Warmed goat cheese and brie rounds are drizzled with a citrusy honey-lavender vinaigrette and served with baby arugula, oven-dried tomatoes and orange segments. A delectable appetizer.
Chef's notes
This vinaigrette is quite tart; however, it balances the richness of the warm cheese. The rind can be trimmed off the brie, if desired. You can also substitute the almonds with any other toasted nuts.
Steps
1
Preparing the Cheese
Ingredients
150 g goat cheese (5 oz)
100 g brie cheese (approx. 3)
1 whole lemon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup toasted, sliced almonds
To prepare the cheese rounds, first place the goat cheese into a bowl. Then tear the brie into pieces and add to the bowl, along with the zest of half a lemon.
Next, add the salt and pepper and then using the back of a wooden spoon, blend everything together. Just make sure to not over blend. There should still be little pieces of brie for contrast in taste and texture. Divide the cheese into four.
Lightly crush the toasted almonds. Gather a tray lined with plastic wrap and set aside.
Take one quarter of the cheese and roll it into a ball and then flatten it slightly to form a disc. Place the cheese into the almonds and roll to coat each side. Then set the cheese onto the tray and place into the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes to set and chill. (These can also be assembled the day before.)
If making immediately, preheat your oven to 350° degrees Fahrenheit.
2
Starting the Vinaigrette
Ingredients
5 whole black peppercorns
1/4 cup water
4 tbsp honey
1 small spring thyme
1 small sprig lavender
To make the vinaigrette, roughly chop the herbs. Using the back of a heavy pan, crack the peppercorns.
Place a small saucepan over medium heat and add the water, honey, herbs and pepper. Bring everything to a simmer and let reduce for about 3 to 5 minutes. As it cooks, the flavors from the herbs will infuse into the honey. Once it has thickened slightly, turn off the heat and set aside.
3
Gathering the Rest of Your Ingredients
Ingredients
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups arugula (about 1 ounce)
extra-virgin olive oil (to taste)
kosher salt (to taste)
Before you bake the cheese, make sure to gather the rest of the ingredients. (Once the cheese is ready it should be served immediately.)
Cut the lemon in half and measure out the olive oil. Gather the arugula and have some extra olive oil and salt on hand for tossing the salad. Lastly, have the serving plates ready.
4
Baking and Starting to Assemble
Once ready to serve the salad, remove the cheese from the refrigerator and transfer to a parchment-lined baking tray.
The cheese bakes for only 2 to 3 minutes, so be sure to keep an eye on it. As soon as the tray goes into the oven you can quickly toss the salad. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the arugula, followed by a touch of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Toss gently to combine.
Divide the salad among the plates and then check on the cheese. Once the discs just begin to soften, remove them from the oven.
5
Finishing the Vinaigrette and Serving
To serve the dish, use a large spoon to gently transfer the cheese to each plate.
Quickly finish the vinaigrette by adding the juice of the other half of the lemon, along with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Whisk together to combine.
To finish, drizzle the vinaigrette over the cheese and around the plate. This dish is great as is, but it can also be garnished with a variety of ingredients, such as oven-dried tomatoes and orange segments. Serve with toasted bread smothered with roasted garlic for a delicious appetizer.
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You may just want to leave it out if you cannot find it. Otherwise try experimenting with a few other fresh herbs to see if you find a combo that you like. Other fresh herbs that are friends with thyme include parsley, lemon verbena, mint, marjoram, rosemary, sage and tarragon...but these maybe too strong for this dish. Like I said, you can either leave it out of try experimenting. Cheers!
You are right, in most cases chevre will work in place of goat cheese. Chevre actually means "goat" in French but it is a general word used to describe all types of cheeses that are made from goats milk.
For more info here is a good link for "what is chevre"
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-chevre.htm Cheers!
Hi there, I'm making this for my Christmas meal starter and I stupidly didn't watch the video before I started and actually removed the rind from the brie before creating the cheese mix. Is it worth starting over and do you think it will still be really good? I'd be grateful for your advice!
The recipe says 5 whole black peppercorns, but there are quite a few more shown in the video. Could you advise what the correct amount of peperorns is?
Don't worry about the rind. It will be ok. Use roughly 5 peppercorns or more to taste as desired. You don't want it overly peppery. It looks like we adjusted our mise "to taste" and took some peppercorns out as you can see the amount of ground pepper that we pour into the pan at 00:36 - it isn't very much. Hope this helps! Enjoy your dinner :)
My suggestion is to prepare your mise in advance and do it last minute. It's nice warm and it only takes a few minutes to put together.
Remember, the most important part of preparing a whole Christmas dinner is to ask for help and delegate! Guests are (or they should be!) more than happy to help out. Merry Christmas!
Thank you, you are absolutely right but I find I like to cook in silence so I can concentrate! I will do this last minute though. Thanks again Kimberly.
I respectfully disagree with your response - Chevre is (in the US, anyway) a term used exclusively to refer to a particular type of soft goat cheese, which is often referred to as simply 'goat cheese' in recipes. Quite frankly, it irks me a bit that people limit their experiences with 'goat cheese' to chevre, particularly if they make a blanket statement that they don't care for goat cheese, when really they don't care for one particular variety.
Goat milk can be used to make many types of cheese, including mozzarella, colby, brie, cottage, ricotta, etc. and the type of cheese depends on the cheese cultures and techniques, not the animal which the milk comes from. Feta is traditionally made from sheep milk, for example, but could easily be made from cow or goat milk. I have made brie from goat milk, and my parents make and sell chevre (plain and herbed) as well as mozzarella from their Grade A goat dairy. They also have good luck with a colby style, though it tends to come out more creamy/soft in the middle than mass-produced colby available in the store.
Good points Jessica. I do agree with what you are saying. In the case above where I said he could use "chevre" I was more saying it in terms of what he might be looking for on the package as I know Romeos english is not perfect, so I didn't want to go into too much detail there.
That being said, I do believe that I did say "Chevre actually means "goat" in French but it is a general word used to describe all types of cheeses that are made from goats milk.", so technically I think we are saying the same thing are we not? Anyhoo...thanks for taking the time to comment on the different types of cheeses that can be made using goats milk. I have to say that any cheese made of goats milk is most often the one that I go for. I also particularly like goats (and sheep) feta. You are lucky that your parents make cheese...how wonderful for you. Cheers!
Jenny G •My two favorite cheeses =) and that delicious vinaigrette!! I've been making the vinaigrette for salads too.
Dawn T •You may just want to leave it out if you cannot find it. Otherwise try experimenting with a few other fresh herbs to see if you find a combo that you like. Other fresh herbs that are friends with thyme include parsley, lemon verbena, mint, marjoram, rosemary, sage and tarragon...but these maybe too strong for this dish. Like I said, you can either leave it out of try experimenting. Cheers!
Renee L •Hi there, I'm making this for my Christmas meal starter and I stupidly didn't watch the video before I started and actually removed the rind from the brie before creating the cheese mix. Is it worth starting over and do you think it will still be really good? I'd be grateful for your advice!
Kimberley S • Rouxbe Staff •Don't worry about the rind. It will be ok. Use roughly 5 peppercorns or more to taste as desired. You don't want it overly peppery. It looks like we adjusted our mise "to taste" and took some peppercorns out as you can see the amount of ground pepper that we pour into the pan at 00:36 - it isn't very much. Hope this helps! Enjoy your dinner :)