BAKED GOAT CHEESE & MARINARA DIP

With Super Bowl Sunday coming up, I thought I would share with you one of my favor-ite finger foods. This baked goat cheese and marinara dip is so simple, but it is incredibly delicious! The combination of tart and creamy goat cheese mixed with sweet and slightly acidic marinara sauce is a per-fect marriage of flavors in my opinion. This would also make a wonderful Valentine’s Day appetizer if you want to impress your sweetheart with some-thing different.This dip is best served with homemade crostini, which is toasted baguette slices. I like to make my crostini because it’s super simple. All you need is a nice French baguette cut into half inch slices then drizzled with olive oil and/or melted butter and sprinkled with a lit-tle garlic salt. You can even slide the baking sheet of bread into the oven with the dip to bake them both at the same time. Be sure to use a quality mar-inara sauce. If you make your own, great! If not, your favor-ite jarred sauce will work just fine. I like to use Rao’s mari-nara because it doesn’t have any added sugar and the taste is very close to homemade.I hope you’ll give this recipe a try. It’s a winner!

Ingredients

DIP

• 8 ounces goat cheese, softened

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened

• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

• 1 tsp italian seasoning

• 1 (24oz) jar quality marinara sauce (I like Rao’s)

• Pinch of kosher salt

• Fresh basil chiffonade for garnish

• Crostini for dipping (fresh baguette, olive oil/melted butter, garlic salt)

To make the Crostini

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Slice a baguette into 1/2” slices. Arrange on a large baking sheet and drizzle/brush with olive oil and/or melted butter on both sides. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of garlic salt. Bake for about 6-7 minutes, turn bread over and bake for 3-4 more minutes or until bread is golden on both sides. This can be done at the same time as the dip.

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2) Grease a small (approx. 8”) baking dish with cooking spray.

3) Combine goat cheese, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning in a medium-sized bowl.

4) Spread into the baking dish, leaving a 1” border around the edges.

5) Fill the border around the goat cheese mixture with the marinara sauce. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt.

6) Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 min-utes, or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is golden brown.

7) Garnish with fresh basil chiffonade.

8) Serve immediately with Crostini or for dipping.

This recipe serves 6-8.