Nakladaný hermelin is, as far as we can fathom, a soft Camembert-type cheese (hermelin) steeped in oil with various flavourings.
We had several rounds of it in pubs in the Czech Republic (Pivni Filosof seems to live off the stuff) and thought it looked like an easy recipe to recreate at home.
You need
- One Camembert cheese or similar
- An onion (we used red onion)
- Juniper berries
- Paprika (sweet, hottish)
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Red pepper
- Pickled chillies
To make it…
- Cut the cheese in half horizontally, like a sponge cake ready for filling. Spread a teaspoon of paprika, several slices of onion, and salt and pepper inside, and then press it back together.
- Put more slices of onion, a pickled chilli and three or four juniper berries in a dish and then put the cheese on top.
- Put more slices of onion and another pickled chilli on top of the cheese.
- Cover the whole lot with olive oil.
- Clingfilm it and stick it in the fridge.
- After a few days (three’s probably a safe bet — any more and you’re dicing with death when it comes to preserving in oil) take it out and drain off the oil. Remove the juniper berries.
- Serve it on a plate with all of the onions and chillis from the dish, plus some small slices of red pepper.
- Eat it with a nice beer and some crusty bread.
Happy Christmas!