Goat Cheese and Chorizo Rolls

Last Year's Post: Healthy Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs
Two Years Ago:  The Best Salsa Ever

Goat cheese and chorizo are one of those magical combinations where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, like tomatoes and basil - the spicy, meaty chorizo is perfectly offset by the creamy goat cheese.  Add in crisp phyllo dough and you have a great little pop-in-your-mouth appetizer.  I debated serving the rolls with a plum sauce or salsa verde on the side - you certainly could - but in the end decided to forego a sauce to let the chorizo and goat cheese flavors shine.  Having said that, I might serve some sort of chile sauce with them next time for the people who like a lot of spice, since the rolls aren't particularly spicy on their own.

True confessions - these rolls are a little fussy to make, as is anything made with phyllo.  But once you set aside  the 30 minutes or so required for assembly, it's a simple matter to bake them until beautifully brown. They can be baked several hours in advance because they're equally great served slightly warm or at room temperature.  Just don't refrigerate them after baking or the phyllo will soften and you'll lose the textural contrast between the creamy filling and the crisp shell.  (They can also be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen prior to baking.)

Phyllo is one of those things that people find very impressive and think a normal person can't work with, as in "you actually MADE those?", but nothing could be further from the truth.  You just have to know a few tricks.  Phyllo dough is very thin and dries out fast, so you need to keep the stack covered with a damp towel.  Treat the individual sheets gently when brushing them with butter and don't worry if a sheet cracks or tears because you'll be stacking and rolling multiple sheets together.  If one tears really badly just toss it because there are jillions in a box.  And above all, remember that a little butter fixes everything.

First you make a simple filling from cooked and cooled Mexican chorizo, goat cheese, and chives.  Mexican chorizo is different from Spanish chorizo primarily in texture - it's the soft version that looks kind of like bulk Italian sausage.  Spanish chorizo is a cured sausage that looks like a stick of pepperoni.  If you can't find Mexican chorizo you could substitute finely chopped Spanish chorizo in its place.  Since Mexican chorizo is raw, it needs to be cooked, cooled and chopped fairly fine before adding it to the goat cheese and minced chives for the filling.

After making the filling, it's time to butter and stack the phyllo sheets.  The original recipe called for 16"x12" sheets, but my phyllo was 8"x12".  It works out the same in the end but you can only get half the amount of rolls per stack with the smaller sheets so it was a little more work.  Basically you stack and butter three sheets of phyllo at a time, then cut the stack into 4" by 8" rectangles.  Place some filling on the short end, fold in the sides and roll up.  Each finished roll is placed on a baking sheets seam-side-down and brushed with butter before repeating with the next stack until you have 18 rolls.  It's a little messy but the butter makes your hands nice and soft.

You can tell I wasn't too concerned about having each stack cut precisely 4" wide - they came out slightly shorter or longer - but who cares?  It's artisan, as The Lawyer would say. They bake up beautifully brown and are an impressive, unique and delicious bar snack, appetizer, or small plate for a tapas party.

printable recipe

Goat Cheese and Chorizo Rolls

Makes 18 rolls

8 ounces soft plain goat cheese, left at room temperature for 1 hour

1 cup (8 ounces) Mexican chorizo, cooked and chopped into small pieces

1 ½ tablespoons minced chives

Salt and pepper

9 - 12"x16" phyllo sheets (or 18 - 12"x8" sheets)

1 stick of butter, melted

In a bowl, blend the goat cheese, chorizo, and chives; season with salt and pepper.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unroll the stack of phyllo sheets and cover with a lightly dampened kitchen towel.  Remove one phyllo sheet (covering the rest with the towel to keep moist) and place on a board.  Brush lightly with melted butter.  Top with two more phyllo sheets, buttering each lightly.  Cut the 12"x16" phyllo sheets into 6 (8"x4”) rectangles or the 12"x8" sheets into 3 (8"x4”) rectangles.  Place a tablespoon of filling at the short end of each rectangle and roll up, folding in the sides.  Set the rolls seam-side down on the baking sheet and brush with melted butter.  Repeat twice more (if using larger phyllo sheets) or five times more (if using smaller sheets) to make 18 rolls total.

Bake at 400d for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.  Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving, or serve at room temperature.  Once baked, keep the rolls at room temperature (do not refrigerate) and serve within a few hours to keep the phyllo crisp.

  

Note:  the rolls may be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen.  If frozen, thawing prior to baking will yield the best results.  A few minutes additional minutes of baking time may be needed.  

Prosciutto, Gruyere and Egg Toasts

Last Year's Post:  Cotswold Quiche
Two Years Ago:   Tabbouleh and Greek Chicken

This recipe is adapted from a very popular dish served at A.O.C. Wine Bar in Los Angeles.  Although I can see that it would be very good as a light dinner at a wine bar, I think it's even better as an elegant brunch entree.   The wine bar owner recommends serving it with a bright, berry-scented sparkling rose wine, or I think Champagne would be equally good.  Add some fresh fruit, french pastry, coffee and fruit juice to round out the meal for a beautiful Easter or Mother's Day brunch.

In case you're not familiar with frisee (free-say), it's a beautiful, lacy lettuce that doesn't get limp when tossed with dressing.  I often add it to other salad greens for texture and because it's so pretty.  You can often find it upscale grocers like Whole Foods.  If you can't find frisee, watercress or baby arugula leaves would make a good substitute.

Cut the core off and wash like any other lettuce.  I like to mix the outer darker leaves and inner lighter leaves for contrast.  Just be sure to chop them up into bite-sized pieces or they can be a little unwieldy to try to eat whole.

The toasts are fast and easy to make - just toast up some bread, fry some eggs, toss the salad, and melt some cheese.  Although the recipe calls for leaving the egg yolks runny it's easy to cook the eggs to everyone's preference.

printable recipe

Prosciutto, Gruyere and Egg Toasts

Serves 6

6 slices of Italian, sourdough or farmhouse white bread

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus softened butter for brushing

6 ounces frisee, torn into bite-size pieces (3 cups)

¼ cup lightly packed parsley leaves

2 green onions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

6 large eggs

½ lb Gruyere cheese, thinly sliced

12 thin slices of prosciutto (6 ounces)

Preheat the broiler.  Brush both sides of the bread slices with softened butter and arrange in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Broil the bread 8 inches from the heat, turning once, until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes total.  Leave the broiler on.

In a medium bowl, toss the frisee with the parsley, green onions, lemon juice and olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in each of two large nonstick skillets.  Crack 3 eggs into each skillet and cook sunny side up over moderate heat, until the whites are firm and the yolks are still runny, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a plate and season with salt and pepper.

Top the toasts with the Gruyere, covering as much of them as possible with the cheese.  Broil 8 inches from the heat for about 3 minutes, watching closely, until the cheese has melted.  Transfer the toasts to plates.  Top with the frisee salad, prosciutto slices and fried eggs.  Serve at once.