A Warm Goat Cheese Dip for a Romantic Dinner
Katie’s Cucina and I are having Fondue Week and my first recipe is for a Warm Goat Cheese Dip to make your Valentine’s Day Meal the most romantic dinner ever. This post has been entered in the Sexy Dishes Contest from Shine Supper Club.
What makes for a romantic dinner? For me it has to be long so that we can linger and hold hands and whisper. When we have a romantic dinner at home instead of in a restaurant, it’s made up of little things to nibble on slowly throughout the evening. This is the essence of a romantic dinner because it gives us the chance to, every now and then, stop eating and…
erm…
…go do something else.
If you sit down to a big fancy meal like a Beef Wellington, potatoes that are hot and brown and crunchy and a beautiful asparagus in lemon sauce, you’re not going to stop mid-way through to go and
erm…
…do anything else.
And honestly, if I just spent half the day slaving over a big luscious meal, The Hubs better not even suggest leaving the table. Instead we both need to sit there eating until everything’s finished and until we’re both stuffed.
If you’re a reader or listener of Dan Savage then you know this is a common problem.
People spend all this time and energy making a big beautiful meal for their romantic night, eat it up (possibly along with too much red wine) and are then surprised when they’d rather go watch TV instead of heading to the bedroom for
erm…
…other entertainment.
My advice is to make a meal of nibbles. Small things that you won’t worry about leaving behind and coming back to later on. The fondue menu I’m bringing you this week is perfect for that. It’s all fresh and bright dippers with smooth and rich dips that are served warm but that will be fine if left on the table in a bowl
erm…
…for however long you’re gone.
(Please don’t leave them in a heating fondue pot though. If you’re using such a pot, turn the heat off before you go. I mean, you want the night to be hot but not literally on fire, right?)
The first course, which I’m sharing with you today, is a Warm Goat Cheese Dip with Lemon and Basil.
It’s an especially romantic course if you tear up the basil leaves and let the pieces fall into the dip after you’ve sat down together.
Also take to the table some cherry tomatoes, a cutting board, a knife and a whole zucchini or two (nice little ones, not honking big crazy ones).
Why the whole zucchini?
(Not intended as a phallic symbol, I swear. As I was writing this I suddenly realized that that is what you would think. I’m tempted to leave it out and not write about zucchinis at all but then you’ll be asking me why there are whole zucchinis in the pictures. So I’ll continue writing about whole zucchinis that are not phallic symbols and know that you’re rolling your eyes at me right now).
I love raw zucchini as a vegetable dipper. It’s so crunchy and fresh. And they’re brought whole to the table because I find it intimate to do some of the work at the table together. You sit down, you each dip in a cherry tomato and then one of you cuts a few wedges of zucchini. You share them. And then the other person cuts a few more. Using your hands, having something to do, something to talk about, something to pass to each other.
That is what infuses the meal with special warmth and love.
Other interactive dippers for this warm goat cheese dip are bread sticks, which are a tactile delight to have in hand. You pick one up, break it in half, dip one half, twirl the other in your fingers as you snack, transfer the remaining half from hand to hand, using it to gesture or punctuate a smile for a moment as you whisper sweet nothings and then dip it in as well.
Soft pretzels, either bought or made like this, can lead to interactivity as well. The first time we had them as a dipper The Hubs picked one up and said, “Let’s share.” He then held it out to me. I grabbed a loop of the intertwined bread and pulled.
We didn’t wait long that night to turn off the fondue pot and
erm…
…go somewhere else.
It was a successful romantic dinner, indeed!
The recipe for the Warm Goat Cheese Dip is below. Before going to read it, head on down to the comment section and tell me what you think makes for a romantic dinner at home.
Don’t forget to enter our Fondue Week Giveaways of a $100 Melting Pot Gift Card, a Scharfeen Bergen Chocolate Gift Box and a Swissmar Fondue Pot, get your copy of our fun and flirty fondue-inspired Valentines’ Day card, free for our fans, and check out Katie’s delicious fondue recipes for Buffalo Chicken Fondue and for Dark Chocolate Mocha Fondue.
Oh, and be a sweetie, and share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest.
- 1 cup sour cream (you can use light but don’t let it get too hot or it might curdle. Full fat is the least likely to curdle if warmed)
- 4 ounces of plain soft goat cheese, at room temperature
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp coarse black pepper
- 1 tbsp grated lemon zest (about what you get from one small lemon)
- 8-10 medium-sized basil leaves, roughly chopped or torn with your fingers.
- Measure the sour cream into a small saucepan. Squidge the goat cheese into the saucepan. Sprinkle in the salt and pepper. Mash it all together using a fork.
- Put the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly while everything gets melty together. Once it’s nice and warm, about 5-7 minutes, stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the warm dip to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the basil leaves.
LMAO. I needed that laugh today. I will definitely have to try this recipe with or without the zucchini’s.
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Glad somebody liked it! Was feeling self-conscious about the whole phallic thing all day. HOW did I wind up doing that???