Marinated manchego is an easy recipe which takes minutes to put together and elevates a cheese platter into something special. I love this manchego tapas recipe for both its simplicity and its flavor! Whether you are doing a whole tapas spread or just putting out some cheese and olives, this is a recipe you should have in your repertoire.
Hey, look! No blueberries. 🙂 I did promise you that we were moving on from blueberries after the last recipe (the roasted berry shortcakes – so GOOD), because no matter how yummy berries are, we need to eat more than blueberries.
Especially if we are talking about cheese! I can never resist a cheese platter or a chance to add a crumble of cheese to my salad or a little melted cheese on my dinner. CHEEESE. That’s what I’m talking about.
And, while most of the time cheese is just right as is, with all the flavor it came with, sometimes you want to punch it up a little. Add some more flavor. Or some new flavors to the cheese. That is where we are today with this great tapas recipe! Marinated manchego is fun and easy and gives you something new to do with your cheese.
This recipe is based on a few different tapas dishes I’ve had at various restaurants over the years. I love going tapas and other small plates restaurants and getting a whole variety of different interesting dishes. So many different flavors and ways for the chef to show off! It’s so much fun.
And I love to bring those dishes home, as you can see in my Spanish Tapas tag. Marinated manchego is just the latest one I’ve posted here. And about time too! Easy and tasty definitely has a place on my blog.
Actually, I’m considering this the easy before the complicated. 🙂
Basically, I’ve been working on an amazing Spanish pork tenderloin platter where you are going to be bringing together all sorts of great flavors – grilled pork, peaches, radicchio, romesco sauce – and I knew that platter needed some cheese! Because everything is better with cheese. Which meant that I needed some great marinated manchego.
It just seemed a perfect fit. The manchego with the spiced pork and the bitter radicchio…yum. Trust me, this platter is awesome!
And, since it’s a great tapas dish on its own, I decided to pull that recipe out of the platter and give it its own space.
Make some marinated olives. Pull out the crackers. Toss the manchego with your herbs and olive oil. Maybe some spiced almonds or some Spanish cauliflower, and you have a great, make-ahead, Spanish tapas platter.
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
Marinated Manchego Tapas
Ingredients
- 10 oz manchego cheese
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 dried ancho chili, torn into pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 4 strips orange zest, each about 1/2 inch wide and 2-3 inches long
Instructions
- Cut the manchego into 1/2 inch cubes and put it in a sealable container.
- Heat the olive oil until shimmery over medium heat. Add the thyme, rosemary, dried pepper, garlic, and orange zest. Cook for 3 minutes. Then remove from heat and let the oil cool to room temperature.
- Pour the oil mixture over the cheese, give it a stir, and let marinate at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.
Notes
- The olive oil is great on its own as an addition to recipes or a dip for bread.
- I shook the seeds out of the pepper used since I wanted spice but just a little. If you like more spice, you can keep the seeds or use a spicier pepper.
- Calories are, as always, a rough estimate. If you scoop out the cheese, leaving most of the olive oil behind, you will dispose of 3/4 cup of olive while eating about 1/4 cup.
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