Marinated Goat Cheese and Olives

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Some sort of cheese dip or cheese ball is practically essential for holidays, and when discussing New Years food with our friends, this recipe for a marinated goat cheese dip came up. It’s an old one, courtesy of our friend Amanda (previously seen on recipes such as this keto shepherd’s pie and her ever-popular cabbage soup), and it sounded delicious enough we had to try it.

Since the recipe itself is so simple, picking the right ingredients makes a lot of difference. The important ones are:

  • Goat Cheese. We tried with both plain goat cheese and herbed goat cheese, and while there’s a difference, plain works best to let the flavors of the marinade shine through.
  • Olives. We used kalamatas and castelvetranos, because more strongly-flavored green olives weren’t readily available without already being marinaded or stuffed. Feel free to pick your favorite olives.
  • Herbs. The recipe uses basil, rosemary, and thyme, all of which work best when they’re fresh.
  • Garlic. We’ve made this a couple of times now, and while you can use fresh minced garlic, it’s a VERY potent flavor and kind of overrides everything. Roasted garlic, in my opinion, is much better.

Other ingredients can vary as well; getting a good balsamic vinegar and a good extra-virgin olive oil can be very flavorful. There’s a lot of room to play, too; add a bit of cayenne if you want, mix up the herbs, change the olives. It’s all up to you!

Marinated Goat Cheese and Olives

A cheese dip made with goat cheese, olives, and a balsamic vinaigrette marinade.
Servings 6 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Chill Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes

Equipment

  • Small Bowl
  • 9×9" Baking Dish Or any similar broad, flat dish.

Ingredients

  • 8 Oz. Goat Cheese
  • ½ Cup Olives Mix of black and green
  • 2 Tbsp Sun-Dried Tomatoes
  • ¼ Cup Basil
  • 3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
  • 4 Cloves Roasted Garlic Half the amount if using fresh garlic
  • 1 Tbsp Rosemary Chopped
  • 1 Tbsp Thyme
  • 1 Tsp Black Pepper To taste
  • 3 Tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

  • Chop the goat cheese into slices (it's okay if it crumbles some) and arrange it in a single layer across your tray. If the goat cheese doesn't want to slice nicely, chill it for a while first.
  • Coarsely chop your olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Spread these in a layer over the top of your goat cheese, and sprinkle the basil over the top of that. (Truthfully, we mixed them in a bowl and spread it all as one layer over the cheese.)
  • In a small bowl, mix the oil, vinegar, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and pepper. Stir this up and break up the garlic with a fork if necessary. Drizzle this mixture over the garlic/olive layers.
  • Marinade this in the fridge for at least 4 hours. We usually let it sit overnight and it's fine. Bring it to room temperature before serving, and serve over bread, baguettes, crackers, or whatever else you'd like to put it on.
Course: Appetizer, Dip, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Balsamic, Goat Cheese, Marinade, Olives

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