Goats Cheese and Pear Bruschetta with Honeyed Walnuts

Capricorn Goats Cheese and Pears:

A few days ago I was sent a fabulous hamper of goodies from Ethel the Goat who lives somewhere in the depths of Somerset and who produces the fabulous Capricorn Somerset goat’s cheese. She can be quite a tough old goat at times but, she clearly knows how to shop!  She has challenged me to make something nice and appetising using some of her cheese along with a few of the other ingredients in the hamper or that I happen to fancy adding in.

So, for starters and since there was ciabatta in the hamper along with some walnuts and pears, I thought I’d have a go at making MY version of a bruschetta that I tried in Tuscany.  And since I found some rather lovely Tuscan cashmere goats I thought it only fitting I tried the recipe with some of Ethel’s finest.  The bruschetta involves cheese and pears and honey…and in my case I decided to make some honeyed walnuts too, because well, just because I wanted to try and I thought they’d add just that little bit of extra crunch!

The bruschetta were wonderful.  A perfect light lunch dish or first course with some salad.  And, the honeyed walnuts were a perfect complement for the slightly acid pear and piquant goats cheese.

So, here’s what I did

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Goats cheese and pear bruschetta with honeyed walnuts

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

15 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Pear and Goats Cheese Bruschetta make a delightful and different starter, with honeyed walnuts to add a little crunch. Simple to make and delicious to eat

Course: Lunch

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 2

Author: Fiona Maclean

Ingredients

Bruschetta

• 6 medium slices Good Quality Rustic Bread I used Ciabatta but any rustic bread that can be sliced will work
• 1 clove Garlic Peeled and cut in half
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 3-4 sprigs Thyme
• 1 Capricorn Goats Cheese
• 1 Pear

Honeyed Walnuts

• 100 g Walnuts
• 20 ml Honey
• 1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder

Instructions

Honeyed Walnuts

1. To make the honeyed walnuts, preheat the oven to 180c and line a baking tray with parchment
2. Gently warm the honey in a small pan till very liquid and almost simmering
3. Stir the chilli powder into the honey
4. Now stir the walnuts into the honey/chilli mix and stir to coat all the nuts thoroughly
   
   
5. Spread the walnuts out on the baking parchment and put in the oven for 10 minutes till the nuts are slightly darkened
   
   
6. Take the mixture out and spoon the nuts onto a new sheet of baking parchment to cool. Don't skip this step or you will end up with a gloopy mass of nuts all stuck together!
   
   
7. Allow to cool completely till the honey is hardened, then transfer into an airtight tin.

Bruschetta

1. To make the bruschetta, first rub the bread with the cut side of the garlic
2. Now smear a little olive oil onto both sides of the bread
3. Heat the grill
4. Grill the bread on one side
5. Make up the bruschetta by layering slices of goats cheese onto each slice of bread. Sprinkle a few thyme leaves onto the cheese and season with a little pepper
   
   
6. Using a mandolin or parmesan shaver, slice VERY thin slices of pears and top the cheese and thyme with these
   
   
7. Place under the hot grill and cook till the cheese is melting and the pear has softened
8. Top with honeyed walnuts and drizzle a tiny amount of honey onto each bruschetta
9. Serve while still warm

Now, I do think I’ll try making these again.  And, the honeyed walnuts are really very moreish too.  They’d work well with some goats cheese in a salad (and they are pretty good to just nibble on!).  So thank you Ethel for such a lovely challenge.  The main course will follow tomorrow!