Baked Goat Cheese (97)

I love to host parties.  Big or small, just dessert or multiple course meal, it just doesn’t matter.  I love having people in our home.  I think New Year’s Eve is a great night to celebrate with friends so I’m going to spend the rest of the week sharing recipes from a recent get together we hosted.  Whether you decide to try 1 recipe or make them all, I hope that you find some inspiration in these posts.

Part of the reason that we can do the ministry that we do, is that we have wonderful leaders that work with us.  Laura has been with us all 4 years and Dan and Clare have worked with us the last 3.  When we are all together, the time flies, we laugh hysterically and just have fun being together.  We wanted to have a special dinner with them this year as a thank you for all they do to help us with youth group.  These are friends that have shared lots of meals at our house so Currey and I wanted to make sure this was an extra special event.

It was a big menu so I’m just sharing the baked goat cheese today.  When we started brainstorming about this party, I had the idea to do tapas.  One of my favorite dishes at all tapas restaurants I’ve ever been to is baked goat cheese with marinara.  I followed a recipe from Whole Foods and it came out delicious!  I purchased a cylinder of goat cheese because I couldn’t find a round.  I flattened it out until it was about 1/2 inch think and put it in a square Pyrex.  Then I spooned marinara sauce on either side of the cheese, being careful not to cover the cheese.  I baked at 400 for 25 minutes, until the cheese began to brown and the sauce was bubbling.  I ended up having to add more sauce and putting it back in the oven for 20 minutes because as we ate it, there was lots of cheese and not enough sauce.  Simply serve this with toasted baguette slices.  I like to drizzle the bread with olive oil before baking.  This is a really easy appetizer and I had it ready so our guest could munch on something while Currey and I finished dinner.  The creamy cheese pairs perfectly with the marinara and was a perfect start to our night together.