This Valentine’s Date Night Cheese Board with Bacon Onion Jam is the perfect spread for your special sweetheart!
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Castello Cheese. As always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help make The Beach House Kitchen possible.
I’m so excited for today’s post guys! I’m setting the stage for your Valentine’s date night with a little help from my friends at Castello, producer of fine cheeses and Folie à Deux, producer of world-class Sonoma County wines. I’ve created this epic Cheese Board with Bacon Onion Jam as part of Castello’s Cheese Board Challenge campaign. I can’t think of anything more perfect for a romantic evening at home than a gorgeous cheese board with some fabulous wine! So follow along friends and you’ll be the romance rock star of Valentine’s Day! I guarantee it!
Just picture it…the fire is roaring, candles are lit, your favorite romantic movie is ready to play and you’ve prepared the cheese board of all cheese board to dazzle your sweetheart! You’ve even chosen the perfect wine to accompany your sumptuous spread!
Your Cheese Board is a feast for the eyes. It’s filled with an amazing variety of creatively crafted Castello cheeses. You’ve chosen three cheeses to be the highlights of your board, Castello Havarti Creamy which is a mild, soft, buttery cheese, some traditional Danish Blue which has a fine, nutty blue aroma and some creamy, mild and tangy Castello Havarti Herbs and Spice.
To accompany your wonderful cheeses you’ve added some delectable candied walnuts for your Valentine, the perfect assortment of green and Kalamata olives, some black pepper dry salami to liven the palate, some plump juicy red grapes, crostini, classic water crackers, sesame breadsticks and last, but certainly not least, some irresistible Bacon Onion Jam.
This jam is a total favorite of guests who come to the BHK. A piece of crostini, a slice of Danish blue topped with this sweet and tangy bacon onion jam…it doesn’t get any better! As if you could make this cheese board any more perfect, you’ve paired all of these fabulous sweet and savory treats with Folie à Deux Russian River Chardonnay and Dry Creek Zinfandel to delight the senses and excite the imagination!
Well done! Your romance rock star status has been achieved!
As part of the Cheese Board Challenge campaign Castello is hosting a sweepstakes and the prize is a trip for two to Napa Valley, California! Just click HERE to enter!
I hope you all are inspired to create a gorgeous cheese board for that someone special this Valentine’s Day! Share the love! ♥ Have a great weekend friends!
- Castello Havarti Creamy
- Castello Extra Creamy Danish Blue
- Castello Havarti Herbs and Spice
- Candied walnuts
- Mix of green and Kalamata olives
- Black pepper dry salami sliced
- Red seedless grapes
- Assortment of crackers crostini, classic water crackers, sesame breadsticks
- Folie a Deux wines I feature their Zinfandel and Chardonnay
- Bacon Onion Jam:
- 6 slices bacon diced
- 5 cups about 2 lbs. Vidalia onions, peeled, sliced thin, and diced
- 1 tsp. mustard seeds
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
- 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
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Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat.
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Cook bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pan. Set aside.
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Add the onions to the fat in the pan. Cook until onions are translucent and lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
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Add the bacon, mustard seeds, brown sugar, cider vinegar, red pepper flakes and balsamic vinegar. Stir to combine.
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Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and continue to cook until the liquid has reduced, about 45 minutes.
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Remove from heat and let cool.
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Spoon into jar and store in refrigerator.
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Arrange cheeses and other items on cheese board. Serve with wine. Enjoy!
Omg. This cheese board is perfection, Mary Ann! I could most definitely make this my dinner and be happier than a kid in a candy store! Looooove bacon jam, and I haven’t made it in forever! Your additon of onion sounds wonderful! Totally making that jam pronto! Cheers friend – to a fabulous weekend and happy Valentines day!
Thanks Cheyanne! I love making cheese boards for guests! So much fun! And this bacon onion jam…oh yeah!!
Mary Ann I would totally be your Valentine if you presented me with that gorgeous cheese board. You’ve got all my favorite food groups represented…cheese, olives, bread and BACON! Love!
Thanks Cathy! All my favorites too! Enjoy your Valentine’s Day friend!
This is a gorgeous cheese board, Mary Ann! And it’s exactly how I like to eat – a nice big spread where you can just casually graze and relax for hours. Sounds like a fabulous date night! And bacon jam = you slay me!
I say that all the time (you slay me!) and Tom always laughs! Ha! Cheese boards have always been a favorite of mine too!
Wow, if that does not say love, nothing does! No reason to leave the house! Maybe ever!!
Ha! Perfect to whip up for your Valentine!
I love your cheeseboard with all the goodies and I hope to make your onion jam soon. It looks great. In Germany a meal like this is called Abendbrot ( a meal with bread for the evening).
You are going to love the bacon onion jam Gerlinde! Tom could not stop eating it! Have a wonderful weekend!
Yummy yum yum! This board looks so tempting ♥
summerdaisy.net
Thanks so much Summer! It’s a feast! Have a great Valentine’s Day!
Whoa! You are totally speaking my language here! I love a cheese board and some bacon jam! I think it’s you that has achieved romance rock star status! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Ha! I’ll let my husband Tom know! Happy Valentine’s Day to you too!
Mary Ann, I love this onion bacon jam recipe and all the flavors you put together just sounds lovely! perfect for a celebration!
You should definitely try to create your own board too Gaila! It’s so much fun and the jam if PERFECT with that yummy Danish blue!
Wow! I can’t wait to try this! I am already salivating over the bacon onion jam and the cheeses…..
.my Valentine will be putty in my hands!
Ha!! With all the goodies on this tray, he’ll be putty for sure!!
I love a good cheese board, Mary Ann. It’s such an easy, fun way to have a light dinner with a little wine. My mom is coming to stay for the week and I think I’ll do this for her the night she gets in – so I’ll be trying your carrot chutney out! Thanks for the inspiration – and your photos on this post are just gorgeous.
PS – forgot to say I love your video!!
Thanks, but I can’t take credit for that! That was from Castello!
Thank you so much Geraldine! I think you’ll both really enjoy everything! The carrot chutney was from Castello Cheese. I’ll need to try it too!
Ohhhh I want all of this in my face now!
It was so much fun putting it all together Lauren, but so much more fun eating it! Thanks for the comment and enjoy your Valentine’s Day!
This looks so good! I am going to try it this weekend. I can’t wait to try the cheeses. They look and sound so good.
They’re rally delicious Lisa! You’re going to love them!
Absolutely perfect! What a great collection of goodies and so pretty. Especially loving the bacon onion jam :)
Oh, that bacon onion jam Jennifer! It’s my favorite! It’s so good with that Danish blue!
Wow can you make this during Spring Break?! Everything looks delicious!! Dad doesn’t know how lucky he has it ;)
Ha! I keep telling him Case! I LOVE you!
I am so on board with this!! This is what a perfect night in is for us! What a beautiful spread. This is gorgeous, Mary Ann!
Thanks so much Tessa! Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
I can see it, Mary Ann! The cheese board, fire, havarti.. awwwhhhh, I love this scene! Your presentation is gorgeous. I just want to dive right in and start pickin those grapes off the vine, and spreading some cheese on a cracker. Delicious, my dear! *I tried to enter the sweeps, but there’s nothing to enter on the other side? Maybe I missed it? xo Have a beautiful V day weekend my dear!
Thanks so much Traci! I will look into that and get it fixed. You have a wonderful weekend too!
Wow Mom, I really wish I could have some of this! OH, wait I can in a week.
Yay! I can’t wait!
Oh my god! This is one gorgeous looking cheese board. Nothing says romance like cheese, and bacon jam.. :)
Bacon is the way to a man’s heart Nicole!! And cheese! Thanks for the comment! Have a great weekend!
This looks like the perfect option for Valentine’s Day. I’m all about staying in and avoiding the crowds so I love this idea. Oh man, that board is packed with deliciousness, and the bacon onion jam?? YES! Have a great weekend and Valentine’s! <3
Thanks so much Jessica! Yes, me too! I don’t like to fight the crowds. So much more fun hanging at home! I think Tom will eat himself into a bacon jam coma!
Would it be wrong of me to nudge your Valentine aside so that I could get at this cheese plate? From the cheese to the crostini to the nuts to the jam. . .it truly is cheese plate perfection (you know cheese and crackers is my favorite lazy girl’s meal, don’t you?)
Yay! Mine too Lynn! So much fun creating a cheeseboard. Have a fabulous Valentine’s Day! Give little Mother Hen some extra lovin! She deserves it!
Did you say bacon onion jam? Wow!!! Sounds totally amazing!!! This cheese board is my kind of dinner. You have made a truly beautiful display.
Yes, I did Kathy! And you’re going to LOVE it! Have a great Valentine’s Day!!
What a beautiful cheese board you have created! That bacon onion jam looks simply divine.
Thanks so much Jackie! The jam is a favorite at our house for sure! Enjoy your Valentine’s day!
Thanks for inviting us over tho share this delicious cheese board Mary Ann! It was as good as it looks! (Sorry Casey and Sean, someone’s got to help your mom eat up all this great food)!
So glad you and Mark could share it with us!
Your cheese and wine pairings are perfect together. Can’t wait to try your bacon onion jam too. Bacon and brown sugar…you’re a girl after my own heart!!!
Thanks so much! Oh that bacon onion jam! You’re going to love it!
In my opinion, there is nothing better than a great cheese board paired with a great wine! Can’t wait to try your recommendations!
Absolutely! Castello cheeses are so delicious. The Danish blue with the bacon jam is awesome!