Provençal Reverie: Laura Chenel’s Garlic & Goat Cheese

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Laura Chenel nearly single-handedly launched the American goat cheese industry. In 1989, she and the late Linda Siegfried wrote American Country Cheese: Cooking with America's Specialty and Farmstead Cheeses (Aris Books/Addison Wesley Publishing). This recipe is from the book's final chapter, "Laura Chenel's Chèvre.

Fresh Garlic Garlic!

Provençal Reverie • Serves 4 to 6

The very best time to make this simple and simply delicious appetizer is in mid to late spring, when garlic is just being harvest but hasn’t yet been cured. It is good any time of year, but never better when the garlic is fresh out of the ground and all plump and juicy.

  • 4 to 6
  • Cook Time: 17 Min

Ingredients

  • 1 cup full-flavored extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large head garlic, cloves peeled and slivered
  • 1 large bay leaf
  • ⅓ cup fresh thyme leaves
  • Black pepper in a mill
  • 5 ounces fresh goat cheese, cut into thin slices
  • 1 fresh baguette, preferably sourdough, hot

Directions

  1. Pour the olive oil into a small saucepan, add the slivered garlic and bay leaf, set over very low heat, and simmer very gently for 15 minutes; do not allow the garlic to brown.

  2. Add the thyme and several turns of black pepper and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

  3. Arrange the cheese in a wide, shallow serving dish. Pour the warm garlic mixture over the cheese and enjoy right away, with slices of the hot baguette.

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