Description
A salty party appetizer is perfect to pair with and encourage the drinking of wine. Try this sun-dried tomato and goat cheese spread topped with an olive and best served with Garnacha wine.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 Large Heads of Garlic* (see note)
- 4 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
- 2 Pieces of Whole Wheat Pita Bread
- 5 oz (142g) Goat Cheese
- ¼ C (40g) Marinated Sun-dried Tomatoes, Julianne
- 2 Tbs Fresh Basil, rough chopped + extra leaves for garnish
- 8 (32g) Kalamata Olives, pitted and sliced in quarters
- 8 (94g) Cherry Tomatoes, halved
- A few pinches of Sea Salt, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F (218C). Cut end off each head of garlic, the pointy side, not the root side. This will expose the garlic cloves. Set each head of garlic in a square of foil (enough to fully wrap each head in). Spoon 1 tsp of olive oil over each head of garlic. Wrap each head loosely making sure the foil is closed. Roast for 35 minutes.
- While the garlic is roasting, using a large knife, cut the pita bread into 32 little wedges. Brush each wedge with olive oil. Bake during the last 8 minutes of roast time with the garlic. The pitas will crisp up after being removed from the oven. Allow them to cool.
- Peel the garlic cloves out of their skins, gently. This is often messy as the garlic is very soft. Just do your best to remove all the skins.
- At this point, the appetizer can be assembled with each component placed separately on a serving platter. Spoon room temperature goat cheese into a small serving dish and place the pitas, sun dried tomatoes, garlic cloves, thinly sliced basil, kalamata and tomatoes seperately on to a serving dish. Severing this way allows for the pitas to be served warm and individual canapés assembled by guests. I find this arrangement agreeable if sharing with a few others. If sharing with a larger group, press on!
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the roasted garlic, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and basil. Process until smooth. There will still be chunks in the cheese, and this is okay, but they need to be small enough as to not overwhelm a bite.
- Spoon the goat cheese mixture into a plastic sandwich bag, forcing the cheese to one corner of the bag. Cut a small hole in the end of the bag and pipe on to the pita wedges. Top with cherry tomato, kalamata olive and basil leaf or tiny basil ribbon. *Cut basil turns black/brown, so try to find tiny leaves. A fresh thyme leaf is an option as well, which tastes delicious!
- Sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt over each canapé before serving. Serve immediately.
- Category: Appetizer