Here is one of my favorite Tapas: Goat Cheese with honey, walnuts, and raisins. Returning from my trip to Seville, I was eager to get back to cooking after 5 days of vacation as I started to miss it. Especially because I tasted and really enjoyed so many tapas, and I can’t wait to share with you other recipes like this one of Goat Cheese.
Translated into English, as I wrote in the title, Goat Cheese is very popular in Seville, you can find it in all menus. From fried cheese with pieces of jamon serrano to the one served with honey and walnuts as I propose to you today, up to the aged cheese served with picos. The picos if you are curious are similar to our Puglian taralli but they are elongated. Maybe in the next recipe I’ll include them in the photo so you can see them.
The Tapa I am proposing today can be served as an appetizer or as a dessert. I tell you this because in the menus I read during my 5-day vacation with Isa in Seville and Cordoba, we found the goat cheese both among the tapas and in the dessert list. In short, depending on your taste and the menu you want to serve your guests. Obviously, it isn’t a light dessert but I am sure you will surprise your guests.
You will find, below the first photo of this tapas recipe, the video of the trip to Seville so you can discover some corners of this Spanish city with us! I also recommend trying the recipe for the vegetarian tapas Espinacas y garbanzos or spinach and chickpeas with coriander and cumin!
I literally adore this tapas so much that I ran to the supermarket yesterday morning to buy the goat cheese and raisins, the walnuts I already had because I use them a lot for my recipes. So, with photos in hand of the tapas ordered in Spain, I prepared this easy and quick recipe. I would say it’s more of an assembly of ingredients than a real recipe, so much so that we don’t even need to turn on the stove or make a lot of dishes and pots messy.
In short, as I often tell you, Easy, Quick, and Delicious Recipe incoming!!! Below, I also leave you some clickable links to other recipes you can serve as tapas if you’re organizing a dinner with friends, maybe even buffet-style. Each link will take you to the recipe you want to read. I also remind you that I wait for you every morning on the Facebook fan page and in the Le Ricette di Bea group with the Recipe of the Day.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 2 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: No Cooking
- Cuisine: Spanish
- Seasonality: All Seasons
- Energy 745.20 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 27.49 (g) of which sugars 24.44 (g)
- Proteins 29.20 (g)
- Fat 57.75 (g) of which saturated 19.95 (g)of which unsaturated 7.27 (g)
- Fibers 2.12 (g)
- Sodium 436.80 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 150 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Goat Cheese Tapas with Honey, Walnuts, and Raisins
- 2 goat cheeses (100 grams each package, in my case camoscio d'oro)
- 20 walnuts (approximately)
- 20 g raisins (approximately)
- 2 tablespoons honey
Optional: if you’re serving the tapas as an appetizer, you can add a sprinkle of black pepper. I didn’t add any, nor salt, because the goat cheese is already quite tasty, in my opinion.
Tools for Preparing Goat Cheese:
- 2 Plates
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- 1 Jar
- 1 Nutcracker
Steps for Goat Cheese Recipe with Honey, Walnuts, and Raisins
As anticipated, this is a quick and simple recipe, we only need a few ingredients and steps to create this tapas with a distinctive and unmistakable taste.
So, let’s take the two plates we will use to directly serve the goat cheese on the table. Obviously, the doses and tools indicated are for two people; if you are preparing these tapas for more people, you will need to increase both the jars of cheese and the amounts of fruit and honey.
Place one goat cheese on each plate; I chose camoscio d’oro, which has a 100-gram jar in a pyramid shape. You can, of course, choose cheese of other shapes, like the round similar to Piedmontese tomino or soft cheese similar to stracchino, but it should always be goat.
I then used the bottom of a glass to flatten the cheese pyramid, but you could use a yogurt jar or something else. For this reason, I listed a jar in the tools list.
With the honey spoon, drizzle the honey on top of the cheese, trying to brush it uniformly across the surface. Next, proceed to add walnut pieces. If you purchased whole walnuts, you need to remove the shell and keep only the kernel. Use a nutcracker for assistance during this step. If you bought pre-shelled nuts, you can simply place them on the cheese.
Finally, add the raisins; no need to overdo it with this ingredient to avoid making the tapas too sweet. I suggest arranging no more than 10 to 12 raisins per plate.
Raisins, also known as dried grapes or sultanas, are a specific variety of seedless white grapes that undergo a drying process, thus becoming dehydrated. Raisins have a strong antioxidant action, but we must remember that they are a caloric ingredient that adds a high concentration of sugars to our diet. For this reason, I advise against excessive use in this recipe.
We are now ready to serve our dish, easy, quick, and delicious this Spanish tapas. If it’s not too apparent from the photos, I’m writing it here: I am literally in love with this dish. I’ve always enjoyed goat cheese with jams or compotes but never with honey and walnuts. I must say it was a delightful discovery of pairings for me.
I’m always on the hunt for the typical dishes of the country I’m visiting, in this case from paella to tapas, passing through the Tarta de queso (cheese cake which I will propose in the coming months) to Bacalao (cod served both fried and grilled) to Coda de Toro with potatoes. From Patatas Bravas to Tortilla de Patatas to Espinacas con Garbanzos (spinach with chickpeas). In short, I have enough recipes to propose until June after my first trip to Spain!
In conclusion, I wish you a good meal and remind you that I look forward to welcoming you daily on the blog’s social channels and here in my kitchen with many recipes like this one!!! In the box below, you will find all the profile links to start following me so you won’t miss any future content!
Advice:
I advise you to prepare this dish at the moment, you will take only a few minutes and no rest or cooking is needed. I tell you this to prevent having to place the cheese back in the fridge after opening it and the cold drying out the honey and nuts arranged on top.
As a variation, if you serve this tapas as a dessert, you can opt for hazelnuts or almonds but I would still keep the raisins as they pair very well with goat cheese. I think I will also try with some crushed pistachios next time, then I’ll let you know.
