Cabra al Romero

This is a creamy, semi-soft goats milk cheese from Spain.  Pressed with rosemary and aged a total of 30 days, this is a beautiful addition to any cheese board.  I eat it (like so many cheeses) drizzled with honey, but it's great on it's own, and better followed up with a fruity red wine.

Baked Butternut Squash with Quinoa and Goat Cheese

I found this autumnal recipe online (here) and decided to give it a shot.  It's definitely a side dish and I wouldn't eat it by itself again (it's rich, mushy, and was texturally one dimensional), but still had good flavor.  In the recipe below I'm including what I'll do to improve the recipe next time.  If you like squash and goat cheese, you should give this a try, and if all goes well your end product will look better than mine.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large shallot
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup quinoa (the original recipe calls for couscous, but I prefer quinoa)
1/3 cup currants
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley, plus 2 tbsp for garnish (the original recipe called for cilantro...I wouldn't do that again)
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese plus 1/3 cup for crumbling
Sea salt + freshly ground pepper
Juice of 1 lemon (optional)

-Preheat the oven to 400.
-Slice the squash and scoop out the seeds.
-Place each half cut side down in a baking dish and pour about 1/2 inch of water in the dish (I forgot to pour the water and my squash came out just fine).
-Bake until tender, 45-60 minutes.  Once done, remove from oven and set aside.
-Cook quinoa per box instructions.
-Dice shallots and garlic.
-In a medium skillet heat olive oil and saute shallots + garlic until fragrant.  Add to quinoa.
-Scoop out the squash into a separate bowl leaving 1/4" on the sides and bottom.  Drain water from the dish (if you used it) and place the squash back in the dish, cut side up.
-Mash the scooped squash with a fork and mix in 1/2 cup goat cheese.
-Once quinoa is done, add it to the butternut squash and mix in with currants and parsley.
-Salt and pepper to taste.  (I would add a good squeeze of lemon juice here as well, maybe 1/2 or whole lemon)
-Fill the butternut squash halves with the quinoa mixture, sprinkle with leftover goat cheese and return to oven.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the top begins to brown.
-Remove from oven, cut each half in 2.  Garnish with parsley.

Goat Cheese, Heirloom Tomato + Basil Crostini

Another easy and beautiful crostini perfect for summer.  If you're not a goat cheese fan I'd use burrata or a really good buffalo mozzarella.

Sliced baguette.  Goat cheese.  Heirloom Tomatoes.  Basil.  Olive Oil.  Sea Salt.  

Rinse.  Repeat.

Rosemary and Goat Cheese Sweet Potatoes

Here's a quick and easy (and healthy!) side dish (or quick lunch for 2).  It's a classic rosemary roasted potatoes recipe, but switched with sweet potatoes for the health benefits, and adding goat cheese before serving for my own benefits.  So good!

You need:

2 sweet potatoes cut up into bite sized pieces (I keep the skin on)

2 oz goat cheese (crumbled)

2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
Olive oil for drizzling
Salt & pepper for seasoning

--------
Preheat oven to 400
Slice potatoes, toss in olive oil, chopped rosemary, salt & pepper.
Lay on baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, until potatoes are crispy.
Transfer to serving bowl and toss with goat cheese crumbles.

Four Cheese Grilled Cheese

Happy 2013! 
I hope you had a wonderful, safe and joyous holiday.  Matt and I had an amazing whirlwind trip back to New England, splitting time between both of our families and loved every second.  Unfortunately we brought a lovely (ie: nasty) cold back with us, so it's been a couple days of recovery before we head back to work tomorrow. 
In efforts of consuming as many hot liquids as possible, I figured we could at least have a tasty grilled cheese to accompany our soup this afternoon.  I didn't have as much cheese as I thought, so I figured combining a few and calling it a fancy "four cheese" would suffice.
It.Was.Amazing.  Even when making something as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich,  it's fun to mix things up and see how it turns out.  This one was a success:

Four Cheese Grilled Cheese:
Since I'm going to go ahead and assume you know the basics of making a grilled cheese, I'm only listing the cheese layers for you:
Goat cheese (spread across the bottom piece of bread)
Sharp Cheddar (orange) 
Extra Sharp Cheddar (white)
Asiago
Plus a little sprinkle of pepper before placing the top slice on to grill (if I was ambitious I would have added some rosemary, too).  

Mmm.

Mashed Avocado, Roasted Red Pepper + Goat Cheese Toast.

...Otherwise known as an I'm-tired-and-hungry-and-haven't-been-shopping-what-do-I-have-to-work-with afternoon snack.

I've been sick for the last few days and was traveling the week before so when I came home to crash this afternoon with a growling stomach and zero motivation I was at a loss in the kitchen.  Until I realized I had the following:  A perfectly ripe avocado, half a lemon, jarred roasted red peppers, a block of goat cheese, and my childhood sandwich favorite - Homepride wheat bread.

A few months ago I found an easy, healthy snack idea from one of my new favorite food blogs. I don't know why I've never thought of this myself, I love avocados -- Anyway, besides the mashed avocado I usually just add whatever else I have laying around (feta, a few slices of tomato, a drizzle of olive oil, and always a sprinkle of sea salt) for a variation of this snack.  

Today was no different, except that I photographed it.
Without further adieu, I give you:  GLORIFIED TOAST.

Layers:
toast; avocado with lemon juice, smashed together onto toast; sprinkle of sea salt; chopped roasted red peppers; goat cheese

Happy weekend!

Sourdough, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto and Peach Crostini.

Well technically, it's not a crostini (grilled).  But for the purposes of the outcome, we'll call it so.

This is such an easy appetizer and seems both fancy and incredibly tasty.

Here's the breakdown:

Ingredients:

-1 long sourdough baguette

-2 fresh peaches

-1 short log of goat cheese

-1/3 lb extra thin sliced prosciutto di Parma

-Slice sourdough baguette into 3/4" pieces, place on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and freshly ground pepper.

-Toast in the oven at 250 for 12-15 minutes.

-Spread each toast with approximately 1 Tbsp goat cheese.

-Top with 1/2 slice of prosciutto (1/2 a slice) and a thin slice of peach.

Halibut, Goat Cheese, Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli

Tonight's dinner was healthy eating at its best.
It's late and I'm tired so I'll cut right to the chase:


Pan Fried Halibut
Season halibut with Borsari seasoning (our newest obsession), fresh rosemary & thyme
Heat skillet on high with olive oil (1/3 cup) and 2 T butter
Place halibut in pan, fry for 3 - 4 minutes (bottom will be golden brown) while spooning oil over the top the entire time
Flip and fry other side for another 2-3 minutes.
Done!


Sweet Potato & Goat Cheese Puree
Peel 2 lbs of sweet potatoes and chop into 1 inch cubes (ish)
Boil in salted water until soft (about 15 minutes)
Drain potatoes and place back in pot
Add 4 oz goat cheese, 2 T butter, 1 tsp truffle oil
Blend with hand mixer (or emersion blender if you're fancy)
Salt and pepper to taste
Done!


Broccoli Rabe 
Coarsely chop broccoli rabe (if I'd had skinnier, younger broccoli I would have left it as-is)
Boil in salted water for 3-4 minutes, until cooked but still has crisp to it (al dente, shall we say?)
Remove from water with slated spoon right into ice water bath
In a skillet heat olive oil and cook 1 large minced shallot as well as 6 or 7 minced cloves of garlic
Once shallots have turned translucent add the broccoli (drained) and cook 5 minutes on medium heat.
Done!

This meal is a front runner for the gold this year.

Garden Pesto.

In an effort to keep up with my garden (the arugula continues to grow out of control - I put way too much in too small of an area), I clipped a ton more this weekend along with a handful of basil and made arugula and basil pesto.  Then added shredded chicken, goat cheese, and tossed with rotini pasta (I used whole wheat). 

So easy and a great summery dish to enjoy outdoors.

Arugula & Basil Pesto (nut-free)

•1 handful fresh basil leaves

•2 handfuls fresh arugula leaves

•1/2 Cup (ish) Parmesan cheese

•1 T minced garlic

•Olive Oil

Sauté garlic in olive oil to take some of the bite out of it.  Pour in food processor.  Throw in the rest of the ingredients, douse in olive oil, blend!  Add salt / pepper to taste.  

Toss with cooked pasta, chicken and 1/2 cup (or more) goat cheese crumbles (or blue cheese - I'm sure that would also be great). 

Done and done!

Farmers' Market Goat Cheese

I love Farmers' Markets.  I also love goat cheese.
Given these two factoids you can imagine my excitement upon discovering a goat cheese stand at my neighborhood farmers' market 2 weeks ago.
Even without the taste we were given (it was delicious) I was sold by the line, "The goats were milked four days ago." 
Of course it took me a week to actually use the jarred goat cheese (making it just 12 days old), but it was worth the wait and just as tasty. 


I decided to use it as a spread over a toasted baguette and it did not disappoint.

We leave for France in ten days and I hear their cheese shops have entire WALLS of just goat cheeses.  CAN. NOT. WAIT.