Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic with Goats’ Cheese
Serves 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
This is an amazing way to intensify the flavours and the resulting pile of soft, sticky tomatoes are spooned over soft goats’ cheese so that it melts all over each other. I’ve served this with toasted ciabatta, but it could also be tossed into gnocchi or perhaps drizzled with a little pesto. Alternatively, serve with some good fresh pasta or a grain such as spelt or quiona.
Ingredients
- 500g baby plum tomatoes
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled and squashed with a sharp knife
- 1 tsp tiny fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 tsp tiny fresh rosemary sprigs
- 2 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
- 1 ciabatta loaf, sliced
- 2 x 150g logs of fresh goats’ cheese, roughly chopped
- 150g natural yoghurt
- Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp chipped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
- Black olives
- Roasted Spanish almonds (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°c (350°F/gas mark 4)
Put the baby plum tomatoes in a baking dish. Scatter over the garlic, thyme and rosemary, season with salt and pepper, then drizzle over the oil. Roast, tossing once, for 20-25 minutes, until the tomatoes are blistered and beginning to burst.
Meanwhile, heat the griddle pan over a high heat until it’s smoking hot. Toast the slices of ciabatta on both sides until nicely marked.
Mix the goats’ cheese, yoghurt, lemon rind and four of the roasted garlic cloves in a bowl and season to taste. Tip onto a plate, then smear to the edge of the plate with the back of a spoon, making a well in the middle. Spoon the hot tomatoes into the well and scatter parsley on top.
Serve family-style at the table with a basket of the toasted ciabatta and bowls of olives and almonds to serve, if liked.
