EATS: Soft Cheese with Strawberry Thyme Balsamic

This recipe for a soft cheese with strawberry thyme balsamic, is rich and balanced with sweet and tangy flavors. The perfect recipe to serve as part of your charcuterie or a standalone appetizer. This recipe is so simple that you can easily whip it up to serve the unexpected guest or bring to the party when you’re short on time.

Tips for substitutions: The strawberries have a great texture and floral flavor that pair really well with thyme, and particularly with the Castelbelbo cheese. If you don’t have strawberries on hand, you can easily substitute with just about any fruit. Grapes (halved), figs, cherries, or even tomatoes would make a nice thyme balsamic topping. Tomatoes will give it savory flavor which would taste excellent. If you’re out of fresh fruit, you can head into your pantry and grab the dried cherries, apricots, peaches, cranberries, anything! Just hydrate and cook down in water first and you’re good to go. The acidity in any of these fruit options is helpful in cutting through the creaminess/fattiness of the cheese and that’s why fruit works so well.

Tips on portions: Think of your cheese as a blank canvass and the fruit and thyme will really give it its flavor. Remember that with herbs and acid a little goes a long way so taste as you go and always add less than you think is needed because you can add more but once it’s in you can’t take it out.

Soft Cheese with Strawberry Thyme Balsamic Ingredients

• 1 small wheel of soft cheese—I used Castelbelbo, Brie cheese would another great option.

• 1 cup of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and halved

• 1 Tablespoon honey

• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/4 teaspoon black cracked pepper

• 3 sprigs of thyme (1 to cook with strawberry balsamic. From 2 pick the leaves and use for topping)

• Crackers, crusty bread for serving

Soft Cheese with Strawberry Thyme Balsamic Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• Place cheese wheel into an oven safe ramekin. I prepared this recipe for 2 so I only used a wedge of the cheese wheel. Use as much as needed for serving.

• Place ramekin in the oven for 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on the cheese and remove once it is soft and bubbling

• Place a sauce pan over medium high heat. Add honey to the pan and allow to bubble. Next add your strawberries, thyme sprig, salt, pepper, and balsamic. Cook for approximately 3-5 minutes until the sauce thickens.

• Spoon your strawberry thyme balsamic over top of the cheese. Sprinkle thyme leaves over the strawberries and cheese. Place on serving board with crusty bread or crackers.

Serve your cheese and strawberry thyme balsamic with crackers or crusty bread. Be sure to have appetizers spoons for guests to make spooning the cheese onto cracker/bread simple. Enjoy!