This tapas dish is composed of baby peppers stuffed with goat cheese, roasted garlic and Kalamata olives. Serious yum!
You’ve seen olives stuffed with pimiento, but have you ever seen a pimiento stuffed with olives (and delicious chevre)? Al Revés means “upside down” or “inside out” in Spanish, and that’s exactly what these delicious tapas are! Olives done “inside-out”!
We had gone up to the farm market in downtown Dayton and I came across a pint of gorgeous fresh cherry peppers from a vendor outside. I snatched them up immediately, knowing I would stuff them with something delicious. And what better than a roasted garlic goat cheese blend with olives and Manchego cheese?
These are seriously easy, and seriously cute!
You can serve them warm right out of the oven or make them up ahead and chill until you want them.
Ingredients:
- 12 fresh baby peppers or cherry peppers
- 4 ounces soft goat cheese (chevre), at room temperature
- 1 whole garlic
- 1-2 tsp. olive oil
- 5 pitted kalamata olives
- 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ounces finely shredded Manchego cheese
Method:
- Prep the roasted garlic in advance. Preheat your oven to 375F, and cut off just enough of a whole bulb of garlic so that all the cloves show. Place it on a piece of foil, drizzle with 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil, wrap the foil into a wadded ball around it and toss it into the oven, right on the rack. Back for 45 minutes, then allow to cool. Squeeze roasted garlic pulp out of the papery husks with your fingers.
- Mix the roasted garlic with the goat cheese, olives, and seasonings in a small ball of your food processor and pulse until smooth.
- Cut out the tops and scoop out the seeds from the peppers. I used a tomato shark which does a fabulous job.
- Using a knife, fill the cavities of the peppers with the cheese mixture and wipe off excess. I suppose you could use a piping bag. It’s really not that big of a deal either way.
- Grate the manchego finely. I used a microplane grater for this, but hey. Whatever works! Press the cheese onto the tops of the little filled peppers.
- Place the ready to go peppers in a mini muffin pan. If they tip a little bit, you can prop them up with a tiny bit of foil. If you don’t have a muffin pan, crinkle up some heavy duty foil on a cookie sheet in such a way that the peppers will stand up on it.
- Bakes these little babies at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until the Manchego is golden. If any of the cheese has tried to slide, use a small knife to push it back up before the cheese cools. It is much easier doing that while the cheese is warm.
Enjoy those with your favorite wine!
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