Guys, I did an insane amount of cooking this weekend. With Thanksgiving almost literally upon us, I wanted to put together a Turkey Day recipe round up post. Suggested appetizers, entrees, side dishes, desserts, etc. – you know the drill. BUT, I discovered, to my surprise (and dismay), that I have almost no side dishes in my archives.
Are you shocked? I’m super shocked. How is this even possible? Side dishes are my favorite part of any meal! Except for maybe appetizers, which explains why I have so many app recipes on file…
Anyway. It’s a problem. Can’t have a Thanksgiving recipe round up with no side dishes, you know?
To rectify the side dish situation, I decided to whip up a Thanksgiving feast for the Patriots game this afternoon instead of going the usual snack route. I roasted a chicken, made crockpot mashed potatoes (recipe coming soon), whipped up a big pan of stuffing (also coming soon), and threw together an amazing bacon-shallot gravy (again…coming soon).
Not what you’d usually expect for football-watching (outside of Thanksgiving day, I guess?), but very tasty. You’ll see! SOON.
But since it’s Sunday, I needed something snacky, so I threw together something quick and delicious on the fly – marinated cheese! Specifically, fresh and creamy mozzarella marinated in a bath of garlicky, herb-y olive oil.
The whole thing took me literally 10 minutes to throw together, and at the end of those 10 minutes I had a giant jar of delectable cheesy morsels. Salty, garlicky, herb-y, and cheesy…basically the perfect snack food, as far as I’m concerned.
I’ve told you before that Dan and I regularly eat cheese, olive oil, and bread for dinner, right? You wouldn’t think that such a simple meal could be so amazing, but there are few things in life that give us more joy than toasted bread dripping with seasoned olive oil, and loaded down with salty, creamy cheeses (and/or cured meats). It’s the best!
So, is it any surprise that by the time I set this marinated mozzarella out for the guests, Dan and I had already eaten almost a third of the jar? We just kept going back to the fridge to “see if the cheese was doing OK”, which…ya know…involved a lot of tasting. So much tasting. This stuff is like cheesy crack.
Cheesy crack!
Tasty alone, straight out of the jar, or sandwiched between two crackers. I bet this stuff would be great in a Caprese salad/sandwich too. (Note to self: buy tomatoes.)
Our guests liked the cheese too – I am currently down to less than a third of the jar. Which is good, but also very sad. Note #2 to self – buy more cheese ASAP.
- 24 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into bite size pieces
- 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1-1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- 1 cup olive oil
- Place mozzarella in medium sized bowl.
- In a separate, smaller bowl, combine olive oil, parsley, garlic, peppers, salt. Whisk to combine.
- Pour seasoned oil over mozzarella, and toss gently to coat.
- Spoon the cheese and marinade into a large mason jar.
- Allow cheese to marinate in the jar at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately or seal and place in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. (To serve post-refrigeration, let your jar of cheese sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.)
- Enjoy, with crackers!
(Slightly adapted from Sprinkled Side Up‘s recipe)
I’ll come over to check on the cheese. Don’t you worry about it one more second – I got this.
That’s true friendship right there 😉
Love mozzarella so i can imagine how good these little bites tasted. Great recipe and I have to get my hands on the ingredients so I can make it!
Thanks!! Hope you like it if you try it 🙂
This looks so good! Is the garlic missing from the ingredient list? Can’t wait to try it!
Oops, you’re right! Good catch 🙂 Updating the recipe now!
This is awesome. My HB’s boss gave him 20 pounds of mozzarella curds a couple months ago, so we now have TONS of fresh mozzarella balls in the freezer that I’ve been trying to go through. This will be a perfect way to use a lot of it up.
One stupid question though… What kind of crackers are those? They look delicious and crispy but not break your teeth hard.
20 pounds of mozzarella in the freezer sounds like an amazing problem to have!!! The crackers are from Trader Joe’s. I don’t have the box in front of me right now, but I’m 95% sure they are multi-grain pita bite crackers. If you go to TJ’s (assuming all the stores are arranged the same way), they should be on a shelf right across from to the fancy cheeses.
Thanks. I kept looking at them thinking they were Trader Joe’s. 😀
HB works for Boar’s Head, so he occasionally gets to bring stuff home. It’s horrible, but we power through it. LOL
Haha at least it’s free??
It’s actually quite delicious. I love Boar’s Head products. I was being silly saying it was horrible (I mean who doesn’t want free stuff??!!!). LOL
I tried brining the cheese in different types of salt (sea salt, black salt, garlic salt, and pink hymalaian (sp?) salt) but the flavors of each cheese seems to be the same.