Don’t worry – what you’re looking at is the “before” shot. When all is said and done, it looks only vaguely like this :) There’s a restaurant in our area that serves the most incredible goat cheese -& marinara appetizer. Prior to today, it was the only one I’d ever tried so I really had nothing to compare it to but rest assured it’s good! The 4th Thursday night of every odd-numbered month we have our Home Owners Association (HOA) meeting and since I’m on the board of directors, I’m kind of expected to show up ;) One thing that motivates me is knowing that when the meeting is over, a few of us head out for a drink. The restaurant they always choose is the one with the goat cheese -&- marinara appetizer… which motivates me even more!
Doesn’t seem hard to make so today after running the usual Saturday-morning errands I stopped off to buy some goat cheese, some marinara and proceeded to make this at home. It’s easy… just take 4-6oz of goat cheese, place it in a baking dish, surround it with your favorite marinara, place the dish on a baking sheet and bake it at 350°F for 15 minutes then turn the heat up to 400°F for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven, swirl the cheese and serve with bruschetta rounds or similar type of toasted bread.
Before baking, I like to add some fresh herbs and minced garlic on top of the cheese… you could choose to buy herbed goat cheese instead. You can use any marinara you like… any herbs you like… it’ll still be gooood! The cheese gets nice and soft, not melty when heated and you use the toast rounds for dipping/scooping so there’s very few dishes to clean. It makes a great appetizer to share with friends, too! DH and the kids had never tried it before but they LOVED it to the point where DS (formerly Mr. Only-Butter-and-Parmesan-on-MY-Pasta) said he wanted this as the sauce for his pasta next time!!! Wow – knock me over with a feather :)
Have a delicious day!
Mmm, this sounds like a fabulous appetizer. I love the tang of the marinara and creaminess of the goat cheese swirled together. What a fabulous idea!
This looks absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for the great idea!
Are there any brands of marinara sauce you recommend? I have yet to find one that I like.