We discovered this starter in a little chef-owned restaurant in our local town recently.
It came in individual dishes straight from the oven–the cheese melting into the shallots, the pancetta crisp.
A few mouthfuls of bliss!
It was so simple and so delicious, I had to try it at home.
Now we try not to have it with every meal….
for 2
- 2 to 4 shallots–depending on the size–very thinly sliced
- 1 goat cheese/chevre, “log”shape (in the hot oven, the outer “skin” allows them to hold their shape as the cheese melts inside.)
- 4 pancetta slices–halved (you could use prosciutto too, if pancetta is difficult to source.)
- 2 small sage leaves–optional but fun
- freshly ground black pepper
- olive oil
Heat oven to 200C/400F
Spread the sliced shallots evenly between the two individual oven-proof dishes–there should be enough to lightly cover the bottom of each dish.
Slice four pieces of about one-and-a-half inches from the chèvre cheese “log”.
Place two pieces in each of the oven-ready dishes, with two sage leaves.
Arrange four half-slices of pancetta around the sides of each dish.
the second two halves of a slice of pancetta to come…
Grind some pepper over the dishes and drizzle with olive oil.
the second two halves of a slice of pancetta still to come…
Slide the dishes onto the top shelf of the oven and cook for about ten minutes. (The cheese should be soft but hold its shape.)
It’s a hard act to follow.
Roast guinea fowl with chickpea mash managed to snatch back some glory at dinner the other night.
Robin Ellis 
Your yummy recipes always brighten my day. It is fun to see what delicious recipe has popped into my e-mail box.
Oh that does look good!! And I know exactly where I can source some goats cheese like that………you could make that into a main meal by adding salad and maybe croutons?? Yum! 😀
That looks soooo good…. I can only look at it and pretend to eat it as unfortunately I have high cholesterol!!! I do love your recipes!!
Hello, Robin, This looks sensational. I will try it tonight. Thanks,
Fiona
Yummmm!! 🙂 . . 😀
High cholesterol go away,
come again another day . .
. . but far, far away 😉 🙂
So I just got both your books and now this yummy looking appetizer! Thanks!!
Can’t wait to fire up the oven!!
Judy
Thanks, Judy–I hope you find lots more things you fancy popping in the oven and on the hob. Bon appetite!
Mmmmmmmm. Although in my case, I haven’t been able to acquire a taste for goat cheese (no offense). I’m thinking mozzarella or Brie instead.
Goats cheese anything is brilliant with me…add shallots & that’s close to heaven! Looks fabulous….
Just got some goat cheese from our goat supplier at the farmer’s market so will try this. For those worried about goat cheese (we love his goat milk and feta) I looked this up:
Goat cheese contains just 5 g of fat per 1-oz. serving, while cheddar cheese contains 9 g. Similarly, goat cheese contains half the saturated fat with 3 g per serving, compared to the 6 g of cheddar cheese. Cheddar cheese contains 25 mg of cholesterol per serving, while goat cheese contains none.
Thanks, marg, for these reassuring stats.
Hi Robin, I made a sampling of this last night using Westphalian ham from our German market fellow, it “looks” like bacon and comes in paper thin slices on a sheet of paper. My goat cheese was in one larger round but it did not melt away at all, and I used basil from my pots as no fresh sage. My husband was impressed so we will definitely make more! Thank you for sharing that! Marg
Made this today, well to be precise, a variation on a theme. Added more sage and halved fresh black figs under the goat cheese. It was incredibly delicious. Thank you for such a great starter!
Hi Robin, I’ve been meaning to try this dish for quite a while and finally succumbed to temptation tonight. It was definitely worth the wait. As I live in Lanzarote which is one of the Spanish Canary islands, some ingredients that are easily available in France, or even mainland Spain can be difficult to source, so I had to substitute Spanish Serrano ham for Pancetta. Pancetta is available here but, it’s not that great. Although Lanzarote regularly wins international awards for its goats cheese, I’ve yet to find any that wouldn’t be better utilised as a rubber on the end of a pencil. Happily, President Rulo Sainte Maure de cabra is widely available so I used that. My wife has just informed me that I have now got to make it at least once a week.
oray and well substituted, Alf!
Hi Robin,
Thank you yet again for this wonderful recipe. It never fails to wow my friends and family.
I usually stick to your recipe which is so perfect it needs no improvement, but I replaced the pancetta with diced roasted red pepper recently as a vegetarian version and it was delicious too.
A divine recipe!
The pepper is a very good idea.