Perfect Pairings for Wine Tasting: Rosemary Focaccia and Herbed Goat Cheese Appetizer

Perfect Pairings for Wine Tasting: Rosemary Focaccia and Herbed Goat Cheese Appetizer

What’s best for Happy Hour appetizers when returning to your RV after a day of wine tasting? How about something quick and easy you can make ahead, allowing you to enjoy your time with family and friends. Pull the cork on your favourites from the tasting, recount the day while tossing out appropriate adjectives to accurately capture the taste and terroir.

Make rosemary focaccia and a side of goat cheese with garlic and fresh herbs ahead of time. Warm the focaccia on your return to home base for a perfect accompaniment to a glass of wine.

 For two 8” skillets of Rosemary Focaccia

Equipment

• • • Stand mixer with a dough hook (You could do this by hand, but a mixer is much easier!)
    • Scales or other measures
    • Wooden spoon
    • Two eight-inch cast iron skillets or equivalent for baking the focaccia
    • Oven, smoker, or barbeque (I have made this one successfully on all three)
    • Digital probe kitchen thermometer
    • Oven mitts
    • Cooling rack

Ingredients for focaccia: bread flour, rosemary, coarse salt, coarse pepper, yeast, olive oil.

 Ingredients

• • • 1 ½ cups (365 ml) lukewarm water
    • 4 ½ – 5 cups (600 grams) bread flour (substitute all-purpose flour if you need to, but the bread flour will give you a chewier product)
    • 1 ½ tsp (7 grams) instant dried yeast
    • ¼ cup (65 ml) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for coating the dough, drizzling focaccia and dipping
    • 2 tsp (10 grams) fresh rosemary leaves finely chopped
    • 1 tbsp (15 grams) coarse sea salt, plus extra for topping
    • 1 tsp (5 grams) coarse black pepper

A note about measures: My strong preference for baking and cooking is to measure ingredients by weight. The reality is that cup and spoon measures are less accurate and consistent than scales. I have two scales in my kitchen: a 5 kg scale ($15) that reads out in grams and ounces, and a 500-gram pocket scale ($17) that is incredibly precise, measuring 100th of a gram. Both costs less than $35 on Amazon. The more I use them, the more I like them. When you need to adjust a recipe, an accurate scale gives you the precise data required. Also, I wouldn’t be without my instant digital thermometer ($14 on Amazon) in the kitchen either. The thermometer takes the food-safe guesswork out of barbequed meats and confirms precisely when my bread is done, which is approximately 202-205° F.

 Method

1. Measure the water into the mixing bowl, add the yeast and half of the flour.
2. Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon into a sticky paste.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients: sprinkle the dough with salt, pour in the oil, add the pepper and rosemary, add the flour last and let rest for 30 minutes (do not mix)
4. Assemble the stand mixer with bowl and dough hook, add mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
5. Shut off the mixer and scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl. At this point it will seem that you need to add more flour, but don’t.
6. Mix on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. Shut off the mixer.The dough should remain as a not-so-sticky ball.
7. Drizzle 1 tbsp (15 ml) of olive oil over the dough and toss it to coat well.
8. Drape the bowl with a tea towel and let rest in a warm spot in the kitchen until doubled in size, about an hour.
9. Preheat the oven/BBQ/Smoker to 400°
10. Drizzle 1 tbsp (15 ml) of olive oil into the bottom of each skillet.

Spread the risen dough into an oiled skilled, poke your fingers in the dough to texture the top, sprinkle with salt and olive oil before baking.

11. Cut the dough ball in half and push each dough ball into their own skillet, dimpling the surface with your fingers. Cover and let the dough rise to the rim of the skillet.
12. Drizzle the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with coarse salt just before sliding it into the oven.

205F is the magic number for bread to be completely baked.

13. Bake 30 minutes at 400° F until the internal temperature measures 202-205° F with a digital thermometer, and the top nicely caramelized.
14. Remove the skillets from the oven, knock the focaccia onto a cooling rack, pour the wine and serve with the herbed goat cheese below. You can cool, store, and freeze in the original skillet when you want to serve it.

For the goat cheese

Tools and Equipment:

• • • One small bowl
    • One medium bowl
    • Mixing spoon
    • French knife
    • Cutting board
    • Spoon measures, or gram scale
    • Spoon for mixing
    • Microplane or another fine grater
    • Serving plate/bowl

Here are the ingredients for the goat cheese: goat cheese, parsley, lemon, thyme and garlic. (add black pepper too, if you like)

Ingredients

• • • 300 grams (10 ounces) of semisoft goat cheese at room temperature
    • 2 tbsp (30 grams) fresh thyme finely chopped
    • 2 tbsp (30 grams) of fresh parsley, finely chopped
    • 1 lemon rind grated finely
    • 1 – 2 garlic cloves grated finely
    • 3 tbsp (45 ml) extra virgin olive oil
    • Black pepper to taste

Adding the combination of lemon, thyme, garlic, parsley, and black pepper make the goat cheese pop with flavour.

Method

1. Pick the leaves from the stalks of thyme and parsley and chop as finely as possible.
2. Grate the rind from a fresh lemon, and grate one or two cloves of garlic.
3. In a small bowl mix the thyme, parsley, grated garlic, lemon, black pepper, and olive oil.
4. In a second bowl, add the goat cheese and half of the herb mixture, blend well.
5. Pack the cheese into a ball or into your serving container and top with the rest of the herbs and oil.

Rosemary focaccia and herbed goat cheese is an easy make-ahead appetizer that complements nearly any wine. Both can be made ahead and frozen to be enjoyed when it comes time to have a hassle-free accompaniment for a wine tasting.