Goat Cheese & Roasted Veggie Terrine
This is a big party hit. It’s easy to make and best of all it uses fresh, local ingredients. And, it looks like you slaved all day when in fact you didn’t. Serve it with Gone Crackers Moroccan Spice Crackers. Prep & cooking time – 1 hour.
- 10 oz. Okanagan goat cheese
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup 1% milk
- 10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1 orange or yellow sweet bell pepper
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
- 1/3 cup fresh basil – save a few leaves for garnish
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Prepare the Roasted Veggies:
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Wash and slice the cherry tomatoes in half and place on a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil or parchment paper. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place in centre rack in the oven. Roast for 30 to 40 minutes or until tomatoes appear golden and bubbly.
- Wash and pat dry the sweet bell pepper (we like to use yellow or orange to give some color contrast but red is fine too. Just don’t use green, it’s too bitter). Cut in half and remove the seeds and stem and place in a roasting dish lined with tinfoil. Roast the pepper halves for 30 to 40 minutes until the skin is blistered. Once the skin is blistered/black, remove the pepper halves from the oven and wrap the tinfoil tightly around them. The steam inside the tinfoil will help loosen the skins. Let sit for a few minutes, then unwrap the roasted pepper halves from the tinfoil and peel off the skins.
- Slice the peeled pepper halves into thin strips and then cut into thirds. Place in a bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil and ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar, mix with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and half of the chopped fresh basil.
- Put the roasted cherry tomatoes in a bowl and mix in salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and some half of the chopped fresh basil (remember to save a few leaves for garnish!)
Assembling the Terrine
- Line the inside of a 2-cup sharply sloping bowl (about 4 inches across the top) with plastic; let the ends extend over the sides a few inches. In a mixing bowl, mash the goat cheese and 1/4 cup of the milk with a fork and season with 1/4 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper; add more milk if the cheese hasn’t softened.
- Spoon about one-third of the cheese into the lined bowl and pack it into an even layer. Spread the roasted cherry tomatoes almost completely to the sides of the first layer of cheese. Top with another third of the cheese, the roasted peppers, and all but 1/2 Tbs. of the pine nuts. Top with the remaining cheese. Pack down, fold the plastic over, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Half an hour before serving, take the bowl out of the refrigerator. Pull on the edges of the plastic to loosen the terrine from the bowl. Invert the terrine onto a plate, drizzle with a little olive oil, and let sit for 1/2 hour to warm up. Sprinkle with the remaining pine nuts, garnish with basil leaves, season liberally with pepper, and serve with Gone Crackers Moroccan Spice Crackers.
