Recipe For Cooking Cucina! Cucina! Baked Goat Cheese

Baked Toaster Oven Dishes :: Snacks and Appetizers

Cucina! Cucina! Baked Goat Cheese

Source: Cucina! Cucina! Italian Cafe - Phoenix, Arizona

3 oz. goat cheese (3/4 C.)
2 Tbsp. fine bread crumbs
2 tea. pine nuts, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 1/2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 baguette

Form goat cheese into a 3-in. disc. Combine bread crumbs and chopped pine nuts in a sm. dish. Pat bread crumb mixture evenly onto goat cheese disc and set aside.

To caramelize garlic, heat 4 Tbsp. of the olive oil in a sm. sauté pan over med.-low heat. Add peeled garlic cloves and cook slowly until garlic changes color to a light golden brown, 15 to 20 min. Remove garlic from oil and set aside. Reserve olive oil.

To make crostinis, preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Slice baguette in 1/4-in. thick pieces at an angle, about 4 in. long. Take the reserved garlic olive oil and brush both sides of each bread slice with it. Place the crostinis on a cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees F for 20 min., or until light brown. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F and place goat cheese on a cookie sheet. Bake for 3 to 4 min., or until bread crumbs turn a light golden color and cheese begins to puff. Sprinkle caramelized garlic over baked goat cheese and drizzle remaining 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil on top. Serve on a lrg. plate surrounded by crostinis.

Makes approximately 6 appetizer servings.