Balsamic Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Crostini

I have a slight obsession with goat cheese. I know this probably sounds terrible to a lot of you (my grandma being one of them), but I can honestly eat it plain, by the spoonful/slice. My fiend first made this snack during the summer when we decided to have a picnic by the lake. She's an extremely talented cook, so I was thrilled when she unpacked all the components to make these. I was seriously under-prepared with my store bought salsa and chips. These can be made ahead and assembled before you serve them. Just make sure the tomatoes are at room temperature when served. The goat cheese will also be a little easier to spread if you let it sit out a little it before serving.

Pin It Now!

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

A couple months ago I made these tarts as an appetizer, but somehow completely forget to write the post. They tasted incredible and weren't too difficult to make. It combines so many great flavors from the goat cheese and sauteed onions to the tomatoes and basil. The only difficulty I had was with getting the edges of my puff pasty dough to rise. I was able to make 6 tarts instead of just 4 with the ingredients listed, so perhaps I stretched my dough a little thinner than intended. I also think these would make really great bite sized appetizers. Instead of rolling the dough into a 6 inch circle, I would consider rolling out 2 or 3 inch circles and using sliced cherry or Campari tomatoes  instead of larger ones.

The original recipe calls for a garlic and herb goat cheese, which I did not have at the time. To make up for this difference, I just chopped up some fresh herbs from the garden (mainly chives and thyme) and mixed them into the plain goat cheese. When you make this recipe, be sure to serve it fresh from the oven since it does not re-heat well. I had some left over and even though the flavors were still delicious, the dough did not get crunchy enough the second time around.

Pin It Now!

Mixed Greens with Goat Cheese and Candied Almonds

Clearly, I've been on a candied nut kick lately. They become dangerously addictive and any recipe that calls for them becomes an instant "must try" on my list. They also add such a great crunch to salads, and since it's 95°F here, salads sound pretty amazing. I promise once it cools down I won't be posting about salad every other day, but remember when it was summer where most of you live? And how sweltering it can get when you don't have an air conditioner?

Anyway, back to the salad I discovered during my candied nut hunt. This is a quick one to throw together, except the dressing requires about 30 minutes to reduce on your stove. You can add more to it, switch cheeses, switch nuts, but it's really the dressing that is great. Try to avoid using extra virgin olive oil (light olive oil would be better), since it overpowers the flavor of the apple cider vinegar and sparkling cider. I cut the recipe in half and it made a great lunch for 3 (assuming not all 3 are starving). The salad dressing makes A LOT more than you need. You can save it in your fridge for another salad, give some away, or scale it back. I decided to save some and give the rest away to my friend who was the guinea pig today. She loved the dressing and was a happy to help get rid of the extra.
Pin It Now!