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Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Figs
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Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Figs

This delicious goat cheese appetizer can be made ahead and heated at serving time. It's great for taking to parties. It is one of my most requested recipes.
Course: Appetizer
Keyword: Dairy-Free Option, Easy--now you're cooking, Entertaining, Gluten-Free Option, Make-Ahead Option, No Salt or Low Salt, Vegetarian Option
Servings: 8

Note: If you are cooking for a particular style of eating, please check all of your ingredients carefully.

Many of my recipes have alternatives, and you want to choose the alternatives that fit the style you are preparing. Also, packaged goods may have ingredients you wouldn't expect. Soy sauce may or may not have gluten. Chocolate may or may not have dairy. This means you want to check the ingredients labels on the products you will use. Also, it's important to be aware that if you are cooking for someone with allergies or other reasons to take special care, you should avoid cross-contamination. For example, don't use the same utensil that was used in food containing the allergen or use the same cutting board that was used for food containing the allergen.

Ingredients

  • 8-10 ounce log of goat cheese
  • 2 large sweet onions
  • 6 dried figs
  • fresh ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
  • assorted crackers

Instructions

Prepare Onions

  • Heat oven to 400 degrees. Peel onions, cut into quarters and slice.
  • Cook onions over medium high heat until they start to brown. Continue to cook over medium heat until softened, sort of like al dente for pasta.
    Onions cooking for goat cheese appetizer

Assemble Dish

  • Place onions around the outside of baking dish.
    Onions in baking dish for goat cheese appetizer
  • Cut goat cheese into thick slices and arrange goat cheese in center of dish. Arrange figs over onions.
    Cooked onions, goat cheese and figs, assembled for goat cheese appetizer
  • Add a sprinkle of pepper by grinding pepper over the dish. Sprinkle with thyme.
    Goat cheese appetizer assembled for cooking

Bake and Broil Dish

  • Bake for 12-15 minutes, until hot.
  • Optional: Place under broiler for a few minutes. Keep a close eye on it, and remove just as the cheese starts to brown. It's better to remove from the broiler early rather than late. Serve with crackers.
    Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Figs

Notes

If you are lucky enough to have fresh figs, use them in place of the dried figs.  If using fresh figs, use a few more of them and cut them in halves rather than quarters.
For dried figs, I have used black mission figs.
This dish can be assembled ahead of time and refrigerated to be heated at serving time.  It's great to bring to parties if the host has the oven available for you to heat the dish. 
The broiling is optional.  When I take this dish to a party, I generally skip the broiling part to keep things easy and avoid creating too much commotion in the kitchen.
In addition to crackers, this recipe is good served on rye bread or rye toast.