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Back in April, during a ladies weekend away, my pal Heather and I found ourselves reminiscing about growing up with moms who were caterers.  

Many funny and not-so-funny memories of late 1970s-early 1980s party food. One recipe of her mother’s stood out for sounding delicious, easy, and versatile: Goat Cheese Dip. 

Heather still makes it several times a year and promises it is always a hit. I can attest the same. I made it as soon as I got home and have made it a dozen times since. 

This is definitely staying in rotation all year long, especially at the holidays.

I arrange it the way Heather described her mother doing it, with a garlic clove placed on each morsel of cheese. This seems particularly ’80s to me, quite unlike the freehand and unfussy way we plate today, and I like the retro vibe of it. 

Heather also promises that leftovers are fantastic tossed with hot pasta, creating a melty yummy sauce. Unfortunately, although I always double the recipe, I have yet to have any leftovers.

This is a recipe for a double batch, which is perfect for a crowd of 10-15 if you’re serving other hors d’oerves. You can easily halve.

Heather’s Mom’s Goat Cheese Dip

Ingredients

Two heads of garlic

Olive oil to cover garlic cloves in a small pot (about 1 cup, more or less)

Two logs of goat cheese

One jar TJs sundried tomatoes (conveniently already sliced into the perfect size), at room temp

Basil or other herbs

Thread or dental floss (not mint flavored!)

Steps

Peel garlic cloves and place in a small pot. If you have some thyme or rosemary around you can add a few springs.

Add enough olive oil to just cover the cloves. Bring to a simmer and keep at a very gentle simmer until garlic is completely tender and slightly golden, about 25 minutes.  Allow to cool until warm but not as cool as room temperature.

While the garlic is poaching, slice the goat cheese logs into ¼” slices using thread or dental floss. This makes much cleaner slices than using a knife does.

Arrange slices on a platter or large shallow bowl. Place a warm garlic clove on each slice. Add slivers of sun-dried tomato all over the platter. Drizzle with plenty of the warm garlic oil. Add basil, either whole leaves or chopped.

Serve immediately with crackers or thinly sliced bread or hold at room temperature for later.

About The Author

For Sarah Ross, everyday cooking is about winging it—with a classic or an old favorite recipe given to her by a friend. These are the recipes that get stained with spills from being on repeat, the ones to share.

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16 Comments

  • That looks delicious. You had me at goat cheese! Years ago on a vacation in central France (to tour chateaux in the Lorie Valley), I realized I was deep in Chèvre country. There were hand lettered signs everywhere for small farms selling their cheese. I gained a good deal of weight on that trip.

    • I am compelled to say:Jazzercise is still around and, IMHO, still the best dance exercise out there -well trained instructors make the difference. And goat cheese dip rocks!

  • Pass the crostini! So good. Thanks, Sarah!

  • We make a less pretty version of this in a ceramic dish or multiple ramekins. Mash the sun-dried tomatoes and garlic into a chunky paste or sauce. Fill dish halfway and chill. Soften goat cheese and spread on top once paste is chilled. Warm in the oven before serving. Yummy.

  • anything with goat cheese and I am ALL IN!

  • I do remember eating garlic in the 80s, but back then—if you were an ethnically challenged white person—garlic was a bit of a thrill.

  • You are sorely mistaken that Jazzercise hasn’t aged well. I’m going to a class this morning. They have been around for over 50 years and it’s still a great work out. It’s too bad people tre add t it as a joke. Off to High Intensity Interval Training! PS. Goat Cheese sounds good

  • Oh the days of the Silver Palate cookbooks! Goat cheese was just the beginning. I worked in a very fancy restaurant in East Hampton and we made a stuffed chicken breast with chevre and sundried tomatoes that was so unique and special at the time. Now, it’s a quick meal for a week night! Olive oil, pesto, Nutella, any vinegar that wasn’t just plain white or red, etc. where all specialty purchases.

    I also spent some time working in the Gristedes grocery story in Southampton which was the hot spot for the rich people (there was an IGA for the rest of us). One of my jobs was making the rotisserie chickens which were a brand new phenomena. People would pick their chicken out of the hot case at the deli counter and we gave it to them in a white paper back lined with tin foil to keep it hot. For an exorbitant amount even by today’s standards. We also did rotisserie ducks. No one could over figure out why my chickens had an extra je ne sai quoi to them–my secret was putting the ducks on the top rack and letting the fat drip on the chickens.

    Good times!

    • I think we were on the same wavelength. When I saw the 80s reference/recipe file in the email preview, my first thought was “Chicken Marbella!” 🙂

      And rotisserie duck! My mouth is watering.

  • Looks, sounds scrumptious. And another brilliant use of thread!

  • This may become my new signature dish for Book Club. Thank you for sharing.

  • Alternative composition: In summer when basil is plentiful, freeze pesto with lots of garlic and lemon juice but without parmesan or nuts. In the dead of winter slice goat cheese in chunks and put in ramekins or shallow serving dish. Jam as much frozen pesto as you can into the cracks between chunks. Pour olive oil over the whole thing and let it sit awhile before serving a bit of summer to warm and cheer.

    • This sounds so good. And easy!

  • Sun dried tomatoes on everything! Go for the burn! This looks tasty and the poaching garlic in oil may have other uses…

  • I too am the daughter of a 1970s/80s caterer… pressed into “volunteer” service far too often. The most requested item was mushroom tartlets (made with a cream cheese dough) and a biscuit cutter. Mothers of brides would order 500 – which could only be feasible made in our unairconditioned kitchen after midnight during the summer. Recipe from Craig Clairborne’s NYT cookbook. I still have nightmares of sticky hands and broken refrigerator….

  • Well we’ve made all the Jazzercizers mad! Apologies!

    We didn’t have Jazzercize in NYC at the time, or at least I don’t think we did. So I’m Jazzercize-agnostic. I’m sure it’s every bit as good as my hip-hop aerobics class.

    It was not quite as bad as this: https://youtu.be/IS2KQ46Kf84?si=V08m-ucVl4pkXnCV

    …but it was pretty bad. And so freaking fun! I wonder what happened to our Tribeca Workout instructor Brad Meskill…I hope he is still teaching.

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