An easy-to-make goat cheese-apricot
canapé. Photo courtesy Vermont Butter &
Cheese Creamery.

If you think you don’t like goat cheese, try one of the fresh chèvre, the French word for goat cheese (pronounced SHEVr with a guttural R at the end). It’s like soft cream cheese with a tang. The stronger flavors develop as a goat cheese is aged.

Goat cheese adds a touch of sophistication to whatever it graces. Here are just a few things you can do with a log of goat cheese:

• As a canapé or tea-time treat, make apricot “sandwiches,” filling two dried apricot halves with goat cheese. You can also stuff dates with goat cheese, and garnish both recipes with chopped pistachios or walnuts.

• Toss crumbled goat cheese on pasta and pizza.
• Add it to salads, either crumbled or as a sliced disk (circle) with baby lettuces and a large crouton (made from a sliced and toasted baguette).
• One of our favorite salad recipes: goat cheese, beets and mesclun, garnished with toasted walnuts and dressed with a walnut oil vinaigrette.
• Serve it as a cheese course: a disk on a plate with fresh or dried fruit slices, nuts and a garnish of small greens (such as baby arugula and watercress). No bread or crackers are needed, but you can serve them.
• Spread it on a bagel, top a burger, make a goat cheese BLT—the options are many.

To bake goat cheese disks for a warm goat cheese salad:
1. Cut a log into inch-thick disks and place in a shallow container in one layer.
2. Sprinkle with chopped thyme, rosemary or other favorite fresh herbs and add extra-virgin olive oil to marinate.
3. Cover and chill 12 hours or overnight.
4. Before baking, pop into the freezer for 1 hour.
5. Remove disks from marinade and roll completely in panko, Japanese breadcrumbs. Press gently so the crumbs adhere.
6. Place on a large baking sheet and bake in a 400° oven until golden, about 15 minutes. Flip halfway through.
7. To make croutons, add baguette slices to oven for the last 5 minutes of baking.

If you’re feeling more ambitious we highly recommend goat cheese tarts as a first course, and goat cheese ravioli.