Name: Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes Holiday Appetizer
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Approximately 6 sun-dried tomato halves; 3 cloves of garlic, minced; 2 T. of excellent, fruity extra virgin olive oil; 1 T. chopped fresh rosemary; 1 French baguette, thinly sliced; olive oil; sea salt; freshly ground black pepper; 1 11 oz. package of fresh goat cheese

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This appetizer recipe for Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes is easy, creamy, tangy, crunchy, and goes great with a nice glass of wine. It’s the perfect thing to enjoy before plowing into Thanksgiving meal preparations.

A Thanksgiving appetizer that’s quick, easy, beautiful, and amazingly delicious! Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Garlic, and Rosemary on Crostini. Perfect for Christmas parties, too!

Why Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes?

Every Thanksgiving, I serve an appetizer of Goat Cheese with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Garlic and Rosemary on Crostini. Every family has holiday traditions, and this is one of ours. In fact, if I didn’t serve it, there’d be a mob formed (by my family), which would include pitchforks and torches.

Why is it our choice, year after year?

It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s beautiful to look at. And It’s AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!!!!!!

Delicious Food Trends Never Go Out of Style

I first made it in 1998, the year the Southern Living 20th Anniversary Edition of their Annual Recipes Cookbook was published. My son was only 4 years old back then, but even he loved the tangy creaminess of the goat cheese, with the savory sweetness of the garlicky sun-dried tomatoes with rosemary, all served on a freshly warmed salty, crispy crostini. If you garnish your platter with rosemary sprigs, the whole dish has a Christmas-y appearance, as well. (Think about the colors of red and green, and how the rosemary plant resembles an evergreen tree.)

Yes, sun-dried tomatoes are so very 1990’s, but there’s a reason they were so popular for an entire decade: they are tiny flavor bombs of sweet and savory yumminess. Especially when you add that dark herbal note of rosemary, and the garlic and extra virgin olive oil. So Don’t Disdain the Sun-Dried Tomato: employ its magic. And splurge and buy a nice fruity extra virgin olive oil. In a dish this simple, it’s the excellence of the basic ingredients that counts. Buy a beautiful baguette from the best artisan bakery you have access to. (It’s ok if it’s a day or two old, because you’re going to toast it in the oven, anyway, which will freshen it up.)

I’ve actually shared this recipe before, but I kind of buried it at the end of a post I wrote for Morton Salt. And for people who are looking for a GREAT Thanksgiving appetizer, this one is the business, and it deserves to be found by Google, or your favorite search engine.

What Wine Should I Choose To Go With This?

Now that the kids are old enough to enjoy wine with a nice meal, I always choose a nice Sauvignon Blanc to go with this appetizer. It really pairs beautifully!

With our appetizer plates filled, and our glass of wine, my daughter and I retire to the living room for a bit of a mid-day break, where we watch the Purina National Dog Show. Because what would Thanksgiving Day be to a dog lover, without it? It’s like having a light lunch that’s really special. And it’s the perfect dish to tide us over till the big feast that’s coming at around 5:00.

That particular Thanksgiving was cold, clear and crisp, as I recall! A gorgeous day, here in the Boonies.

Looking for other great Thanksgiving dishes? Like my Easy Cranberry Orange Apple Walnut Relish? I can supply! There’s a list of them below the recipe.

Goat Cheese Appetizer: the perfect appetizer for Thanksgiving

The perfect appetizer for Thanksgiving. Pin this, won’t you?

So here’s the recipe for:

Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes Appetizer

Yield: 8 servings

Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes Holiday Appetizer

A Thanksgiving appetizer that's quick, easy, beautiful, and amazingly delicious! Goat Cheese with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Garlic, and Rosemary on Crostini. Perfect for Christmas parties, too! It's the red and the green, dontchaknow?

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

Approximately 6 sun-dried tomato halves
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T. of excellent, fruity extra virgin olive oil
1 T. chopped fresh rosemary
1 French baguette, thinly sliced
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 11 oz. package of fresh goat cheese

Instructions

Cover sun-dried tomato halves in boiling water; let stand five minutes. Drain, and chop. Combine chopped tomatoes, garlic, oil, and rosemary in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and chill up to 4 hours.
Pre-heat oven to 350º. Brush baguette rounds with additional olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, or until lightly toasted.
Just before serving, place goat cheese on a serving plate, and top with tomato mixture. Serve with toasted baguette slices

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Notes

You can substitute sun-dried tomatoes that have been packed in oil; just don't hydrate them, if you do.

Adapted from Southern Living 20th Anniversary Edition Annual Recipes