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Baked Goat Cheese & Tomatoes

Baked Goat Cheese & Tomatoes
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Baked Goat Cheese & Tomatoes combines rich goat cheese, cream cheese, herbs and seasonings. It’s baked with more cheese and fresh tomatoes on top – then served hot and melted from the oven and spread over crispy toasted crostini.

Ingredients

Scale

Toasted baguettes

1 whole baguette loaf

1/3 cup olive oil

Herbed oil

1/4 cup fresh basil, packed

1/4 cup fresh parsley, packed

1/4 cup fresh thyme, packed

1/4 cup fresh mint, packed

1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

16 ounces goat cheese, softened to room temperature

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced fine

2 tablespoons whole milk

1 teaspoon fresh mint, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese

1/2 pound small tomatoes such as grape or cherry (we used a variety of smaller stem-0n tomatoes called "candy tomato bon bons")

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Toast the crostini by slicing a baguette on the bias into 24 slices and brushing both sides with olive oil. To gauge cutting into 24, slice off both ends then cut on the bias in half then each half in half. Now just cut each piece into six slices.
  3. Toast oiled slices on a ribbed pan over medium heat. I found it best to place a dinner plate over the baguettes so they stayed flat and didn’t curl while toasting. Just use gloves or tongs to lift the plate before turning each piece to toast on the other side.
  4. Make the herbed oil by plunging the fresh herbs into a sauce pan of boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain and plunge into ice water to cool quickly. This process will keep the herbs vibrant green.
  5. Pat dry on paper towels and place in a small food processor with the olive oil and salt and pulse to break up the herbs. The consistency should not be pureed but more like a chimichurri consistency.
  6. While the cream cheese and goat cheese softens, place the garlic and oil into a small saute pan and cook over medium heat for one minute then remove from heat and scrape into a small bowl to cool.
  7. Place the softened cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk on high for three minutes with the milk, stopping once or twice to scrape the bowl.
  8. Add the softened goat cheese and beat again for two minutes.
  9. Add the cooled garlic and oil, the fresh mint, fresh thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper and whisk for one minute, scraping bowl half way through.
  10. Scrape into the one-quart casserole dish and sprinkle on the grated Romano cheese and place the baby tomatoes over the top in some sort of neat row, leaving most of the surface open to brown. Roast the remaining tomatoes in a small pan at the same time to serve later.
  11. Bake for 25 minutes then serve hot with the herbed oil drizzled over the dish as well as over individual portions.
  12. To serve, spread some of the dip on one of the toasted baguette slices, drizzle on more of the herbed oil then squeeze a cooked baby tomato over the crostini. Or allow guests to do the same.

Find it online: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/baked-goat-cheese-tomatoes/