Provencal Cheese and Herb Log

on Friday, 27 December 2019. Posted in French Friday, Provence

France is renowned all over the world for its beautiful tasty cheeses. Because there are so many different cheeses in France, entertaining at home always includes a variety of cheeses. Here we have a mixture of three cheeses, blended with a few herbs, and rolled into a ball or shaped into a log form. This is a wonderful appetizer which can be prepared 2 days in advance.

Ingredients
Method

Ingredients

For outer crust layer

1 tblsp butter for roasting walnuts
120 gr walnuts, roasted, then crushed
2 or 3 tblsp chopped flat leaf parsley

Cheese Log

80 gr goat cheese (Fetta will do the job if you don’t like goat cheese)
50 gr blue cheese (if you are not a fan of blue cheese, just leave it out and replace it with finely grated Parmesan)
120 gr cream cheese
40 gr butter
1 tblsp chopped capers
10 finely chopped dates
3 finely chopped shallots
1 tsp herbs de Provence
1 heaped tsp crushed chilli flakes
2 tsp thyme leaves (fresh if possible)
40 gr green olives (finely chopped)
40 gr black olives (finely chopped)
1 tsp salt flakes, I use Murray River Pink Flakes

Method

Chop parsley and set aside. Roast the walnuts, chop finely, and set aside.
Have the cheeses at room temperature and place all of the cheese log ingredients into a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, and blend all ingredients till cheese is combined evenly throughout.
Taste to see if it needs more salt. Refrigerate for a couple of hours, then when chilled enough to handle, shape it into a log or ball.
Onto a sheet of baking paper, evenly spread the crushed walnuts and parsley, then roll the cheese ball/log and coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap keep it in the fridge until ready to serve.
This is best served with crusty bread, sour dough or sliced baguette. It is perfectly fine to spread on dry biscuits, but the bread is my preferred option. This cheese log will keep in the fridge for a week. The flavours of all the ingredients come together well after a few days, so I would suggest it be made 3 or 4 days before you serve it.