' Narrow Gate Vineyards - Exotic Spice and Orange Zest Marinated Goat Cheese

Food, Wine and Life

Exotic Spice and Orange Zest Marinated Goat Cheese
06/06/2017
Exotic Spice and Orange Zest Marinated Goat Cheese photograph

We served this impressive, yet simple, wine-friendly appetizer paired with Narrow Gate Vineyards 2012 Dunamis, Estate (GSM) as part of a tasting plate at this past weekend’s Sunday in the Country event. It was such a hit I wanted to share with you here the original recipe for Marinated Goat Cheese with Herbs and Spices, bon appetit May 2017. Below is my individual serving adaptation with increased olive oil and more ground spices (so no one misses out on all the exotic flavors). We served these along with Alice Medrich’s rustic, wheat-free, Seeded Crackers that I baked from her fantastic book, Flavor Flours.

Makes 20 rounds

11 ounce log goat cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds
3 garlic cloves, smashed and sliced lengthwise into slivers
2 teaspoons orange zest
3 bay leaves, each torn into 8 pieces
1 star anise* pod, coarsely ground
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Using a thread slice goat cheese lengthwise. Lay each piece flat-side down and slice each into 10 half-moons. Using your hands roll each into a ball and set them in a single layer in a shallow resealable dish or lidded container. In a saucepan set on medium high heat combine the remaining ingredients and heat for 10 to 15 minutes until garlic begins to turn golden. When marinade is cooled pour it over the goat cheese, seal with a lid and gently shake and turn over several times and refrigerate for three hours before serving.

Serve in individual 2-ounce ramekins with crackers or toasted sliced baguettes

*Note: On her last trip to Thailand my good friend Mitzi Jacob surprised me with a bag of star anise that she brought back from there. It’s worth the effort to special order a high quality star anise as it has way more intense anise/black licorice flavor than other readily available star anise. I also found that the whole star anise pod called for in the original recipe did not release much flavor so I coursely ground it in a coffee bean grinder and that did the trick.

 
Post By:   Teena Hildebrand