Goat Cheese Marinated In Rosemary Fennel And Hot Red Pepper Recipes

Steps:

• Find a small, wide-mouth canning jar or small glass vase (3 1/2 inches in diameter by 4 inches high), just large enough to hold the two goat cheeses on top of each other with a little room to spare. Cut each cheese in half horizontally, making 2 rounds from each. (A piece of dental floss makes this easier.)
• Place half of the first disk flat in the jar, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then with 1/2 teaspoon dill, 1 teaspoon basil, and a few red pepper flakes, and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Place another disk of cheese on top and repeat the seasonings, herbs, and oil. Continue with the remaining cheese disks, piling one on top of the other with oil and seasonings in between. When all the disks are stacked and seasoned, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil on top. Cover and set aside at room temperature for one hour or refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Serve at room temperature with bread or crackers for people to help themselves.

Steps:

• In a 1-pint jar with a tight-fitting lid combine the cheese with the fennel seeds, the red pepper flakes, the rosemary, and the lemon zest, pour enough of the oil over the mixture to cover the cheese completely, and let the cheese marinate, covered, and chilled, for at least 1 week and up to 4 weeks. Let the mixture come to room temperature before serving.

Steps:

• Combine lemon zest, rosemary, and olive oil.
• Place goat cheese in a baking dish or on a large plate and spoon marinade over the top. Season with gray salt and pepper. Refrigerate and let marinate.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place peppers on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Roast for 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until skin is charred and blistered. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes. Peel the peppers and remove the stems and seeds. Place the peppers in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add garlic, goat cheese, lemon juice and sour cream to the peppers and puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the mixture from the food processor and mix in the oregano. Refrigerate until ready to use. The night before the game, make the dip and cut up all the vegetables and place in plastic bags. Serve the dip with the vegetables.

Steps:

• Put peppers into work bowl of a process bowl and puree. Add all other ingredients and pulse until combined. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Steps:

• Roast the pepper: Place the bell pepper directly over the open flame of a gas burner, under the broiler or on a hot, glowing charcoal grill. Let the skin of the pepper blacken and blister, using tongs to turn the pepper frequently. When completely blackened, after 5 to 8 minutes, transfer to a plate to cool.
• Using a paring knife, cut pepper in half lengthwise. Cut away seeds and stem and discard. Scrape away the skin and discard. Do not rinse. It's OK if a few bits of charred skin remain.
• Cut pepper halves into long strips about 1-inch wide. Season lightly with salt. (The pepper can be prepared up to 24 hours ahead of serving.)
• Marinate the goat cheese: Slice the goat cheese log into 10 pieces (each about 3/4-inch thick). Place pieces in a single layer on a plate and pour 1/4 cup oil over.
• Strip leaves from a few thyme sprigs and a rosemary sprig, roughly chop and sprinkle over the cheese. Finish with a bit of freshly ground black pepper, and a small pinch of red-pepper flakes. Cover and set aside. (This can also be done up to 24 hours ahead.)
• Set oven to 350 degrees. Cut the baguette on a diagonal into 10 slices, each about 1/4-inch thick. (If using ciabatta, cut into similar-size pieces.) Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer, then place in oven for about 5 minutes, until bread is barely toasted.
• Remove from oven and carefully give each toast a light swipe with the garlic clove. Lay a strip of roasted pepper across each toast to cover. Place a goat cheese round in the center of each toast. Spoon the remaining olive oil from the plate generously over each piece of cheese and any exposed toast.
• To finish, return to the oven and bake, uncovered, until the bread is nicely browned and the cheese has gotten a bit of color, 8 to 10 minutes. Let toasts cool a bit, then arrange on a platter and serve. (They taste best at room temperature or just barely warm.) Toasts can be baked up to 1 hour ahead and popped in the oven to reheat slightly.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Arrange peppers on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until blackened and soft, 25-30 minutes, turning once or twice.
• Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand 10 minutes (this helps steam the peppers in their skins, and makes skin removal easier).
• Meanwhile, make the marinade: combine oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, leaves from about half the thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
• While peppers are still hot, slip off the skin and scrape out seeds; remove stems.
• Cut each pepper into quarters.
• Add roasted peppers to the marinade and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
• To serve, arrange peppers on 4 plates, garnish with olives, oranges and remaining thyme, and crumble goat cheese over and season with additional freshly ground pepper.
• Note: instead of all red wine vinegar, you can use 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and 1 teaspoon balsamic, for even deeper and sweeter flavor. Chopped basil is also a delicious garnish.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch broilerproof baking dish. Sprinkle shallots, rosemary and garlic over bottom of prepared dish. Cook fennel in boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 12 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer fennel, cut side up, to prepared dish. Pour wine over fennel. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Bake fennel uncovered until tender, basting occasionally with wine and turning fennel over halfway through baking, about 30 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm, uncovered, in 350°F oven for about 15 minutes before continuing.)
• Preheat broiler. Turn fennel cut side up. Sprinkle goat cheese over fennel. Broil until cheese melts and begins to brown, watching closely to avoid burning, about 6 minutes.
• Transfer fennel to platter. Season wine mixture in baking dish to taste with salt and pepper; spoon over fennel. Garnish platter with reserved fennel fronds and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Place the peppercorns, garlic cloves and bay leaves in a clean, sterilized wide-mouthed jar. Pour in a film of olive oil.
• Cut the goat cheese into rounds 1/2 inch thick (I get neat rounds using unflavored dental floss to cut through the cheese). Place one round in the jar and drizzle on some olive oil. Stack the remaining rounds, drizzling oil onto each round before topping with the next. Add the thyme and rosemary sprigs to the jar and pour in olive oil to cover the goat cheese rounds completely. Cover the jar and leave at room temperature for several hours, then refrigerate.