Hi there, my name is Tory, and I used to have a blog about food that I made.

In case you forgot.

Because it’s been so long…yet again…

Guys, what can I say? I’ve still been traveling a ton! I’ve been back to the beach, up to New Hampshire, and then to Las Vegas for a business trip (lolwut?) followed immediately by a trip to Spain. I’m just living that jet set lifestyle, I guess. (Thanks for all the points, Chase Sapphire*!)

Today, though, let’s throw it back to another trip I took this year – Vermont. I mentioned in a post after last year’s Stowe trip that I’d be sharing a marinated goat cheese recipe “real soon.” Apparently, my definition of “real soon” is somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 months. Is anyone really surprised?

For the past few summers, we’ve been getting a marinated goat cheese from Harvest Market for cocktail hour. My mom and aunt discovered it and since then, it’s just been a staple of ours. It’s not hard to figure out the general recipe – it’s all right there. Squishy nuggets of roast garlic, purple-y brown olives, a bay leaf or two, and a sprinkling of chopped herbs.

So, following this summer’s trip to Vermont, I was like, “Yeah. Tory. You’re gonna make that goat cheese for your Third Annual Vermont Party and photograph it for your blog. Cool? Cool.”

And then I made it. And I didn’t photograph it. Because, sorry! I put too much on my party plate, like always, and there was no natural light shining through the apartment when I finally got around to putting it together. Shameful, I know.

As if my time management skills weren’t already being questioned, when I did finally make this again, I made it right before my back-to-back trips. So this cheese really got to marinate. For about two weeks.

The good news is, I now have a pungent and well-seasoned log of goat cheese in my fridge, waiting for friends to come devour it. And I used enough garlic that my mom and my aunt will never have to fight over who gets the last, soft garlic clove in the dish.

So there it is, y’all! My triumphant return. Let’s hope I can actually turn this around and start posting on a semi-regular basis again. I just hope my next trip in two weeks doesn’t derail me…

*If anyone wants to get a Chase Sapphire, I think I can refer you and get more points…so holler.

Marinated Goat Cheese

Yield: 1 log of zingy, creamy cheese

Note: This recipe is measured entirely by how much you want. It’s all to taste and is open to many variations. For example, I didn’t want olives in mine, but feel free to add them to yours.

Ingredients:

Soft goat cheese

Olive oil, enough to baste the goat cheese with

Herbs, such as thyme and parsley (chives could also be good)

Red pepper flakes

Garlic (full heads)

Flakey sea salt

Bay leaves

 Instructions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400 to 425 degrees. Slice the top off of a head or two of garlic. (Just enough to open the top of the cloves, but not too much.) Place them on foil and drizzle with a little olive oil and then just a little water. Wrap them into little packets, and roast for about 30-45 minutes. Let cool before handling.
2. Place the goat cheese in a container. You can try to get the cheese as submerged in oil as possible, maybe by slicing it and putting it in a jar and then just drowning it in the stuff. Or you could even try whipping the cheese in a food processor and putting it in a dish to then cover the top with oil and herbs, etc. to make a sort of dip. Up to you! But for now, let’s assume you do what I did and just put it in an old take out container and baste with the pooled oil every now and then.
3. Drizzle oil over the whole length of the cheese a few times, until you have a nice pool of bright green covering the bottom of the container.
4. Chop your herbs and squish those roasted garlic cloves out of their skins. Distribute them evenly over the cheese and into the oil in the container. Add a bay leaf or two. Sprinkle on red pepper flakes and some flakey sea salt, if desired.
5. If you want to be like me, cover your container and put it in the fridge and forget it for two weeks. If you want to actually enjoy your labors sooner than that, just make sure to let it marinate for a few hours, but preferably overnight.
6. Now, go dig in with some crusty bread or some quality crackers, and make sure to breath heavily in someone’s direction after snacking on a golden garlic clove or two.