I’m a huge fan of roasting cherry tomatoes and it’s something I often find myself doing when I go a little crazy at the markets – both in France and here – because it’s an easy way to preserve them before they go bad and then you have a very versatile ingredient. When they roast off, they caramelize a little and become deliciously sweet – a wonderful topping for toast or as a complement to a fish or perhaps chicken dish. Roasting whole tomatoes for a savoury tarte tatin is one of the recipe ideas in my upcoming cookbook so I was excited to try this week’s Cook the Book Fridays recipe from My Paris Kitchen featuring roasted cherry tomatoes on a homemade goat cheese topped crostini.
I was very happy to see gorgeous heirloom cherry tomatoes on the market stand at the end of our street (the stand always has fabulous Ontario produce and it’s often my dinner inspiration) which kept their vibrant colours when they were roasted. It was all I could do to save these for the actual crostini though – once you start eating them I find it’s hard to stop…
Turning our attention to the “homemade goat cheese”… While the spread I made was delicious, it was not goat cheese as you’d expect (in either consistency or flavour). David calls for straining goat’s milk yoghurt for 24 hours then mixing it with a selection of fresh herbs, garlic and shallots. After 30 hours my yoghurt only had about 1/2 cup of liquid drain off and when I tried to squeeze the cheesecloth to remove more moisture, the yoghurt simply went through, making a mess. I used a 3% yoghurt so not sure if that was the issue but I was fairly certain that cheese is made from milk… In any case, David calls this “chèvre frais” which in my experience is a softer, spreadable goat cheese so perhaps my result was correct – certainly looking at the photo in the book, it’s similar. So, while this is a lovely spread (and I will look for goat yoghurt again to make it), it’s not what you might expect if someone tells you “goat cheese”.
This was a wonderful apéro that we enjoyed in the garden as we waited for our barbecue to be ready. And one I’ll probably make again. Loved the (ever so) slight tang of the goat cheese in the spread too – would make an excellent dip!
David’s recipe for cherry tomato crostini with homemade herbed goat cheese can be found here, or on p 110 of My Paris Kitchen.
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Yours looks so lovely and I am sure it was made better by the local tomatoes. My “cheese” was also not a terribly thick consistency. My yogurt let out maybe 3/4 cup of liquid, after about 30 hours. Still delicious though!
Ok, so it wasn’t just me whose “cheese” was more dip-like! Was pretty tasty though!
I used no fat Greek yogurt (from cow milk) that has been strained. Very little liquid came out. I made sure I started with minimum amount of liquid. The strained cheese was able to stand on its own in a ball shape I formed in the strainer lined with cheese cloth. Love your colorful heirloom tomatoes.
Yes I guess that with already strained yoghurt this would be completely different. Unfortunately I don’t know I can find Greek style goat yoghurt that easily here.
Tasty and so pretty. Wish I had found yellow ones to mix in, they really take it up a notch.
Yeah I was so happy with the lovely selection 🙂
Yummo – this looks like a delicious brekky, lunch or snack.
Definitely an anytime meal or snack!
What amazing colors in your roasted tomatoes! Brilliant!
Thanks!
Savoury tarte tatin with roasted tomatoes sounds like a wonderful dish!
It’s so nice when the heirloom tomatoes hit the markets, isn’t it? Your cheese looks beautiful and creamy, even if it isn’t much like goat’s cheese. And your crostini are beautiful with the heirlooms.
Thanks so much – I do think the heirloom colours make this look much prettier !
I love the different colour tomatoes that you’ve used! I used my homemade cows’ yoghurt, strain it overnight in the refrigerator and it sets up thick and creamy. This herbed cheese is so delicious that I’ll be making it again!
I was kind of expecting this to be more like a drier Boursin-style cheese (still spreadable). I’d make this crostini again with actual goat cheese – I think it would be delightful!
I remember the first time I roasted tomatoes we were doing FFWD, I thought they were the
best thing going. David’s are good too, and putting it together with the cheese spread is even
better. Yours look really good with the combination of of colors.
Roasted cherry tomatoes are one of my favourite things for sure!
Congratulations on your book contract. How exciting. Very proud of you and I will be first in line (probably behind Cher, however) for a pre-sale. I also liked David’s Roasted Tomatoes and have now made several batches. Will try making my own goat cheese when I have more time this Fall. I just embellished store-bought goat cheese. And, PS to Neil, if I find the sardine spread not to my liking, I will be FedExing a container of it to him.
LOL re the sardine spread, you KNOW I’ll be minifying that!!! Thanks re: the congrats – a lot of work ahead but seems like a lot of people are excited 🙂
First off, I liked it on FB and all, but CONGRATS(!!) on your book deal! I look forwarding to it!
For the recipe, yep, totally agree re the spread. When he said it was approximating Boursin, I knew it was meant to be more spreadable. I didn’t even drain my kefir labneh whatever-the-label-said and it was more a creamy spread than a spreadable cheese. Who cares? It was good. And yours, as always, looks beautiful.
Thanks so much 🙂 I guess I just got over excited when it said “homemade goat cheese” and I was like “we’re going to make cheese” but then is wasn’t. No matter – very tasty!
I’m with you – soooo easy to grab more produce (especially tomatoes!) at the farm stand. Roasting really changes their flavor and texture – all in a good way. I didn’t do the “cheese” anyway, since I really didn’t read it all – so I had to opt for a soft, creamy goat cheese. But it was still lovely when I added the fresh herbs. All good.
I was happy to be able to use some of the last home grown tomatoes from the garden – I loved the combination of yellow and red – yours look spectacular!!!
You are so lucky to have home-grown tomatoes – we didn’t plant any this year and I’m missing them!!
I love the heirloom tomatoes, they are so tasty and look so pretty too. This was my first for roasting tomatoes and I was very happy with the outcome. Your spread looks lovely- I did not make the goat cheese so I admire all that did.
Roasting tomatoes really takes them to the whole next level!