Goat Cheese Toasts with Savory Cherry Jam

Goat Cheese Toasts with Savory Cherry Jam
Originally uploaded by snarkmeister

I got a bunch of cherries at the farmer's market ('tis the season), and I wanted to try something savory with them. Obviously there's loads of recipes for dessert with cherries, but I was looking for something a little different. So this is my first attempt at using the cherries in a savory dish, and it was OK, but a little heavy for the season. It needed something to lift it up a bit; when I made the chicken I threw some parsley in with the cherry mixture, and that brightened it up just enough. Although I just had an idea - orange juice! I'll bet that would be fabulous - next time I'll add a splash of OJ to the sauce during the cooking process. (I think the cherry jam/sauce would be fantastic over pork tenderloin as-is, especially in the fall -- but when are you going to find fresh cherries in the fall? Never, that's when.)

Goat Cheese Toasts with Savory Cherry Jam
Sourdough bread, sliced 1/2" thick
Chevre (fresh goat cheese)
1/2 c cherries, pitted & roughly chopped
1 tsp chopped rosemary
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Pinch of salt & pepper

Toast the bread slices in the oven or toaster oven until golden brown. While the bread is toasting up, throw the cherries, rosemary, vinegar and salt & pepper into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the cherries are soft. At this point I used a stick blender to smooth it out a little, but I wouldn't advise doing this unless you are cooking at lot more of it at one time; I wound up with cherry splattered all over my kitchen. Instead, you could either chop up the cherries very finely at the beginning of the process, or you could use an actual blender to get the consistency you want. I wanted mine a bit chunky.

Spread the toasts with the chevre, then top with the cherry mixture.