic. This is such an easy thing to do. I usually roast garlic every weekend and keep it in the fridge to put in vinaigrettes, salads, homemade hummus, whatever. It’s a flavour gift that keeps on giving all week long.
Cut the top of the garlic bulb off to expose the cloves.
I use my little brie baker round for baking garlic but you could also use tin foil. If using tin foil: cut a square big enough to be able to firmly twist the top shut before it goes in the oven and put the foiled garlic on a baking sheet to avoid drippy oven cleanups. Drizzle the cut side of the garlic with olive oil, sprinkle with salt (I use Maldive salt), close the foil pouch and put that in a 350 F oven for 30-40 minutes, until the garlic cloves have turned caramel brown and can easily squeeze out of their pouches. Set aside until you’re ready to assemble your platter.
Since the oven’s going, I’m going to douse cherry tomatoes and two bell peppers with olive oil and salt, place that on baking tray lined with parchment paper, and that’s going in for about 20-30 minutes: until the tomatoes are beginning to wilt and the peppers are beginning to collapse. Ready for the oven.
Tomatoes are ready. I do this every weekend. It’s great to add to platters, sandwiches, pasta or couscous salad, or blitz them up to make a pasta or pizza tomato sauce. It’s a workhorse in the kitchen.
Same with bell pappers. These are ready.
Using tongs and a fork, I slip the skin off like a jacket ready to be shed on a warm spring’s day. Then I thinly slice the pepper pulp. These can go in the fridge and be incorporated into all kinds of dishes throughout the week. They’re really good with goat cheese and a balsamic vinegar reduction.
Let’s make that balsamic reduction: 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar goes into a non-stick pan on the stove, on medium-high heat.
Keep stirring and reduce it until it’s syrupy. Pro tips: 1) Put the pan on the back burner and don’t poke your head in there–you’ll get an unpleasant hit of vinegar burning off; 2) Don’t let it reduce too much. You’re looking for syrup, not molasses. Once it’s goes molasses, it’s turn hard. Unpleasant; 3) Soak your pan and utensils immediately after making the reduction–it makes clean up a lot easier.
See how much it reduces. How we’ve got a fruity, tart syrup to drizzle on the crostini.
Time to prepare the crostinis and brie. I’ve got three ciabatta buns in the freezer, so I thaw and slice those. You could also use a baguette. They get slathered with olive oil on both sides, as does the brie. Ready for the grill.
The grill is set at about 300 F for the bread. It goes down. You’re really just looking for grill marks here; grill for too long and the crostini will be way too crunchy.
OK, time for the star of the show and the challenge here is to let the brie round stay on the grill for long enough to get good grill marks without it getting so hot that the cheese oozes out of the rind. Let’s see how this goes. Grill temperature gets cranked up to 500 F, then all but one burner gets turned off. Brie goes down on indirect heat.
Close the BBQ lid for about 2-3 minutes. Using tongs, gently lift the brie and check the bottom for grill marks. Pro tip: use tongs, not a spatula, in order to prevent tearing the rind. Once I see grill marks, that brie gets flipped, lid closed, for another 1-2 minutes. Gently use tongs to lift the brie on a large spatula. Voila!
Slide that brie onto the middle of the platter and we are ready for a lovely summer make your own brie and veggie crostini.
— Trish Hennessy
A Year in Sandwiches 