Hors d'oeuvre…..

….."first course served before the main meal and often meant to be eaten by hand" (Courtesy Wikipedia)
We had guests for lunch yesterday and I alway like to experiment with at least one dish that I have never made before.  Today it was the hors d'oeuvre….Goat Cheese Spread with Herbs and Olive Oil.  I found the recipe while surfing the web and it looked nice and easy.  As it turned out it was also very tasty.
I served it on a platter in the middle of the table and provided a small plate and knife so that my guests could help themselves.  Goats cheese is a strongly flavoured cheese but with the addition of herbs, lemon zest and a couple of other ingredients it really is a recipe worth trying.
Hubby and I polished off what was left for dinner last night. It was just the right thing to eat after a large lunch.  Here is the recipe:

Goat Cheese Spread with Herbs and Olive Oil

Ingredients:

360g soft goats cheese (3 x 120g packets)

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for drizzling

2 tablespoons dry white wine

salt, freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (choose at least two from the following: parsley, chives, tarragon, dill)

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Good crackers or slices of walnut bread

1 punnet cherry tomatoes

1 celery heart cut into sticks

Put goats cheese, cream, olive oil and wine in a food processor (or mix in a bowl with a wooden spoon).  Pulse just to blend.  Mixture should be spreadable.  If it's too thick add a little more cream.  Season, taste and adjust as necessary.

Reserve 1 teaspoon herbs for sprinkling and add the rest to processor.  Add the lemon zest.  Pulse once more to blend.

Line a small (about 2 cup) round bowl or cup with plastic wrap and fill with the mixture.

Cover and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.

To serve, invert bowl onto a serving platter and peel off  plastic.  With the back of a spoon, level off top of cheese and make a small depression.  Drizzle olive oil over the top.  Sprinkle with reserved herbs and lemon zest.  Arrange crackers or bread slices, tomatoes and celery around cheese and let guests serve themselves.