Warm Olives with Goats Cheese

, from Issue #35. August, 2015
Photography by Manja Wachsmuth.
Warm Olives with Goats Cheese

Serves: 6–8

INGREDIENTS

Olives
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cups assorted black and green olives, pitted
zest of 1 lemon
3 long strips orange zest
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
2 small bay leaves
juice of 1 lemon
juice of ½ an orange
1 medium vine tomato, diced

To serve
150 gram log goat’s cheese, thickly sliced
crusty bread

METHOD

Put the olive oil in a sauté pan and add the olives, lemon and orange zest, garlic, oregano and bay leaves. Cook over a low heat for 5 minutes to infuse the flavours but don’t let the garlic brown or it will be bitter. Increase the heat a little and stir in the lemon and orange juice and the tomato. Cook until the tomato is soft but not falling apart.

Put the goat’s cheese in a shallow serving dish, overlapping the slices slightly and pour over the hot olive mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature, spreading the cheese and olive mixture on pieces of crusty bread.