Things have been rather exciting around here over the past few weeks. We are now officially an Aunt and Uncle to a beautiful baby girl, are currently adjusting to life after a fantastic vacation in California AND have been preparing for Joanne’s very first day of culinary school (to start this weekend). YAY!
All of the good news, plane rides, baby cheeks and sparkling new culinary uniforms have distracted us a bit so we have a really simple recipe for you today. Last week, we told you about our insanely high inventory of nuts and dried fruit … well, guess what, we used some more up with this recipe.
Simply add finely chopped apricots and toasted walnuts to tangy goat cheese for a ridiculously tasty cheese spread. Drizzle just a touch of honey on top for a bit of sweetness then serve this at your next family or friend gathering and you will be one popular host / hostess.
Goat Cheese with Apricots and Walnuts
5 ounces goat cheese
1 ounce (6-8 apricots) dried apricots
1 ounce (1/4 cup) walnut halves
16 thin crackers
honey
In a dry pan, toast the walnuts over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes – Watch the nuts carefully as they can burn easily. Finely chop the apricots and toasted walnuts then add them to the goat cheese. Stir the mixture until the apricots and nuts are evenly dispersed. Spread some onto a cracker and drizzle with a touch of honey.
Oh no, sorry, it’s me again. I just had a thought. This would be wonderful rolled into small balls and rolled in more chopped walnuts and placed on top of a mesclun salad served with crackers. Now I’m hungry. Stand back, I’m goin’ in.
I forgot to say I also used this to stuff some celery as a little side for dinner one night. Out of this world!
The baby is just beautiful. Tx for the pix. I just want to kiss her soft little head.
This spread is out of this world. Thanks so much. Next time, I’m going to have to make a double batch. And just to change it up a little bit, I served it with an assortment of crackers including Keebler Toasteds. The Savory Onion was particularly delicious.
What a lovely recipe-it is great for all the seasons.
what a wonderful cheese dish! I would love to serve this up to friends. Great idea!
PS…I recognize that beautiful mustard…I took a trip to Napa in Feb and it took me some time to recover as well! 🙂
Thanks Aggie! We were just checking out your blog and we love your idea for the fruit dip using the strawberry yogurt. Sometimes the simplest dishes that have an interesting twist are the way to go. Plus you don’t have a huge mess to clean up afterwords.
can you leave this in the fridge for 12 hours before a party?
Elis, we really only reccomend that half of the steps can be done far in advance. We recommend the following:
1. Toast you nuts and chop them up along with the apricots the da before.
2. Add only the apricots to the goat cheese in advance (we worry the nuts will lose any crunch they have, so just keep them in reserve in a ziplock bag or similar until the next day)
3. Store the goat cheese/apricot mixture in the fridge tightly covered with plastic wrap so the goat cheese does not dry out.
4. 10 minutes or so before serving, add your nuts.
5. Instead of assembling the crackers in advance, you could also just serve them along side a nice bowl of the goat cheese spread and some honey. You guests will enjoy assembling their own just as much!
We hope that helps a bit!
Hooray for aunt- and unclehood! And for culinary school! And for goat cheese! (Especially for goat cheese)